RIP Hank Bauer 1922-2007

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

RIP Hank

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/baseball/16663076.htm

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Posted By: leon

Seems like the older I get the more people pass away. A sad day for baseball....

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Posted By: john/z28jd

Bauer was my dad's favorite player before he was traded,then he was a Mantle fan,but he had a Bauer store model bat thats he's had for 50 years,and it was the first wood bat i used as a kid,the same age as when my dad got it. Still has the bat to this day

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Posted By: JeffDrum

Hank was a great gentleman. Was a regular honorer of by the mail autograph requests and was know to include a short note and extra photo from time to time.
Burdette, Barber and Bauer in one week - tough.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Jeff- add Max Lanier to the list, who just died at 91. He pitched for Card's World Series winners of 1942 and 1944, and was father of Hal Lanier.

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Posted By: JeffDrum

Barry,
As a Cardinal fan I remember Max well or remember of him - never saw him play. I believe he defected to the Mexican League and then had to apply for reinstatement upon which he pitched for the Giants.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Jeff- not only did Max defect to the Mexican League, but according to his obituary, it was perhaps the earliest example of a modern player challenging the reserve clause, as he was bound to a major league club when he did it. I was not aware of this piece of history.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

I always thought Tommy Henrich was the first to challenge the reserve clause....

a quick google search shows that Henrich challenged the clause in 1937 and Lanier challenged it in the 1940s.

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Posted By: barrysloate

I guess this needs some further research...so why was Curt Flood always credited as being the first to challenge it? Sounds like there were at least several others.

Dan- after I posted I saw your addendum.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

I'm not sure, but it could be that Flood challenged in court while in the other cases the commissioner gave in so that the case wouldn't go to court. This is all speculation on my part and I have no clue as I've never studied it. I just recalled a bit from reading Henrich's book a few years back.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

The reserve clause stated that a player who had not signed a contract could be renewed at the same term for the next year. The teams interpreted this to mean that they could renew the player each year on the same terms, thus effectively binding them to the teams in perpetuity. The original challenge of note that made its way to the Supreme Court was in the case brought by the Federal League that was decided in 1922 with baseball being given a de facto antitrust exemption. With this precedent, the main avenue of attack by players was cut off. Other challenges to the reserve clause were made over the years. Flood's challenge is famous because it was undertaken with the financial backing of the player's union. It lost, but as it went forward the union obtained via collective bargaining the right to arbitration of labor issues. The arbitrator was the one who ruled that the reserve clause established a one-year club option rather than a renewable annual club option. In 1998, Congress passed the Curt Flood Act of 1998, which said challenges to league rules that restrict player movement or compensation would be subject to antitrust laws.

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Posted By: James Feagin

RIP to the man who guided the Orioles to their first World Championship.

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Posted By: Steve f

Taps, to one good American,

"Bauer joined the Marines shortly after Pearl Harbor and saw action in several battles. He maintained his hard edge throughout his career on the field."

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Posted By: barrysloate

Thanks Adam!

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Posted By: Frank Evanov

Goodbye to the "old Marine".



Frank

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Posted By: Jay

Lots of items suddenly listed on ebay.

Hank Bauer items

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Posted By: Anonymous

Link to Hank's stats.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bauerha01.shtml

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Posted By: whycough

Hank always killed the Red Sox in the clutch; at least that's what my childhood memory says.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Hank managed Steve Barber on the champion 1966 Orioles. They died five days apart.