2005 Obituaries -- Misc

Bob Brown (Died: Jan. 26, 2005 in West Orange, N.J.)
Brown, 79, was a longtime radio host who did pre-game and post-game shows for the New York Mets in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He died at his home of lung cancer. Brown had also served as the host of the weekly New York State Lottery drawing.

Mutsuo Minagawa (Died: Feb. 6, 2005 in Osaka, Japan)
Mutsuo Minagawa, 69. was the last Japanese professional baseball player to win 30 or more games in a single season. He was a submarine pitcher who debuted in Japanese baseball in 1954. Beginning in 1956, he had a string of eight consecutive seasons with double-digits in wins.

John "Jack" Schwarz (Died: Feb. 19, 2005 in San Mateo, Calif.)
Schwarz, 92, was a former director of player development for the New York and San Francisco Giants. He joined the Giants in the 1930s as a junior assistant and he was a part of the organization until his retirement in 1982. One of his biggest signings may have been the deal that brought Willie McCovey to the Giants in 1955.

Nick Colosi (Died: February 25, 2005 in New York City)
Nick Colosi, age uncertain, was a National League umpire from 1968 to 1982. In Game One of the 1975 World Series, Colosi made the controversial call of a balk on Boston's Luis Tiant. He also was an umpire in the 1981 World Series and in All-Star games in 1971, 1974 and 1980. After retiring from field duty in 1982, he served as supervisor of umpires in the National League.

Paul C. Smith (Died: Feb. 26, 2005)
Smith, 46, covered the the Devil Rays for MLB.com and for the team's official site. He recently had suffered a broken ankle and had been receiving treatment for blood clots. He was a former sports editor of the Tampa Tribune and was one of the first writers hired by MLB.com when it was launched in 2001.

Bob Casey (Died: March 27, 2005 in Minneapolis, Minn.)
Casey, 79, was the only public address announcer in the history of the Twins.  He worked for the Twins for 44 seasons and more than 3,000 games. Prior to working for the Twins, he had served as the announcer of the Minneapolis Millers, a AAA team for 10 seasons.  He also worked for the Minneapolis Lakers and the Minnesota Vikings in his career. He was inducted into the Twins' Hall of Fame in 2003.

Bob Zuk (Died: April 9, 2005 in San Bernardino, Calif.)
Zuk, 77, became a scout for the White Sox in 1957 and had his eye on baseball talent for more than 40 years. His signings included Hall-of-Famers Willie Stargell, Reggie Jackson and Gary Carter. According to his obituary, he signed 22 players who reached the majors and those players hit a total of 2,444 home runs -- putting Zuk second all-time for scouts in that category.

Charlie Muse (Died: May 5, 2005 in Sun City Center, Fla.)
Muse, 87, retired from the Pirates in 1989 after spending 52 years working for the team. Many of those years were spent as traveling secretary, but Muse held a variety of jobs in the organization including ticket manager and groundskeeeper. Muse worked with inventor Ralph Davia and designer Ed Crick to create batting helmets and the Pirates became the first team to wear the helmets in 1952 and 1953. On Aug. 1, 1954, the Braves' Joe Adcock was knocked unconscious for 15 minutes after being beaned by the Dodgers' Clem Labine. This incident helped to push other teams to wear the helmets.

Pedro "J.P." Villaman (Died: May 30, 2005 in Wilmington, Mass.)
The Spanish voice of the Boston Red Sox, J.P. Villaman, 46, died as the result of an automobile crash. He was returning to his home in Lawrence, Mass., after the Red Sox beat the Yankees in a game in New York. He had worked for the Red Sox since 1995 and, according to his obituary, he was one of the first Spanish broadcasters in Major League Baseball.

Tom Cheek (Oct. 9, 2005 in Florida)
Cheek, 66, a longtime announcer for the Toronto Blue Jays, died at his home in Florida following a battle with brain cancer. He did not miss a game in his 27.5-year career that included 4,306 regular-season games and 41 playoff games.

Bill King (Oct. 11, 2005 in Oakland, Calif.)
King, 78, the longtime radio voice of the Oakland Athletics, died following complications after surgery. He had been the lead radio broadcaster for the Golden State Warriors, Oakland Raiders and San Francisco Giants. He had joined the broadcast team of the As in 1981. His signature call was "Holy Toledo!"

Ted Bonda (Died: Oct. 22, 2005 in Lyndhurst, Ohio)
Bonda, 88, was the former owner of the Cleveland Indians who hired Frank Robinson as baseball's first black manager in 1974. Bonda died of complications from Alzheimer's disease. In the 1970s, Bonda had been part of a group of business owners who bought the Indians to keep them in Cleveland. He sold the Indians in 1979, but remained a minority holder.

Harry Dalton (Died: Oct. 23, 2005 in Carefree, Ariz.)
Dalton, 77, spent more than four decades as an executive with the Baltimore Orioles, California Angels and Milwaukee Brewers. He died from complications of Parkinson's disease. He is a member of the Halls of Fame for both the Orioles and Brewers. During his career, five of the teams he was working for reached the World Series. In December 1965, Dalton engineered a trade that brought Hall of Famer Frank Robinson to the Orioles for Milt Pappas, Jack Baldschun and Dick Simpson.

Bob Broeg (Died: Oct. 28, 2005 in St. Louis)
A longtime baseball writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Broeg covered baseball for nearly 60 years. He covered the Cardinals from 1945 to 2004 and is the author of numerous books on baseball. He is credited with giving Stan Musial the nickname, "The Man." He received the J.G. Taylor Spink Award in 1979. The award honors a baseball writer and is presented at Cooperstown during the Hall of Fame inductions.

Dan Carnevale (Died: Dec. 29, 2005)
Carnevale signed a contract with the Buffalo Bisons in 1937 and that began a lifelong career in baseball. He spent 15 seasons as a minor league player and had a .284 lifetime batting average. He later served as a minor league manager and his teams won five championships in a six-year span. He later worked for the Bisons as manager and general manager. In 1962, he became a major league scout and worked for the Athletics, Orioles and Indians.