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Scott Miller Passes Away

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Longtime baseball writer Scott Miller passed away recently, as relayed by USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. Miller spent more than 30 years covering Major League Baseball full time, starting in 1994 when he began work as the Twins beat reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. He later wrote for CBS Sports, Bleacher Report, and the New York Times as a national writer and served as an analyst on MLB Network Radio. Miller also published two books about baseball: Ninety Percent Mental, which was co-authored by former All-Star and 13-year MLB veteran Bob Tewksbury and published in 2018, as well as Skipper: Why Baseball Managers Matter and Always Will which published just last month.

MLB released a statement this afternoon following news of Miller’s passing:

“Tonight we remember Scott Miller – a true gentleman, a class act, and an expert of his craft who loved our National Pastime. We extend our deepest condolences to his loved ones and his readers throughout the game.”

Doug Goodnough published an article about Miller for Hillsdale College, the pair’s alma mater, back in February. The article provides an account of Miller’s life, career, and love for the game of baseball that includes quotes from Miller himself. Countless fellow baseball writers from around the game — including Nightengale, Ian Browne, and Mike DiGiovanna — offered their remembrances. MLBTR joins them and the rest of the baseball world in sending condolences to Miller’s family, friends, and loved ones.

Ron Taylor Passes Away

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Former MLB reliever and physician Ron Taylor has passed away, according to an announcement from the Mets. He was 87.

A Toronto native, Taylor began his career in the Cleveland organization in 1956. He reached the big leagues six years later and had a memorable debut at Fenway Park. Tabbed as the starting pitcher — one of just 17 starts he’d make in his career — Taylor began with 11 scoreless innings. Boston’s Bill Monbouquette matched him zero for zero, though, working through 12 scoreless frames. Taylor’s remarkable first outing came to a disappointing end, as he surrendered a walk-off grand slam to Carroll Hardy in the twelfth.

That was one of eight appearances that Taylor would make in his rookie season. After the year, Cleveland swapped him to the Cardinals for first baseman Fred Whitfield. Taylor had a strong first year in St. Louis, turning in a 2.84 ERA across 133 1/3 innings in a long relief role. He’d add another 4 2/3 scoreless frames against the Yankees in the World Series. Almost all of those came in Game 4, when he fired four scoreless without allowing a hit to save a 4-3 victory. That evened the series at two games apiece, and the Cards would go on to win in seven behind Bob Gibson.

Taylor struggled over the next couple seasons, leading St. Louis to deal him to the Astros midway through the ’65 campaign. He didn’t pitch particularly well during his year and a half in Houston. The Astros sold his contract to the Mets going into 1967. Taylor turned things around in Queens, working to a sub-3.00 ERA in each of his first three seasons.

He tossed 76 innings of 2.72 ERA ball with 13 saves for the ’69 Miracle Mets team that won 100 games and knocked off the Braves and Orioles en route to the first championship in franchise history. Taylor made four appearances in the postseason, striking out seven across 5 2/3 scoreless innings. He recorded one save apiece in the NLCS and World Series, getting Brooks Robinson to ground out with two runners on in a 2-1 ballgame to lock down Game 2 of the Fall Classic.

Taylor pitched a few more seasons in New York and finished his playing days with a very brief stint for the Padres in 1972. He remained in the game after the end of his playing career, but he didn’t follow the coaching or scouting paths of most former players. Taylor went to medical school immediately after retiring and was later hired as the team physician for the Blue Jays, a role he’d hold for a few decades. He added two more World Series rings in that capacity when Toronto went back-to-back in the early 1990s.

During a playing career that spanned parts of 11 seasons, Taylor posted a 3.93 ERA in exactly 800 regular season innings. He recorded 464 strikeouts and collected 74 saves. His postseason résumé was brief but impactful, as he didn’t allow a run in 10 1/3 frames while getting the save in three of his six playoff appearances. He played a key role in winning a pair of championships and was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. MLBTR sends our condolences to Taylor’s family, friends, loved ones and former teammates and colleagues throughout the game.

Rich Rollins Passes Away

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Former All-Star Rich Rollins passed away this week at age 87, according to multiple reports. A third baseman, he spent the majority of his career with the Twins in the 1960s.

Rollins was born a little outside Pittsburgh and moved to Ohio as a child. He attended Kent State and signed with the Washington Senators in 1960. The franchise moved to Minnesota and rebranded as the Twins the following year. Rollins earned a cup of coffee during the first season in Minnesota. He opened the following season as the starter at the hot corner.

That rookie year was probably the best of Rollins’ career. He appeared in 159 games and hit .298/.374/.428 with career marks in homers (16) and RBI (96). He was selected to both All-Star teams — the league briefly had both a midseason and postseason All-Star Game at that time — and placed eighth in AL MVP balloting. Rollins hit another 16 homers while batting a personal-best .307 the following season. He again received a few down-ballot MVP votes.

Rollins had one more quality season and posted a cumulative .291/.356/.425 batting line between 1962-64. He placed among the top 30 qualified hitters in both average and on-base percentage during that stretch. His numbers declined sharply in the middle of the decade, perhaps due to recurring knee injuries. Rollins had brief stints with the Seattle Pilots/Milwaukee Brewers franchise and Cleveland before retiring after the 1970 season. He’d later spend some time as a scout in the Cleveland organization.

Over 10 seasons in the big leagues, Rollins appeared in a little more than 1000 games. He hit .269/.328/.388 with 77 home runs, 399 RBI and 419 runs scored. MLBTR sends our condolences to his family, friends and loved ones.

Chet Lemon Passes Away

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Former White Sox and Tigers great Chet Lemon has passed away at the age of 70, per an obituary from Jeff Seidel of the Detroit Free Press. A specific cause of death wasn’t listed but Lemon’s ongoing health problems have been previously documented. He was diagnosed with polycythemia vera, a rare blood disorder, while still a player in 1990. The obituary notes that Lemon suffered a series of clots and at least 13 strokes over the years. That led to at least 300 hospital visits in the past 30 years and left Lemon unable to walk or talk.

Lemon was born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1955 but he and his family moved to Los Angeles six months later. He grew up in L.A. and played ball at John C. Fremont High School. He was drafted out of that school by the Athletics in 1972.

In June of 1975, still in the minor leagues, Lemon and Dave Hamilton were traded to the Chicago White Sox for Stan Bahnsen and Skip Pitlock. Lemon made his major league debut with Chicago late that year, getting into nine games. He got a more proper debut in 1976, playing 132 games for the Sox as the regular center fielder, a new position for him since he was an infielder in the minors. He didn’t do too much at the plate that year, with a .246 batting average and only four home runs, but the move to the grass seemed to work out well as he only made three errors all season long.

An offensive breakout emerged in 1977, as Lemon hit .273 with 19 home runs that year. He would carry that kind of production over into subsequent seasons, getting selected to the All-Star team in 1978 and ’79.

Ahead of the 1982 season, he was traded to the Tigers for Steve Kemp. In Detroit, he was shifted to right field for one season but was moved back to center in 1983. He continued to provide quality defense up the middle while hitting about 20 homers annually. In that era of Tiger baseball, Lemon was part of a core that also included Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker, Kirk Gibson, Willie Hernández, Jack Morris and many others.

In 1984, Lemon hit exactly 20 long balls, drove in 76 runs and scored 77, making his third All-Star team in the process. The Tigers went 104-58 that year, dominating the American League East, finishing 15 games ahead of the second-place Blue Jays. Lemon would only hit .167/.219/.167 in the playoffs but the Tigers nonetheless cruised through the postseason, sweeping the Royals in the ALCS with a 3-0 victory in the final year before the league championships went to a best-of-seven format. They then beat the Padres 4-1 in the World Series.

Lemon would continue producing in roughly the same fashion through the rest of the decade. As mentioned, he was diagnosed with his condition in 1990. He kept playing that year but battled multiple injuries and hit only five home runs in what eventually turned out to be his final season.

In total, his playing career consisted of 1,988 games and 7,872 plate appearances. He recorded 1,875 hits, including 215 home runs. He stole 58 bases, scored 973 runs and drove in 884. He was considered an excellent defensive center fielder. He made three All-Star teams and won a World Series ring. He spent most of his post-playing days coaching young players, including the creation of the Chet Lemon Foundation, which strives to “empower the next generation of athletes through scholarship opportunities, while also championing stroke and aphasia awareness … and providing crucial resources and support to those affected by stroke and aphasia,” per the foundation’s web site.

We at MLBTR join the baseball world in sending our condolences to Lemon’s family, friends, fans and everyone else mourning him at this time.

Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images.

Walt Jocketty Passes Away

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Former Cardinals and Reds general manager Walt Jocketty has passed away at age 74, as initially reported by USA Today’s Bob Nightengale.  Jocketty was a fixture within baseball front offices for more than four decades, and he was the architect of the St. Louis team that won the 2006 World Series.

Cardinals chairman and CEO Bill DeWitt Jr. issued a statement in memory of Jocketty, stating “On behalf of the entire St. Louis Cardinals organization, I would like to offer our condolences to Walt’s family and his many friends.  Walt was our first GM when we purchased the ball club, and he helped to lead our baseball operations through some of the franchise’s most successful and memorable years.  He will be sorely missed, but long remembered for his distinguished career in baseball.”

Jocketty began his career working in the Athletics’ front office in 1980 as their director of minor league operations, and soon moved into another role as the director of baseball administration.  During Jocketty’s 14-year run in Oakland, he helped draft and develop the core group of players that led the A’s to three straight AL pennants from 1988-90, as well as the 1989 World Series title.  Jocketty moved on from the A’s to work with the Rockies in an assistant GM role for part of the 1994 season, but in October of that year, he received his first GM job when the Cardinals hired him to run their baseball operations department.

Tony La Russa was the Athletics’ manager for much of the team’s successful run in the late ’80s and early ’90s, and Jocketty’s past relationship with the skipper led to La Russa being hired as the Cardinals’ new manager prior to the 1996 season.  That year saw the Cards win the NL Central and fall just short of the pennant with a seven-game loss to the Braves in the NLCS.  1996 was also one of only two winning seasons in Jocketty’s first five years with the Cardinals, though the team continued to amass talent — most notably another ex-Oakland staple in Mark McGwire, who launched his then-record 70 home runs in a St. Louis uniform in 1998.

Known for being a canny trader, Jocketty brought McGwire and many other star names to St. Louis during his 13-year run as the Cardinals’ general manager.  Franchise icons Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina were also drafted and developed during Jocketty’s tenure, and this combination of both internal and external production again turned the Cardinals into a perennial contender.  The Cards reached the playoffs six times in seven years from 2000-06, capturing two NL pennants and winning it all in 2006 for the Cardinals’ first championship since 1982.

Ironically, the 2006 team might have been one of the weaker Cardinals teams Jocketty put together, as the club won only 83 games in the regular season before catching fire in the playoffs.  After the Cards posted only a 78-win season in 2007, Jocketty was fired following the season, as Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch noted that there was something of a clash within the front office between Jocketty’s more old-school approach and the more analytical approach of then-Cardinals VP and future Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow.

It took Jocketty only a few months to land with the Reds in an advisory role, and just a few months after being hired, Jocketty was promoted to the GM job barely a month into the 2008 season.  The Reds had losing records in every season from 2001-09, but in Jocketty’s third year on the job, Cincinnati got back on track by winning the NL Central crown.  That was the first of two division titles and three overall playoff appearances for the Reds from 2010-13, as Jocketty again relied on an experienced veteran manager (Dusty Baker) and a homegrown star first baseman (Joey Votto).

Jocketty’s title changed to president of baseball operations following the 2015 season, as Dick Williams was promoted to the GM job as the first step in the Reds’ succession plan.  A year later, Williams became Cincinnati’s PBO and Jocketty moved into an advisory role, and continued in various advisory capacities within the organization through the 2024 season.

We at MLB Trade Rumors extend our condolences to Jocketty’s family, friends, and colleagues.

Tommy Helms Passes Away

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Former NL Rookie of the Year and longtime big leaguer Tommy Helms passed away today at age 83.  Helms played in 14 seasons with the Reds, Astros, Pirates, and Red Sox from 1964-77, and he managed the Reds on an interim basis over 64 games during the 1988-89 seasons.

Helms broke into the Show with two games with Cincinnati during the 1964 season, and 21 more games in 1965.  Mostly a shortstop in the minors, Helms was blocked at the position by Reds shortstop Leo Cardenas, and it took Helms a couple of years to settle into the second base position since the Reds were trying to find an ideal spot to place Pete Rose around the diamond.  Helms ended up as the starting third baseman in 1966, and was an immediate success, hitting .284/.315/.380 over 578 plate appearances and winning the NL ROY honors.  He then slid over to second base the next year when Rose was moved to left field, and Helms proceeded to hold down the keystone in Cincinnati from 1967-71.

That five-year stretch saw Helms make two All-Star teams, and win two Gold Gloves for his work at second base.  However, the Reds dealt Helms to the Astros in November 1971 as part of an eight-player blockbuster that stands out as one of the most important trades in Cincinnati baseball history.  The Reds’ end of the trade included future starting center fielder Cesar Geronimo, rotation stalwart Jack Billingham, and (most prominently) future Hall-of-Famer Joe Morgan, arguably the best second baseman in baseball history.

Helms continued to post solid offensive and defensive numbers over his next three seasons in Houston, before his production fell off in 1975.  He played in a part-time capacity with the Pirates and Red Sox in 1976-77 to wrap up his playing career.  Over 1435 games and 5337 plate appearances, Helms hit .269/.300/.342 with 34 home runs and 414 runs scored.

After retiring from the field, Helms returned to Cincinnati as a coach in 1983 as an infield instructor and first base coach.  He remained on the staff under three different Reds managers from 1983-89, and he twice became the interim manager due to the controversies involving his old teammate Rose, then the Reds skipper.  Helms took over the dugout when Rose was suspended 30 games for shoving an umpire in 1988, and again became the interim manager when Rose accepted his lifetime ban from baseball in 1989.  Helms moved on from the Reds following that season to manage in the Cubs’ farm system for a year, and he emerged to manage one final time in the independent Atlantic League in 2000-01.

We at MLB Trade Rumors send our condolences to Helms’ family (including his nephew Wes), friends, and many fans.

Octavio Dotel Dies In Roof Collapse Tragedy

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Former major leaguer Octavio Dotel has died in a tragic accident, Major League Baseball confirmed. The news was first reported by multiple outlets in the Dominican Republic, including Diario Libre. The roof of the Jet Set club in Santo Domingo collapsed in the early hours of Tuesday morning. As of Tuesday night, at least 98 people have lost their lives while nearly 200 more were injured, according to The Associated Press. Dotel was 51 years old.

Exact details of the tragic situation are difficult to pin down, but it appears hundreds of people were in the venue for a concert when the collapse happened. Dozens of people have been pulled out alive but many have died and the figures are likely to change. Dotel was reportedly trapped for about 11 hours before being rescued and initially survived, but was declared dead after being taken to a hospital.

Dotel was well known to baseball fans because he pitched in the majors for over a decade and bounced around to various teams. He made his major league debut with the Mets in 1999, working in a swing role. He was traded to the Astros ahead of the 2000 season and continued to work both out of the rotation and the bullpen for a while.

He eventually moved into a primary relief role and had more success. Though his earned run average was over 5.00 in both 1999 and 2000, he posted a 2.66 ERA in 2001. He tossed 105 innings over 61 appearances, only four of those being starts.

He continued working as a solid reliever for years after that, bouncing to the Athletics, Yankees, Royals, Braves, White Sox, Pirates, Dodgers, Rockies, Blue Jays, Cardinals and Tigers. He finished his career with a 3.78 ERA in 758 games. He recorded 109 saves and 127 holds. He won the World Series with the Cardinals in 2011. He was a part of a combined no-hitter with the Astros in 2003. He retired in 2014.

We at MLB Trade Rumors send our deepest condolences to Dotel’s family, friends and fans, as well as the hundreds of others who have been impacted by this awful event.

Photo courtesy of Kelley L Cox, Imagn Images

Tommie Reynolds Passes Away

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Former big league outfielder Tommie Reynolds passed away last week at 83. His obituary is available from a Florida funeral home.

Reynolds signed with the then-Kansas City Athletics as a 21-year-old. He reached the majors that season and appeared in eight games. Reynolds didn’t play much over his first two seasons but got into 90 games in 1965. He hit .237/.327/.311 across 308 plate appearances. The A’s kept him in Triple-A for the entire ’66 season.

The Mets plucked Reynolds in that offseason’s Rule 5 draft. He hit .206 while operating mostly as a pinch-hitter during his lone MLB season in Queens. The situation reversed the following year. New York kept Reynolds in Triple-A throughout 1968. After that season, the A’s brought him back as a Rule 5 pick of their own. The righty-swinging Reynolds had his best season in his return to his original team (then based in Oakland). He hit .257 and reached base at a strong .343 clip over a personal-high 363 trips to the plate.

The A’s dealt Reynolds to the California Angels after the season. He played two seasons there and finished his career with a brief stint for the Brewers in 1972. Reynolds finished as a lifetime .226/.306/.296 hitter over parts of eight MLB seasons.

After his playing days, Reynolds joined Tony La Russa’s coaching staffs in Oakland and St. Louis. He was the bench coach on the A’s 1989 World Series team. According to his obituary, he subsequently spent two decades serving as a deacon in the San Diego area. MLBTR sends our condolences to Reynolds’ family, loved ones, friends and former teammates.

Art Schallock Passes Away

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Former World Series champion Art Schallock passed away last week, according to multiple reports. He was 100 and had held the title of oldest living former MLB player.

Schallock was a native of Mill Valley, California. After serving in the Navy during World War II, he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers going into the 1947 season. The Dodgers traded him to the Yankees midway through the 1951 campaign. Schallock started six of 11 appearances as a rookie, working to a 3.88 earned run average across 46 2/3 innings. The Yankees defeated the Giants in six games in the World Series. Schallock didn’t make an appearance.

The 5’9″ southpaw bounced between the Bronx and the minors over the next few seasons. The Yankees won the World Series again in both 1952 and ’53. Schallock made an appearance in the latter Series, tossing two innings of one-run ball. He played in New York into 1955, when the Orioles claimed him off waivers. Schallock finished his career in Baltimore, where he worked to a 4.15 ERA across a personal-high 80 1/3 innings.

Over parts of five seasons, he pitched to a 4.02 earned run average in 170 1/3 innings. He recorded 77 strikeouts over his 58 appearances. MLBTR sends our condolences to Schallock’s family, friends and loved ones.

José Valdivielso Passes Away

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Former MLB shortstop José Valdivielso passed away on Tuesday. He was 90 years old. His obituary is available courtesy of a New York funeral home.

Born in Matanzas, Cuba, Valdivielso made his MLB debut with the Washington Senators in 1955. He earned a down-ballot MVP vote at the end of his rookie season. Valdivielso would later move with the organization to Minnesota when the Senators became the team known today as the Twins. Over 401 games from 1955-1961, the 6-foot-1 infielder recorded 201 hits and scored 89 runs. Primarily a shortstop, he also appeared in a handful of games at both second and third base. He is well-remembered among Cuban fans for making the final out in the only all-Cuban triple play (h/t Francys Romero).

Although he played his last MLB game in 1961, Valdivielso spent three more seasons in the minor leagues from 1962-64. Following his playing career, he worked on the Spanish-language radio broadcast teams for both the Yankees and Mets. He was also well respected for his work with the MLB Players Alumni Association.

We at MLB Trade Rumors offer our deepest condolences to Valdivielso’s family and friends, as well as everyone whose life he touched throughout his career in baseball.

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