The TUMBREL of MISSED OPPORTUNITY

ed · Post by ed » Thu Nov 26, 2020 4:13 pm

shemp wrote: ↑Tue Nov 10, 2020 10:17 pm Tom Heinsohn, 86. Spent six decades with the Boston Celtics as a player, coach and broadcaster. Tommy's now wearing the green forever.

What a wasted, non-contributory life. Sad.

Pyrrho · Post by **Pyrrho** » Fri Nov 27, 2020 5:06 pm

Still alive, Mr. Burton!

And still working!

Hotarubi · Post by **Hotarubi** » Sat Nov 28, 2020 4:04 am

There are some arguments about whether Diego Maradona will be be buried or cremated.

What we do know is that, if cremated, Maradona's ashes will have a Street value of $870 million

Pyrrho · Post by **Pyrrho** » Sun Nov 29, 2020 12:46 pm

David Prowse, 85

sparks · Post by **sparks** » Sun Nov 29, 2020 2:55 pm

RIP Darth.

Doctor X · Post by **Doctor X** » Sun Nov 29, 2020 5:25 pm

Raise a glass of wine.

– J.D.

Pyrrho · Post by **Pyrrho** » Mon Nov 30, 2020 8:45 pm

Ben Bova

Link: https://twitter.com/KathrynBruscoBk/status/1333160997104873474

Rob Lister · Post by **Rob Lister** » Mon Nov 30, 2020 10:01 pm

Ben was dry hard sf. Worthy reads of those I read. Mars, Mercury come to mind.

shemp · Post by **shemp** » Tue Dec 01, 2020 2:55 am

That sucks. I miss the days when as a kid I'd go to the public library to read the pulp sf mags. He was pretty much the last of the great classic sf writers.

shemp · Post by **shemp** » Wed Dec 02, 2020 8:54 pm

Rafer Johnson, 86.

Pyrrho · Post by **Pyrrho** » Wed Dec 02, 2020 11:42 pm

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing

Pyrrho · Post by **Pyrrho** » Sat Dec 05, 2020 9:29 pm

David "Squiggy" Lander, 73, multiple sclerosis.

https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/david- ... 234847158/

shemp · Post by **shemp** » Sun Dec 06, 2020 1:26 am

That sucks. It also reminds me that I'm old.

Pyrrho · Post by **Pyrrho** » Sun Dec 06, 2020 1:28 am

Doctor X · Post by **Doctor X** » Sun Dec 06, 2020 7:29 am

He had suffered from it for sad decades.

– J.D.

Grammatron · Post by **Grammatron** » Tue Dec 08, 2020 4:31 am

Chuck Yeager

Pyrrho · Post by **Pyrrho** » Tue Dec 08, 2020 7:27 am

Aw no.

sparks · Post by **sparks** » Tue Dec 08, 2020 3:29 pm

Fuck.

Doctor X · Post by **Doctor X** » Tue Dec 08, 2020 4:50 pm

Double fuck.

– J.D.

ed · Post by ed » Tue Dec 08, 2020 6:33 pm

RIP Chuck. A real hero.

Fid · Post by **Fid** » Tue Dec 08, 2020 7:43 pm

Indeed brother, a life well lived. And yes I will have that whisky.

ed · Post by ed » Tue Dec 08, 2020 9:40 pm

A life well lived. Good way of putting it.

I would have loved to have flown with him. How cool would that have been?

Guess he's with Glennis. Godspeed Chuck Yeager

Fid · Post by **Fid** » Wed Dec 09, 2020 1:01 am

From the "Right Stuff"
Sir, is that a man?
You dammed right it is!

shuize · Post by **shuize** » Wed Dec 09, 2020 10:09 am

Fid wrote: ↑Tue Dec 08, 2020 7:43 pm Indeed brother, a life well lived. And yes I will have that whisky.

Be sure to buy the bartender a drink.

Spoiler:

ed · Post by ed » Wed Dec 09, 2020 11:08 am

We bandy the word "hero" around a lot. A person doing their job is a "hero". A person faced with the slightest appearance of adversity is a "hero". Chuck Yeager was an authentic hero, no quotes around the word.

shuize · Post by **shuize** » Wed Dec 09, 2020 11:43 am

I knew the badass story about Yeager breaking the sound barrier with two broken ribs.

But only today did I learn he was shot down in WWII. While in hiding, he apparently taught the French resistance new ways to make bombs before escaping to Spain.

The article I read also said that due to his time as an evader, he received his choice of assignments back in the States after the war and that’s what led to him being a test pilot.

Pyrrho · Post by **Pyrrho** » Thu Dec 10, 2020 1:43 am

shemp · Post by **shemp** » Thu Dec 10, 2020 4:29 am

Rogelio "Roger" Moret, 71. Pitched for the Boston Red Sox 1970-1975, Atlanta Braves 1976, Texas Rangers 1977-1978. SABR bio

He had two good seasons for the Sox, 1973 and 1975, going a combined 27-5, but the rest of his career was mediocre at best. He once pitched a one-hitter, with Dick Allen, who coincidentally died the same day, getting the only hit.

Unfortunately, he is perhaps best remembered for this incident (quoted from Wikipedia) with the Rangers in 1978:

However, the real story for Moret in 1978 was his hospitalization at a psychiatric facility after his bizarre behavior on April 12 at the Rangers’ Arlington Stadium. After some odd pregame behavior, Moret went into what was described as a catatonic state in front of his locker that reportedly lasted 90 minutes. His teammates first kidded with him but as time went on the gravity of his condition brought in the team’s medical staff. Attempts to awaken him failed. The Rangers staff sedated him and dispatched him to the Arlington Neuropsychiatric Center. By April 25 Moret’s condition had improved and he was scheduled for release within a week.

But I will remember him for those two great seasons, and his postseason performance in 1975, especially World Series Game 6, in which he relieved Luis Tiant in the eighth inning. He set down all three batters he faced to keep the Sox in the game. Then in the bottom of the inning, Bernie Carbo pinch hit for him and hit the famous 3-run homer that tied the game and set up the Sox to win in the 12th on Carlton Fisk's game-winning homer.

After the Series, Roger was traded to Atlanta and his career was never the same. He pitched several years in Mexico and Puerto Rico before he retired. Roger Moret died Monday in his hometown of Guayama, Puerto Rico, from cancer, at age 71. He will forever be a Red Sox. Rest in peace Roger.

shemp · Post by **shemp** » Fri Dec 11, 2020 3:07 am

Another major league ballplayer, Phil Linz, 81. Mediocre player but well known for the famous Harmonica Incident that led to the downfall of the New York Yankees in 1965:

The Harmonica Incident took place on a New York Yankees team bus on August 20, 1964, en route to O'Hare International Airport. Infielder Phil Linz, slightly resentful at not being played during a four-game sweep by the Chicago White Sox that was believed at the time to have seriously set back the Yankees' chances at that year's American League pennant, began playing a harmonica in the back of the bus. Manager Yogi Berra, feeling that Linz's behavior was inappropriate given the team's recent poor performance, angrily called on him to stop, whereupon Linz threw the harmonica and loudly complained about being singled out despite not having been at fault for the losses.

Journalists on the bus following the team reported the incident in the next day's newspapers, and it became national news. Although Linz was fined for the incident, he received an endorsement contract from harmonica manufacturer Hohner after the company saw an increase in sales. The contract more than made up for Linz's lost money from the fine. Radio stations in Boston urged fans of the Red Sox, whom the Yankees played immediately afterward, to greet Linz at the plate in Fenway Park with a harmonica and kazoo serenade. At an exhibition game against the crosstown New York Mets, Mets players tossed harmonicas onto the field.

The incident had divergent effects on the team. For the players, it ended well: Berra's authority as their manager was decisively established and they went 30–11 through the end of the season, clinching the pennant that had seemed out of reach. For the team's management, which had been dogged all season by reports that Berra could not control his former teammates, it confirmed that impression, and efforts to find a replacement for Berra (that had reportedly already been underway) succeeded shortly afterwards, with Johnny Keane, who was considered likely to be fired from his position as St. Louis Cardinals' manager after the season concluded, secretly agreeing to become the Yankees' manager. His team also came back from deep in the standings to win the National League pennant, and then defeat the Yankees in that year's World Series. The day afterwards, Berra was fired and Keane shocked his superiors by resigning instead of accepting a contract extension. Keane took over for Berra a few days later.

Despite its role in catalyzing the team that season, the incident has been seen as the beginning of the end of the Yankees' 15-year postwar dynasty, since it also coincided with the announcement that the CBS television network was buying the team. Keane was never able to fully earn the respect of either the aging, injury-plagued stars or the few promising younger players, and in the 1965 season the team failed to win the pennant after recording its first losing season in 40 years. When the subsequent season started with even worse results, Keane was fired, though that did not prevent the Yankees from finishing in last place. They would not return to the World Series until 1976, after CBS had sold the team to George Steinbrenner.

Grammatron · Post by **Grammatron** » Fri Dec 11, 2020 4:12 am

Tom Lister Jr.

Hotarubi · Post by **Hotarubi** » Fri Dec 11, 2020 10:43 am

Dame Barbara Windsor

"GEDDAAAAHDDA MI PAAAAAHHHB!!!

Also of Carry on fame and fap material for my dad, probably.

Pyrrho · Post by **Pyrrho** » Sat Dec 12, 2020 8:47 pm

https://www.tennessean.com/story/entert ... 523671002/

Charley Pride, 86, of complications from COVID-19

Pyrrho · Post by **Pyrrho** » Sun Dec 13, 2020 10:27 pm

John le Carré, 89.

Pyrrho · Post by **Pyrrho** » Tue Dec 22, 2020 12:59 am

Michael “Moose” Cusack

https://apnews.com/article/eunice-kenne ... 8d86964f12

shemp · Post by **shemp** » Sat Dec 26, 2020 1:50 am

K.C. Jones, 88. NBA Hall of Famer and Boston Celtics star. Won 11 NBA titles with the Celtics (8 as player, 1 as assistant coach, 2 as head coach).

Doctor X · Post by **Doctor X** » Sat Dec 26, 2020 9:53 am

That is a shame.

– J.D.

shemp · Post by **shemp** » Sat Dec 26, 2020 2:52 pm

George Blake, 98, British-Soviet double agent.

Pyrrho · Post by **Pyrrho** » Sat Dec 26, 2020 6:32 pm

Ty Jordan, accidental shooting.

https://usdaynews.com/celebrities/ty-jo ... ot-killed/

shemp · Post by **shemp** » Sat Dec 26, 2020 7:40 pm

That sucks, I hope we get more details.

shemp · Post by **shemp** » Sun Dec 27, 2020 8:37 pm

Phil Niekro, 81. MLB Pitcher for 24 seasons, Hall of Famer.