MLB deaths: The 2018 All-Eternal Team

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JUNE 26: A general view of the Willie McCovey statue ahead of a game between the Colorado Rockies and the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park on Tuesday, June 26, 2018 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JUNE 26: A general view of the Willie McCovey statue ahead of a game between the Colorado Rockies and the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park on Tuesday, June 26, 2018 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
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MLB deaths
MAR 1 1978, MAR 3 1978 Edwards, Doc (Baseball) – Groups Bears manager Doc Edwaards Measures for Baseball Uniform Denver General Manger Jim Burrris (left) and Monteral vice president Jim Fannning (right) check new Grizzly skipper for size during Thursday afternoon session at which Edwards was photographed and interviewed. Credit: Denver Post (Denver Post via Getty Images)

C) Doc Edwards, 1962-1970, Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Athletics, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies.

Doc Edwards was largely a backup catcher across parts of five seasons. His best season was probably 1962, when, as a rookie, he batted .273 in 53 games for the Indians.

That rookie season wasn’t good enough to win Edwards the regular catching job ahead of Joe Azcue. But it was good enough to get him traded to Kansas City, where he split time with Charlie Lau. For the A’s, Edwards batted .250 with six homers in 255 plate appearances.

Given a chance to be the regular catcher in 1964, Edwards batted just .224 with little power, prompting the A’s to ship him to the Yankees in exchange for veteran backstop John Blanchard and pitcher Rollie Sheldon.  But Edwards batted only .190 in New York, and the Yankees sent him to Cleveland.

Edwards spent the next four years in various minor league systems before signing as a free agent with the Phillies and returning briefly to the big leagues in 1970. He played in 34 games, retired, got into coaching and minor league management, and in 1987 was named Indians manager. In three unsuccessful seasons, his teams went 173-207.

Fired from that job, he briefly became a bench coach with the Mets, worked as a scout for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and served for nearly a decade as a minor league manager in San Angelo, Tex. By the time of his death Aug. 19 at age 81 he had put in 57 years in professional baseball..