Alvin Dark RIP

[ethicsprof]

I remember watching him manage when I was a boy.
I had quite a few of his 60s cards back then and prized them.
my heartfelt condolences to family, friends, fans,

Barry

[T3s]

I had the good fortune of meeting and spending some time with Mr. Dark in the early 1990's. Bob Bolin is a friend and he and Bob were very close. I remember being impressed with how strong and tough he appeared physically. He pulled no punches while speaking, saying things straight but with a kind heart. Mr. Dark held extremely strong Christian beliefs and was often criticized for this in different ways during his playing and managing days. It was a great thrill meeting Alvin Dark. He was a Marine and true patriot, a wonderfully talented baseball player and athlete, a very successful manager, a dedicated Christian and a fine Southern gentleman. Rest in peace Mr. Dark. God bless.

As an aside, I'll always remember Alvin Dark as manager of the A's, a huge smile on his face wearing a bright white cap with a dark green A's emblem.

[ZenPop]

Originally Posted by T3s

I had the good fortune of meeting and spending some time with Mr. Dark in the early 1990's. Bob Bolin is a friend and he and Bob were very close. I remember being impressed with how strong and tough he appeared physically. He pulled no punches while speaking, saying things straight but with a kind heart. Mr. Dark held extremely strong Christian beliefs and was often criticized for this in different ways during his playing and managing days. It was a great thrill meeting Alvin Dark. He was a Marine and true patriot, a wonderfully talented baseball player and athlete, a very successful manager, a dedicated Christian and a fine Southern gentleman. Rest in peace Mr. Dark. God bless.

As an aside, I'll always remember Alvin Dark as manager of the A's, a huge smile on his face wearing a bright white cap with a dark green A's emblem.

As a die-hard Giants' fan, I always had mixed-emotions about Alvin Dark... So many things to admire... but the accusations of racism REALLY bothered me. How anyone that describes themselves as a "Christian" could hold those beliefs is always a puzzle to me. I hope I'm completely wrong about him... but if he did hold those beliefs, then I really hope he became more enlightened in his later years. Rest in peace.

[howard38]

Originally Posted by ZenPop

As a die-hard Giants' fan, I always had mixed-emotions about Alvin Dark... So many things to admire... but the accusations of racism REALLY bothered me. How anyone that describes themselves as a "Christian" could hold those beliefs is always a puzzle to me. I hope I'm completely wrong about him... but if he did hold those beliefs, then I really hope he became more enlightened in his later years. Rest in peace.

Now that the elephant in the room has been mentioned here is the 1964 quote that dogged his later career:

"We have trouble because we have so many Negro and Spanish speaking players on the team. They are just not able to perform up to the white players when it comes to mental alertness. You can't make most Negro and Spanish speaking players have the pride in their team that you get from white players".

At the time Dark said that the quote was taken out of context (I'm not sure if he ever claimed that he was mis-quoted) and several black players including Willie Mays and Jackie Robinson defended him as someone who treated blacks as equals.

[ZenPop]

From a friend of mine passed this along to me: ...on Alvin Dark becoming a different man in his later years... (and I'm thrilled that he changed like this!):

From this great obit by the San Francisco Chronicle's fabulous John Shea:

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/A...-s-5891185.php

Orlando Cepeda said: "I was a young kid when I played for Alvin — 22, 23. It’s a sad day. He was a great baseball man. Looking back, he made some mistakes, and he said, 'I want to apologize to you and Felipe and Jose Pagan.’ It takes a man to do that.

“He found out Latin players come from a different culture. He said he wanted me to forgive him. I said, 'Alvin, that’s in the past. I know you want the best for me.’ We had a nice visit every time we saw each other. Sometimes we make mistakes. We’re human beings. We grew up in different environments. Times change. We all change.”

I think so much better of the man, now. Well done, Alvin. Rest in peace.

[Section103]

Thank you, John. That's a great piece of the story to close things out.

[deadballfreaK]

I saw an interview with Ozzie Smith a few years back. He gave a lot of credit to Alvin for helping him get started. Ozzie called him a great friend and mentor.

[ZenPop]

Originally Posted by Section103

Thank you, John. That's a great piece of the story to close things out.

I was kind of elated to get that message... Redemption of sorts...

Cheers!

[benderbroeth]

I also believe that Don Johnson is still alive

[powderfinger]

Don Johnson passed away in either December or January. Al Rosen also passed earlier this year. Harry Perkowski hasn't returned mail for approximately 10 months and I don't think Grammas was in the 52 set, though I didn't check before writing this. The list of living players from that iconic set grows shorter all the time. Yogi is still with us, but his mail is being returned with a note that he's no longer able to sign. Willie Mays is virtually blind and only signs on rare occasions for a large fee. Players like Ned Garver and Ed Fitz Gerald still sign for free and others, like Wayne Terwilliger, Charlie Maxwell, Ed Robbinson and others charge $5 or $10 per request. Al Dark was a great signer, though his autograph was very shaky over the past few years. The men still living are very accommodating signers, and with most being in their 80s or 90s the hobby should be thankful they're such good guys.

[egri]

Originally Posted by powderfinger

and others, like Wayne Terwilliger, Charlie Maxwell, Ed Robbinson and others charge $5 or $10 per request. Al Dark was a great signer, though his autograph was very shaky over the past few years. The men still living are very accommodating signers, and with most being in their 80s or 90s the hobby should be thankful they're such good guys.

All postwar collectors should write to Wayne Terwilliger while he's still with us. "Twig" saw action with the Fourth Marine Divison on Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima during World War II. He has some amazing stories to tell, and is well worth the $5 fee. When I wrote to him, I mentioned that my neighbor was a USMC officer during the Vietnam War, and Terwilliger wrote back "Semper Fi to your neighbor, and tell him thanks for his service".

I wrote to Dark about a month and a half before his passing, and he was still signing even then. My SASE was stamped on the back "Unable to sign/Thank you for understanding", but he still signed my card. It must have been one of the last autographs he ever signed. I recall reading somewhere that Dark was stationed in China after the war, and the route they patrolled took them through territory controlled by the Chinese Communists, and they'd always make faces at each other. Then two weeks after Dark's unit was rotated out, the ChiComs massacred the Marines patrolling there.



I don't have a count of living players from the 1952 Topps set, but for my 1953 project, there were about 50 players still living when I started in July 2014, and 44 of them signed TTM for me. Some of those 44 have since died (Dark, Rosen, Pierce, Miller, Minoso...) but overall there are probably 40 or so players alive. That set was about 25% smaller than the 1952 set, and there is a lot of overlap between the two, so I would expect maybe 50-60 players from the 1952 set to still be alive.