The Baseball RIP Roster for 2024

We lost many former major league baseball players in 2024. Here is a review and roster of the most prominent ones.

Issue #213

Every year the baseball world loses many former major league players. 2024 was no different, as three Hall of Fame players (Willie Mays, Rickey Henderson, Orlando Cepeda), the controversial all-time hits leader (Pete Rose), and a host of other well-known players all passed away. I did searches at Stathead to review the full lists and compiled the following roster of the most well known players (age of death in parentheses):

I recently did a lengthy profile of one of the top players here, Rickey Henderson: Best, Worst, Outliers, and Oddities. He is of course widely regarded as baseball’s greatest base-stealer, leadoff hitter, and run-scorer, amongst many other accolades.

Willie Mays remains in just about everyone’s all-time Top-5 overall player lists—often still ranking #1. He was an all-star in 20 seasons, won 12 Gold Glove Awards in CF, was Rookie of the Year in 1951, and took home two MVP Awards—but perhaps deserved more as he led the NL in WAR an amazing ten times!

Pete Rose was “Charlie Hustle” as a player, collecting more hits than anyone (4,256), and leading the NL in hits 7 times while winning three batting titles. He too was NL Rookie of the Year (1963), and was an All-Star in 17 seasons. He earned Gold Glove Awards in RF in 1969 and 1970, but as noted in the depth chart above, over his career spent significant time at four other positions as well: 1B, 2B, 3B, and LF.

Orlando Cepeda (1958-1974) was also NL Rookie of the Year, in 1958 in his case. He was a teammate of Willie Mays in San Francisco and was an All-Star in six consecutive seasons before being traded to the Cardinals in May of 1966. The next year he was again an All-Star and ended up winning the NL MVP as well. Overall he had eight seasons with 25+ HR and five with 100+ RBI, hitting 379 career HR with a .297/.350/.499 slash line and 133 OPS+.

Rocky Colavito (1955-1968) was a slugging RF/LF in the American League, mostly with the Indians and Tigers. An All-Star in six seasons, he hit 30+ HR seven times, and had 100+ RBI six times. He retired with a .266/.359/.489 slash line and a 132 OPS+.

Beyond those five biggest names, here are some highlights for the many other position players who passed away in 2024 and that I included in the above roster:

• 1B/OF Ed Kranepool (1962-79) was a New York City native who played his entire 18-year career for the Mets, getting a call-up at age 17 in 1962. He didn’t hit lefties well (.220 versus .268 against RHP), so that combined with only modest power and zero speed on the bases limited his playing time to some extent.

• 1B/OF Dave McCarty 1993-96, 98, 2000-05) was a generally part-time player, for seven different teams across 11 seasons. He died at only age 54 after suffering a cardiac event on April 19, 2024.

• 2B Billy Gardner (1954-63) played for five teams over a 10-year career. His best season came in 1957 for the Orioles when he led the AL with 644 at-bats and 36 doubles.

• 2B Gary Sutherland (1966-78) played for seven teams over a 13-year career. More known for his defense than offense, Sutherland led all NL second basemen with 110 double plays turned during the 1969 season. He also scored the first run in franchise history for the Montreal Expos and recorded the first ever putout in a regular season MLB game played in Canada.

• SS Bud Harrelson (1965-1980) was a long-time teammate of Kranepool mentioned above. He was an All-Star in both 1970 and 1971, and also took home the NL Gold Glove Award at SS in 1971. He twice stole 20+ bases in a season, but always had either 0 or 1 HR each year, for a grand total of 7 HR in 5,516 career plate appearances.

• SS U L Washington (1977-87) played 11 seasons, mostly for the Royals. He had some speed, stealing 20+ bases three times with a high of 40 SB in 1983. Two bits of trivia: he was well-known for playing with a toothpick in his mouth (both on the field and when batting), and his name was just “U L”—those letters are not short for anything.

• SS/2B Larry Brown (1963-1974) played 12 seasons, mostly for the Indians. He was generally a good defender, but hit only .233 over his career with modest power, posting a high of 12 HR in his second season in 1964.

• 3B Bill Melton (1968-77) played all but his final two of ten seasons for the White Sox. He hit 20+ HR five times, including pacing the AL with 33 HR in 1971, his one All-Star campaign.

• 3B Don Wert (1963-71) played all but his final season with the Tigers, and was the starting 3B for the their 1968 World Series championship team. A good defender at the hot corner, he was often amongst the AL leaders in 3B assists, putouts, and fielding percentage.

• 3B Mike Cubbage (1974-81) played in parts of nine seasons, mostly in the AL with the Twins and Rangers. His best season came in 1978 when he hit 7 HR and 7 triples, with a .282/.348/.401 slash line and 109 OPS+.

• C Jerry Grote (1963-64, 66-78, 81) was a teammate of Kranepool and Harrelson on the Mets for much of his career, catching for the likes of Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Nolan Ryan, and others. A light hitter but very good defensive catcher, he was an All-Star in 1968 and 1974.

• C Ed Ott (1974-81) played most of his 8-year career for the Pirates, including serving as the primary catcher for the 1979 World Series championship team. A left-handed batter, he often was platooned behind the plate as he hit RHP much better than LHP.

• C Hank Foiles (1953, 55-64) played for seven different teams across his 11-year career. He was an All-Star in 1957 when he posted a career high 9 HR to go with a .270/.352/.431 slash line and 112 OPS+.

• LF/DH Rico Carty (1963-67, 69-70, 72-79) had an outstanding rookie campaign for the Braves in 1964 when he hit 22 HR in 133 games with an impressive .330 average and 161 OPS+. His only All-Star season came in 1970 when he led the NL with a .366 average and .454 OBP, hitting 25 HR with 101 RBI. He retired with 204 HR and an impressive .299 average and .369 OBP.

• LF Charlie Maxwell (1950-52, 54-64) played in parts of 14 seasons, with his best years coming with the Tigers. This included four seasons with 20+ HR and 80+ RBI, including 1956-57 when he was an AL All-Star.

• CF Tony Scott (1973-75, 77-84) was only a career .249 hitter, but was a good defensive CF and had some speed, with four seasons of 18+ SB, and a high of 37 in 1979.

• CF/LF Johnny Jeter (1969-74) played for four teams across his six seasons. A career .244 hitter, he had modest power and speed with 18 HR and 28 SB in 873 career at-bats.

• OF/PH Merv Rettenmund (1968-80) was generally a part-time player in his 13-year career. He hit 18 HR with a .322 average in 1970 and then posted 75 RBI with a .318 average in 1971. He was an effective pinch hitter in the second half of his career, and retired with a solid .271/.381/.406 slash line and 123 OPS+.

• OF Whitey Herzog (1956-63) is of course well-known as a Hall of Fame manager, leading the Cardinals to three NL pennants in the 1980s and the World Series Championship in 1982. But before that he was a major league OF for four different teams across eight seasons. His career highs were 8 SB in 1956 and 8 HR in 1960, with an overall .257 average and .354 OBP.

Amongst pitchers, a mythical rotation made up of Luis Tiant, Fernando Valenzuela, Ken Holtzman, Carl Erskine, and Don Gullett—if all in their prime—would have been quite solid.

• SP Luis Tiant (1964-82) received 31% of the BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame vote in his first year of eligibility in 1988, but hasn’t gotten level of support since—including six appearances on various Veterans committee ballots. He was a 3-time All-Star, had four 20+ win seasons, and won two ERA titles with a 1.60 mark in 1968 and 1.91 in 1972.

• SP Fernando Valenzuela (1980-91, 93-97), as a 19-year old, gave Dodgers fans a brief taste of what to expect in 1980 when he pitched 10 games in relief, not allowing any runs in 17.2 IP. In 1981 Fernando-mania swept across baseball, only being curtailed by the strike that season. Nonetheless he led the NL in IP, strikeouts, complete games, and shutouts while posting a 13-7 record and 2.48 ERA. He won both the NL ROY award and Cy Young Award that year, the first of six consecutive All-Star seasons.

• SP Ken Holtzman (1965-79) had some success with the Cubs before being traded to the A’s for OF Rick Monday after the 1971 season. He flourished in Oakland, winning 18-21 games in each of the next four seasons, and was an All-Star in both 1972 and 1973.

• SP Carl Erskine (1948-59) played all 12 of his major league seasons for the Dodgers, with a 2.70 ERA in 1952 and then a 20-6 record the following year.

• SP Don Gullett (1970-78) played all but two of his seasons for the Reds, and was a key part of the Big Red Machine of the 1970s. He had four seasons with 15+ wins and retired with a 3.11 ERA and 113 ERA+.

Here are some highlights for the other starting pitchers, and the relievers, that I listed above:

• SP Joey Jay (1953-55, 57-66) started his career with the Braves, but his best two seasons came with the Reds when he went 21-10 in 1961 and 21-14 in 1962.

• SP Rudy May (1965, 69-83) had an early taste of the majors in 1965 with the Angels in his age-20 season, and then made it back in 1969 and pitched for 15 more years. He won 15+ games three times, and late in his career as mixed starter/reliever in 1980 he led the AL with a 2.46 ERA.

• SP Denny Lemaster (1962-72) split his career between the Braves and Astros, posting five 10+ win seasons and earning All-Star recognition in 1967.

• SP José DeLeón (1983-95) was a high-strikeout and high-walks kind of pitcher. He had some rough seasons, including two 19-loss campaigns in 1985 with the Pirates and 1990 with the Cardinals. But the year before, in 1989, he went 16-12, with a 3.05 ERA and led the NL with 201 strikeouts.

• SP Pat Zachry (1976-85) started out strong in 1976, winning the NL ROY award with the Reds, going 14-7 with a 2.74 ERA. But that would end up being the best season of his 10-year career, the bulk of which was spent with the Mets.

• RP/SP Al McBean (1961-70) pitched most of his career for the Pirates, with two solid seasons as a starter in 1962 and 1968 bookending a stretch of fine relief years. He went 13-3 with a 2.57 ERA and 11 saves in 1963, and then posted a 1.91 ERA with 21 saves the following season, and a 2.29 ERA with 19 saves in 1965.

• RP Doug Bird (1973-83) pitched the first and better half of his career with the Royals, mostly as a reliever. This included a strong debut in 1973 when he posted a 2.99 ERA with 20 saves, followed by a 2.73 ERA and 10 saves in 1974.

• RP/SP Al Fitzmorris (1969-78) started his career mostly as a reliever before switching to a starting role and posting three consecutive seasons with 13-16 wins each.

• RP Reyes Moronta (2017-19, 21-23) was very effective for the Giants in 2018 with a 2.49 ERA in 65 IP, and in 2019 with a 2.86 ERA in 56.2 IP. He died at the age of 31 on July 28, 2024, in an all-terrain vehicle accident in the Dominican Republic.

• RP/SP Bud Daley (1955-1964) was an All-Star for the Kansas City Athletics in both 1959 and 1960, finishing both seasons with 16 wins.

• RP Larry Demery (1974-77) had an arm injury that cut his career short, but he was generally effective in four seasons for the Pirates including a 2.90 ERA in 1975 and a 3.17 ERA in 1976.

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Did you know? I wrote a book with the same title as this Substack newsletter / blog: Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises. It was published in early 2019, by ACTA Sports, the publisher of the annual Bill James Handbook and other popular titles. You can learn more about it at www.NowTakingTheField.com, or buy directly at Amazon and other booksellers.