Elwin Charles Roe -- better known as Preacher Roe -- has died at the age of 92 or 93, depending on whether you believe Wikipedia and the obits, which have him being born in 1916, or Baseball-Reference.com, which shows 1915. For the time being I'm going with 1915, because Forman is right way more often than Wikipedia and local news.When asked how he pitched into his late 30s, he attributed it to "clean livin' and the spitball." I'm guessing that's what got him into his 90s as well.
I don't know much about Preacher Roe, but this quote from Casey Stengel about Roe and Eddie Lopat makes me think I would have liked him quite a bit:
"Them two fellas certainly make baseball look like a simple game, don't they?
Makes you wonder. You pay all that big money to great big fellas with a lot of muscles and straight stomachs who go up there an' start swinging, and they give 'em a little o' this and a little o' that and swindle 'em."
1 comment:
Preacher Roe's death is an unfortunate one but atleast he lived a long life. This interests me as I am well into reading Roger Kahn's "The Boys of Summer" which focuses on the '52 and '53 Brooklyn Dodgers which Roe pitched for. Roe was traded to Brooklyn along with 3B Billy Cox and Gene Mauch by the Pittsburgh Pirates for the racist Dixie Walker who couldn't stand playing with Jackie Robinson.
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