Former massive league right-hander Carl Erskine handed away right this moment after a short sickness, per a number of sources, together with Dana Hunsinger Benbow of The Indianapolis Star. He was 97 years outdated.
Erskine was born in Anderson, Indiana in 1926. As a boy, he was buddies with Johnny Wilson (Wikipedia hyperlink), who was black and would go on to play baseball within the Negro leagues as nicely basketball for the Harlem Globetrotters. Erskine would later point out his friendship with Wilson when the difficulty of race got here up as he shared a locker room with Jackie Robinson.
The younger Erskine was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers and would go on to spend his total baseball profession with that group, although he performed for them in each Brooklyn and Los Angeles. The righty made his debut in 1948, the yr after Robinson broke the colour barrier. Erskine informed Benbow that Robinson as soon as approached him and requested “Hey Erskine, how come you don’t have an issue with this black and white factor?” It was then that Erskine talked about his friendship with Wilson, telling Robinson: “I didn’t know he was black. He was my buddy. And so I don’t have an issue.”
For his preliminary season in 1948, Erskine labored a swing position, beginning 9 of his 17 appearances and tossing 64 innings with a 3.23 earned run common. He would regularly improve his workload within the seasons to come back, attending to 79 2/3 in 1949 after which 103 the season after that earlier than entering into the 185-265 vary for every season from 1951 to 1956.
It was in that latter stretch that Erskine racked up his most notable profession highlights. He made the All-Star staff in 1954, a yr during which he tossed 260 1/3 innings with a 4.15 ERA. He tossed two no-hitters, one towards the Cubs in 1952 and one other towards the Giants in 1956.
In 1955, Erskine tossed 194 2/3 innings within the common season with a 3.79 ERA. The Dodgers had made it to the World Collection seven instances at that time in historical past however misplaced every time, together with the ’52 and ’53 groups that Erskine was part of. Erskine’s finest World Collection efficiency was within the ’53 sequence when he struck out 14 batters in Recreation 3, although the Dodgers ultimately misplaced the sequence to the Yankees. The Dodgers confronted the Yankees once more in ’55 and Erskine solely tossed three innings within the sequence however the Dodgers lastly emerged victorious to seize the primary title in franchise historical past.
When the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles for the ’58 season, Erskine went with them, although his profession was tailing off by then. He tossed 98 1/3 innings that first yr in L.A. with a 5.13 ERA, then had a 7.71 ERA in 23 1/3 frames the subsequent yr, which was his last main league motion. He completed his taking part in profession with an excellent ERA of 4.00 in 1,718 2/3 innings.
He returned to Indiana after his taking part in days and labored numerous jobs. A profile final yr from Tyler Kepler of The New York Instances says Erskine “offered insurance coverage, labored as a financial institution president and coached baseball at Anderson Faculty.” Although maybe essentially the most notable of his post-playing endeavors was his work with folks with developmental disabilities.
Erskine’s son Jimmy was born with Down syndrome, with Carl and his spouse Betty deciding to boost him at dwelling, an uncommon path in a time when most such instances noticed the kid despatched to an establishment of some form. The couple would later kind the Carl and Betty Erskine Society to boost cash for the Particular Olympics. That charity work led to Carl being given the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award from the Nationwide Baseball Corridor of Fame and Museum final yr.
By all accounts, Erskine was beloved by everybody within the Dodgers’ group, baseball generally and his neighborhood in Indiana. MLBTR joins all of them in sending condolences to the Erskine household and everybody else mourning him right this moment.
