Rest In Peace Marty Kane
A lifetime baseball enthusiast who introduced me to the joys of collecting baseball caps, Marty Kane just passed away at 86. There are likely a few board members here who met Marty, who sold off his vast collection of caps in recent years.
Like many of baseball's most enthusiastic fans, he grew up in Brooklyn during the late 1940s and early 1950s. A supreme storyteller, Marty loved sharing memories from that time. My favorite story was one where he was seated behind Joe DiMaggio during the 1954 World Series at Polo Grounds. When Willie Mays made his famous catch, Marty said that Toots Shore turned to DiMaggio and said, "Joe, you would've caught that." And Joe replied, "No F***ing way." A few years ago, Marty wrote down the story and sent into Willie, who replied with a nice letter in return.
Andy Pafko was Marty's favorite player, and he became a Mets fan when the Dodgers left Brooklyn. But he never really let go of the Bums, and in his later years, he collected pinbacks of the Boys of Summer. He was also a regular at Dodgers fantasy camps, where he befriended many former players like Tommy Davis and Frank Howard (and non-players, like Glenn Frey of the Eagles) — I posted a photo below of him with one of his more memorable fantasy teammates.
Rest easy Marty — if they're playing baseball in the afterlife, I have no doubt that that's where I'll find you one day.
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02-02-2025, 06:59 PM
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