December deaths
1) Ernie Fazio – One of the elite college players in the nation when he was picked up by the expansion Houston Colt .45s, Fazio only had three big league seasons as an undersized middle infielder. His big memory was hitting his first major league home run in 1963 off of future Hall of Famer Warren Spahn. He was 75.
6) Tracy Stallard – While his major league career is probably most remembered for giving up Roger Maris’ 61st home run in 1961, Stallard was also on the short end of Jim Bunning’s perfect game in 1964. His 7-year major league career was fairly inconspicuous otherwise, with a 4.17 ERA over 764 2/3 innings. He was 80.
11) Manny Jimenez – A Dominican native, Jimenez broke into the majors with the Kansas City Athletics in 1962 with a stellar .301/.354/.428 season with 11 home runs, but that would end up representing the high point of his career as injuries would limit his defensive abilities, and he was never quite the same hitter again. He did finish with a career .272 average over 429 games with the A’s, Cubs, and Pirates. He was 79.
13) Frank Lary – Lary spun a dozen years on a big league mound, a shining example of just how quickly the heavy usage on arms in the late 1950s and early 1960s would chew through a quality arm. Lary from 1955-1961 won 117 games over those 7 seasons, with a 3.34 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, and an average of 257 innings per season. However, after that 1961 season, Lary only once ever again even reached 100 innings in a season, and he was done as a major league pitcher by 1965.
Known for his glove work on the mound as well as his ability to endure through a game, Lary made three All-Star teams and won a Gold Glove. He also led the league in starts in two seasons, complete games three seasons, and innings pitched in three seasons. He was 87 years old.
17) Doug Gallagher – Gallagher spent all but one season of his 9-year professional baseball career in the Tigers organization, but he got just one crack at the major leagues, a 9-game stint in 1962, where he posted a 4.68 ERA over 25 innings. He went on to serve in the Air Force during the Vietnam War and returned to coach baseball. Gallagher was 77.
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21) Dick Enberg – Legendary broadcaster Enberg passed away at 82 years old. Enberg is one of the legendary voices in the game, having gotten his start at a professional level broadcasting Angels games, a position he held from 1969-1978.
Enberg was prominent as the lead voice for NBC’s baseball coverage, including their Game of the Week for many years. He served as the play-by-play voice as well as the studio host for the network.
His final foray in baseball was with the San Diego Padres, serving as the team’s play-by-play broadcaster from 2010 to 2016.
Of course, Enberg may be most recognized for his role announcing baseball in movies Mr. 3000 and The Naked Gun.
24) Jerry Kindall – Kindall spent 9 seasons as a light-hitting utility infielder primarily. He had one season of run as a starter in 1962, where he hit .232/.390/.349 with 13 home runs for the Indians as their second baseman, but he would eclipse 100 games played just once more in his career and never again eclipse 400 plate appearances in a season, finishing with a lifetime line of .213/.266/.327.
Kindall went on to be one of the elite college baseball coaches in the nation with the University of Arizona. The field at the school is named in his honor. He was 82.
28) Al Luplow – A good athlete with a solid lefty swing, Luplow made a quick splash in the majors, hitting .277/.359/.475 with 14 home runs in just 97 games in 1962 with the Indians. That would remain his best major league season, however, as he played 7 years in the majors with a lifetime average of .235. Luplow is most well-known for making a catch similar to the one that Austin Jackson made in Boston this season, flipping over the wall into the bullpen in Fenway to steal a home run away from Dick Williams. He was 78.