By Woodrow Carroll
Former Major League Baseball player Eddie Robinson has a distinction that he would like to hold on to for more years. Robinson, born December 15, 1920 in Paris, Texas is MLB’s oldest living former player. Robinson has many distinctions that have come with advanced age.
Robinson wore the uniforms of the Cleveland Indians, 1942, 1946-1948; Washington Senators, 1949-1950; Chicago White Sox, 1950-1952; Philadelphia Athletics, 1953; New York Yankees, 1954-1956; Kansas City Athletics, 1956; Baltimore Orioles, 1957; and Detroit Tigers, 1957. A little sleuthing reveals Robinson is the oldest living former player of each of those franchises.
Bowman Gum photo
When a player is on a variety of teams, there could be a sense he had only a modicum of ability. Robinson had more than that!
The last time Cleveland captured the World Series was in 1948. The Indians, led by a player-manager, the late Lou Boudreau, beat the Boston Braves, four games to two in 1948 with Robinson playing first base for Cleveland. Thus, Robinson is the oldest living man to play on a World Series champion. The non-legendary Art Schallock, 96, ranks second oldest former World Series participant. Schallock pitched two innings of relief for the Series’ winning Yankees in the 1953 Fall Classic.
In 1951, playing for the White Sox, Robinson drove in 117 runs and made the All-Star Game. Robinson was an all-star selection with the 1949 Senators, the White Sox in 1951 and 1952 and Philadelphia Athletics in 1953.
• Number 15 from the top of the list of aging MLB ex-players, at week’s beginning, is pitcher Howie Judson, 94, Judson, 94, from Hebron in northern Illinois. He might received more attention as a sports figure, except that younger brothers Paul and Phil, led Hebron High School’s celebrated basketball run to the 1952 single-class Illinois State Tournament championship as the smallest school to capture the one-class championship. The twins were starting guards at the University of Illinois for several years. Howie Judson pitched mostly for the White Sox in the late-1940s and early-1950s before concluding his MLB career with Cincinnati in 1954.
• Tom Lasorda, 92, is the oldest living Hall of Fame member, who received induction for his success as a manager. He was manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers where he guided the franchise to a World Series championships in 1981 and 1988. As a player, Lasorda was less successful. As a pitcher. Lasorda’s won-loss record was 0-4 in the mid-1950s with the Brooklyn Dodgers and Kansas City Athletics.
What about the Chicago Cubs oldest living former player? Wayne Terwilliger, 94, who started his MLB career by playing 36 games for the Cubs in 1949 lasted until 1960.
Terwilliger proved to be a very serviceable player who moved on to a long coaching career in Major League Baseball..
The St. Louis Browns pulled out of St. Louis following the 1953 season and moved to Baltimore, and surprisingly have six of their brotherhood still alive.
George Elder, 99, and second only to Robinson on the living list is followed by Billy Demars, 94, Frank Saucier, Johnny Groth, and Ed Mickelson, each 93 years and Billy Hunter, 91, among the Browns’ greybeards.