paying tribute to len koenecke

for the last few weeks of the 1935 season, the brooklyn dodgers wore black armbands to honor their deceased teammate, len koenecke.  you can see the armband on this 1993 conlon collection the sporting news card of dodger shortstop lonny frey

when i was researching the armband, i was surprised that i had never heard about koenecke's death before.  he had hit .320 for the dodgers in 1934, but was batting only .283 over 100 appearances in 1935. after the game on september 15, 1935 in chicago, the team headed to saint louis, and koenecke was informed that he was being sent home for the remainder of the season.  he then chartered a plane from saint louis to buffalo (his family was still in new york), but did not survive the trip.

the story goes that koenecke had been drinking before getting on the plane.  he was sitting up front with the pilot and sometime after takeoff became violent.  in the struggle that ensued, he was hit over the head with a fire extinguisher and died.  the plane landed near toronto, ontario, and koenecke was pronounced dead.  here's a link to koenecke's obituary.

as for frey, he lived to the ripe old age of 99, passing away in 2009.

sunday morning target dodgers

did you know that johnny rutherford was a dodger?

he was.  although not the johnny rutherford you probably are thinking of - the one that won the indy 500 three times.  the dodgers' johnny rutherford pitched for them in 1952.  that was it - one and done.  he went 7-7 as a starter and reliever that year, and even appeared in the world series.  he gave up one run in his only inning of work in the fall classic, allowing a triple to mickey mantle who scored on a relay error by pee wee reese.  more impressive is that he hit .290 (9 for 31) in his career.

dave anderson had two stints in la with the dodgers

in between, he played for the giants of all teams.  kirk gibson's on deck decoy played 8 seasons for the dodgers and is now a coach for the rangers. 

lonny frey

like anderson, frey was a middle infielder.  unlike anderson, frey played for the dodgers in the early 1930's.  he broke in with brooklyn in 1933 and spent 4 seasons there before he was traded to the cubs.  the reds snatched him up and he had his best seasons in cincinnati and won a world series with them in 1940.  in 1947 he was a member of the yankees and faced his old team in the world series.  he went 0 for 1 with an rbi but got another ring.

merv shea

shea's lone season with the dodgers came in 1938.  he backed up babe phelps but hit just .183.  according to wikipedia, he played himself in a jimmy stewart movie.  i am almost curious enough to netflix it.