MLB history: Who was lost to baseball in 2017
The list of names that were lost to MLB history in 2017 is nearly 100 names long. Who are all the names we lost in 2017?
As we enter 2018, it is always good to reflect on MLB history and the players, managers, and other important parts of the game that were lost over the previous year. Some were stars, some were up for just a single season, some didn’t even get an official plate appearance or inning in the major leagues, but we are going to cover them all here.
We are primarily looking at major league players and managers for this list with a scattering of names remembered throughout the season that passed away. There are undoubtedly numerous coaches, umpires, and non-field personnel that were lost throughout the game, and while researching this article was an incredible jaunt through MLB history, there has to be a line drawn somewhere, so if a name you were expecting to see is not on the list, please understand that it is no slight whatsoever to the loss of that person!
A look at the entire list
So, a quick look around the list. There are 94 names on the list for this article (not an all-encompassing list by any means, either). Here are some of the details of those we lost in 2017:
- Two are Hall of Famers
- Players combined to play in 52 All-Star games
- One won Rookie of the Year
- One won MVP
- Players won two Cy Young Awards
- Players combined for 9 Gold Gloves
- 24 players played for at least 10 major league seasons
- Hitters combined for over 2,600 major league home runs, with 9 seasons of 30 or more
- Pitchers combined for over 1,200 wins, with 8 seasons of 20 or more
- Managers won over 2,000 major league games
- Managers reached 2 World Series and won 1 championship
We will go through the list in order by month. Let’s get started with those we lost all the way back in January of 2017…