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October 11, 2006

Buck O'Neil, Leo Durocher, Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson

A belated farewell to Buck O'Neil, via the New York Times:

Buck O’Neil, Negro Leagues Pioneer, Is Dead at 94
By RICHARD GOLDSTEINBuck
October 7, 2006

Buck O’Neil, a star first baseman and manager in the Negro leagues and a pioneering scout and coach in the major leagues who devoted the final decade of his life to chronicling the lost world of black baseball, died last night in Kansas City, Mo. He was 94.

Full obit

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Which led me to three other obits of the greats, courtesy the NYT:

Oct. 25, 1972
Jackie Robinson, First Black in Major Leagues, Dies
Dodger Star, in Hall of Fame, Began in '47
By DAVE ANDERSON

Jackie Robinson, who made history in 1947 by becoming the first black baseball player in the major leagues, suffered a heart attack in his home in Stamford, Conn., yesterday morning and died at Stamford Hospital at 7:10 A.M.  He was 53 years old.
Full obit

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October 8, 1991
Leo Durocher, Fiery Ex-Manager, Dies at 86
By THOMAS ROGERS

Leo Durocher, perhaps major league baseball's best example of the win-at-all-costs manager, one who viewed the game not as a challenging pastime for talented athletes but as a sports relative of guerilla warfare, died yesterday in Palm Springs, Calif. He was 86 years old.
Full obit

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August 17, 1948
Babe Ruth, Baseball's Great Star and Idol of Children, Had a Career Both Dramatic and Bizarre
By MURRAY SCHUMACH

Probably nowhere in all the imaginative field of fiction could one find a career more dramatic and bizarre than that portrayed in real life by George Herman Ruth. Known the world over, even in foreign lands where baseball is never played, as the Babe, he was the boy who rose from the obscurity of a charitable institution in Baltimore to a position as the leading figure in professional baseball. He was also its greatest drawing-card, its highest salaried performer--at least of his day--and the idol of millions of youngsters throughout the land.
Full obit