2004 Obituaries -- Non-Players

Danny Whelen (Died: Jan 2)
A longtime trainer for the New York Knicks died at 84. He served as the trainer for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1960. He was 84.

Lynn Cartwright (Died: Jan. 2)
An actress who portrayed the older Dottie Hinson character in "A League of Their Own." She was 76.

V.J. Lovero (Died: Jan. 12 in Newport Beach, Calif.)
Lovero, 44, was a photographer for the Anaheim Angels. He died four years after being told by doctors that he had just six months to live. He continued to work as a photographer, following the Angels through their World Series win in 2002, despite having been diagnosed with lung cancer. He is work has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated 39 times and on Upper Deck Baseball cards in 1996.

Robert Holbrook (Died: Jan. 13)
A former baseball beat writer for the Boston Globe and former secretary for the American League. He was 84.

Joel Rubenstein (Died: Feb. 1 in Newport Beach, Calif.)
The former VP of Marketing for MLB, Joel Rubenstein, 67, had also been a top aide to Peter Ueberroth in the baseball commissioner's office and a member of the Los Angels Olympic Organizing Committee. He died from complications of cancer just five days after being honored at by the Baseball Assistance Team for his contributions to the organization. He helped to found BAT, an organization which raises money to assist former Major Leaguers and members of the MLB family in need.

Adriana Orsulak (Died: Feb. 9 in Timonium, Md.)
The wife of former Orioles outfielder Joe Orsulak, Adriana, 39, died from brain cancer.  Joe and Adriana met in Venezuela in 1983 and had two sons.

Lawrence Ritter (Feb. 15, 2004 in New York)
Ritter, 81, was the author of "The Glory of Their Times." Ritter spent four years with a tape recorder to gather oral histories from baseball players from the early part of the 20th century. His efforts included Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner and Smoky Joe Wood. His other books included "Lost Ballparks" and "Leagues Apart: The Men and Times of the Negro Leagues."

Pasquale "Pete" Cera (Died: Feb. 24, 2004 in Philadelphia)
Cera, 86, was the Phillies clubhouse assistant from 1974 to 1998. According to his obituary, he served a number of roles for the team from trainer, traveling secretary, clubhouse and manager's helper and players' friend. He was the first winner of the Richie Ashburn Special Achievement Award, given to the Phillies employee who shows, among other things, the most passion for the game.

Bartman Ball (Died: Feb. 26, 2004 in Chicago)
A reminder of the Chicago Cubs' playoff run of 2003 met an explosive end.  The owners of Harry Caray's Restaurant had purchased the infamous foul ball that had been touched by Steve Bartman, a Cubs' fan attending the Cubs playoff game with the Marlins in October 2003.  The baseball was given a final tour of the town and then blown to bits.

Marvin Moran (March 1, 2004)
Moran, 80, survived a battle with polio in the 1950s and became the voice of the National Anthem for 11 seasons for the Milwaukee Braves.  According to some accounts, Moran wrote a letter to the team saying that the Braves fans needed someone to lead them in the Anthem.  Moran got the job and his singing credits included the 1955 All-Star Game and the 1957 World Series.

Marge Schott (March 2, 2004 in Cincinnati)
The outspoken owner of the Cincinnati Reds died from an undisclosed illness at the age of 75. She sold her controlling interest in the team in 1999 but remained a limited partner. She took over the Reds in the mid-1980s and, while she was owner, the Reds won the 1990 World Series. She was also suspended by baseball for racial slurs and her comment on Adolf Hitler.

John Henry Williams (March 6, 2004 in Los Angeles, Calif.)
The son of Hall of Famer Ted Williams, John Henry Williams, 35, died from leukemia.  He had been diagnosed last year and had undergone a bone marrow transplant in December.  In 2003, he had attempted to start a playing career in the minor leagues, but it ended due to an injury.  He gained national notice for his part in having his father's body crynoically frozen.

Roxie Campanella (March 14 in Woodland Hills, Calif.)
Campanella, 77, was the widow of baseball Hall of Famer Roy Campanella. She was a frequent visitor to Dodger Stadium and was a supportor of victims of spinal cord injuries through the Roy and Roxie Campanella Foundation. The foundation was formed after her husband's career was shortened by a car accident that left him paralyzed in January 1958.

Gene Karst (April 6, 2004 in Ladue, Missouri)
Karst, 97, was hired by Branch Rickey to write feature articles about the Cardinals in 1931. According to his obituary, the hiring led to the creation of baseball's first press office. One of Karst's projects was the "Cardinal News," a newsletter about the team. He later worked for the Reds and the Montreal Royals before going to work for the State Department in World War II. In 1970, he was a co-writer of "Who's Who in Professional Baseball."

Lou Chapman (Died: April 30, 2004 in Venice, Fla.)
Chapman, a longtime baseball writer for the Milwaukee Sentinel, died at the age of 90. He covered the Braves for the 13 years the team was in Milwaukee. He was nicknamed "Scoop" and "Gumby" for his abilities to track down a story.

Doug Pappas (May 20, 2004)
Pappas, 43, was the chairman of SABR's Business of Baseball Committee since its inception in 1994. He also wrote for Baseball Prospectus and his research interests included keeping track of ejections in baseball. He died will vacationing at Big Bend National Park in Texas.  Link to an Obituary at SABR

Ronald Reagan (Died: June 5, 2004)
Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th president of the United States, spent time in the early years of his career as a sports broadcasters. In the 1930s, the young Reagan worked as a sports announcer for WHO in Des Moines, Iowa, where he would narrate the baseball games from the wire report. He had talked about a particularly trying moment in his career when the wire broke during a game broadcast. Reagan stalled for nearly seven minutes, having the batter continue to foul off pitches until the wire started working again. In 1937, his sports broadcast career was put on hold for an acting career.

Ralph Wiley (June 13, 2004 in Orlando, Fla.)
Ralph Wiley, a columnist for ESPN.com and a former writer for Sports Illustrated, died of heart failure at 52.  He was the author or co-author of 10 books on sports and African American life.  As a writer for the Oakland Tribute in 1980, he coined the term "Billy Ball" to describe the Athletics style of baseball under manager Billy Martin.

Rob Derkson (June 14, 2004 in New York)
Derkson, 44, was the manager of Greece's Olympic Baseball team and a scout for the Baltimore Orioles. He had been working with the Greek team to get ready for the Olympics in Athens. Derkson had been a pitching prospect at one time for Milwaukee but an arm injury ended his pitching career.  Later, he managed in the minor leagues for Milwaukee and Boston.

Sou Bridgeforth (Died: July 22, 2004 in Nashville, Tenn.)
William "Sou" Bridgeforth, the last surviving owner of a Negro Leagues baseball team, died after a battle with leukemia. He was 97. According to his obituary that appeared in the Nashville Tennessean, Bridgeforth purchased the Baltimore Elite Giants in the mid-1940s for $11,000. That cost included the team and its bus. He sold the team the next year and purchased the Birmingham Black Barons for $5,000.

Randy Waddill (July 30, 2004 in San Francisco, Calif).
Randy Waddill, 59, a major league scout, died July 30, 2004 in San Francisco, Calif., from hypertensive heart disease. According to his obituary, he spent the past 12 seasons as a scout for the San Francisco Giants. His career included 38 years in baseball as a minor league pitcher, a coach and a scout.

Mike Yastrzemski (Died Sept. 15, 2004)
Yastrzemski, 44, was the son of Hall of Fame outfielder Carl Yastrzemski. Mike played minor-league baseball and advanced to AAA with the White Sox. The cause of death was listed as a heart attack following hip surgery.

Philip C. Sahara (Suchara) (Died: Nov. 1, 2004 at Northern Michigan Hospital).
Sahara, 87, had an offer to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1941 and turned it down to enlist in the Army. He returned from the Army in 1945 and began a career as a police officer in Detroit. According to his obituary, Sahara worked as a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers throughout his life.

Larry Ponza (Died Dec. 15, 2004 in Santa Cruz, Calif.)
Ponza, 86, helped to develop and perfect the modern pitching matching. His first effort, the Power Pitcher, appeared in 1952 and become the prototype for later machines. He introduced a new machine, "The Hummer" in 1972 and it was used extensively in batting practice for all levels from Little League to the majors. His last introduction, "The Rookie", came in 1987. He sold his company to the Athletic Training Equipment in the early 1990s.

Eddie Layton (Died Dec. 26, 2004 in Queens, N.Y.)
Layton, who was believed to be in 70s, was the organist for the New York Yankees and Madison square Garden. He died following a brief illness. When he was hired to play for the Yankees in 1967, he had never been to Yankee Stadium. According to his obituary, Layton had five World Series ring but only wore the smallest, from 1978, for fear that the rings might hamper his playing.

Joseph Durso (Dec. 31, 2004 in Nisseguogue, Long Island, NY)
Durso, a sports writer who spent 51 years with the New York Times, died on Dec. 31, 2004 of cancer. He was 80. He covered the Mets and Yankees and received the J.G. Taylor Spink Award in 1995. He co-authored a book with the widow of Lou Gehrig and he wrote biographies of several baseball stars.