04/18/24
August 12, 2002
MLB's Enos "Country" Slaughter, dead at 86,: is probably best remembered for one of baseball's 25 greatest moments: a "Mad Dash" that scored the tiebreaking run from first base in Game 7 of the 1946 World Series. The Hall of Famer was born just up the road in Roxboro, NC, but the Durham paper, whose sports editor actually discovered Slaughter in the early 1930s, had only a tiny obit today. Why? Perhaps it's those lingering accusations that Slaughter "attempted to influence the Cardinal players to go on strike to protest Jackie Robinson's presence on the Dodgers. Slaughter vehemently denied any involvement, as well as the commonly repeated charge (by Ken Burns, among others) that he intentionally spiked Robinson in an August 1947 game. The Miami Herald obit covers that incident thoroughly.
posted by mediareport to baseball at 07:10 PM - 5 comments
The Herald-Sun ran a long obituary of Slaughter filed 10 hours after the first item, along with a second feature. The sports section also has a multimedia slideshow about him. They're on top of the story; they just needed a half-day longer to prepare it.
posted by rcade at 07:28 AM on August 13, 2002
Just got back from the coffeeshop on the corner with the Durham paper in hand. It's actually front-page, above-the-fold news. Apologies to the Herald-Sun for jumping the gun and assuming their quick first story was it. Btw, his family sang 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game" as he died.
posted by mediareport at 08:11 AM on August 13, 2002
Johnny Pesky was going to attend the funeral, but he arrived a little too late.
posted by yerfatma at 08:14 AM on August 13, 2002
Am I the only one who finds something a little creepy about the 'take me out to the ballgame' bit?
posted by tieguy at 08:46 AM on August 13, 2002
It could just be that the Herald-Sun isn't exactly the world's greatest newspaper these days. [I'd argue generally better than the Miami Herald, but... that doesn't say a whole lot.]