Sandlock Passes

Mike Sandlock died Monday at age 100. He was the oldest living former major league ballplayer:

Born in Old Greenwich on Oct. 17, 1915, Sandlock made his big-league debut on Sept. 19, 1942. Coming in as a pinch-hitter for the Boston Braves against the New York Giants, he singled in his first at-bat and later scored. He appeared as a defensive replacement five days later but didn’t come to the plate, leaving him with a 1.000 batting average for the season.

He missed the 1943 season to work at a munitions plant and appeared in 30 games for the Braves in 1944 before being traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers in August. He enjoyed his best season in 1945, hitting .282 in 80 games, before seeing his playing time drop off drastically in 1946 as dozens of players returned to the majors after the war.

My thoughts go out to his family and friends.

Sandlock was a ball in play hitter, walking 38 times and striking out 45 times in 496 PA. He just didn’t get the ball by fielders often.

Eddie Carnett takes over as the oldest ballplayer, born Oct. 21, 1916. There are now only 12 players older than my father.

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/1SyMjA4