MIKE ANTONE, a first baseman who played in the minor leagues in1975 and ’76, died Sept. 11. He was 65.
KIM BATISTE, a third baseman and shortstop who played in the major leagues for five seasons from 199194 and in ’96, died Oct. 7 in Louisiana. He was 52.
Batiste hit .234/.250/.318 with 10 home runs, 64 RBIs and four stolen bases in 251 career games for the Phillies and Giants.
WHITEY FORD, a Hall of Fame lefthander who spent all 16 seasons with the Yankees and won six World Series, a Cy Young Award and a World Series MVP, died Oct. 8 in New York. He was 91.
Ford pitched to a 236-106, 2.75 record and holds the highest winning percentage (.690) of any pitcher with 150 or more victories. In addition to holding the Yankees franchise mark for wins, Ford’s 10 World Series victories are the most in history. In 1961, he won the American League Cy Young Award and finished fifth in MVP voting with a 25-4, 3.21 record and 209 strikeouts in a league-high 283 innings.
This story is from the November 2020 edition of Baseball America.
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This story is from the November 2020 edition of Baseball America.
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Wood Has Towering Upside- Nationals rookie James Wood also stands 6-foot-7 and also has game-changing power.
Aaron Judge and Oneil Cruz are 6-foot7 sluggers who stand out for their power in this year’s MLB Best Tools voting. Wood spent half of this season with Triple-A Rochester before making his MLB debut on July 1. While he was in the International League, he captured managers’ attention. Wood unanimously won Best Power Prospect and also claimed Most Exciting Player in a survey of league skippers. Wood hit .353/.463/.595 with 10 home runs in 52 games for Rochester. His .242 isolated slugging was the best for a player 21 or younger at Triple-A this season.
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