3/29/18

R.I.P. - Rusty Staub



From Bill Madden/NYDN - 

Staub died at 12:30 a.m. Thursday at the Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, due to multiple organ failure. He was initially admitted with pneumonia, dehydration and an infection and had spent the last eight weeks in the hospital. He would have turned 74 on Sunday.

12 comments:

Mack Ade said...

This is very sad.

He was 73... I am 71... makes one wonder.

Take care of yourselves folks. Lose that excess weight, add some exercise, eat less sugar and starches, quit smoking, moderate drinking (I haven't had one in 34 years), and forget the blow.

This makes one want to turn off the TV and computer for the rest of the day.

Tom Brennan said...

Sad. First saw young Rusty as a Houston Colt 45. Great Met.

Unknown said...

As you know I’m affectionately known by some as either Rustyjr or Rusty Staub illegitimate son - i am devastated by the news of his passing

Mack Ade said...

Ed -

I thought he was getting better...

Mack Ade said...

@BenHoffmanNYT

Rusty Staub may not have been a Hall of Famer, but he reached base more than Rogers Horsby, Tony Gwynn or Honus Wagner. And 1,000 more times than Joe DiMaggio. Raise a glass to the guy who was Moneyball long before there was Moneyball.

Unknown said...

I believe that his health status was closely guarded for his privacy .. even when Keith said he looked well on Sunday that he was being cagey .. at least he’s not in anymore pain . As a person that identifies as an atheist/secular humanist I may not believe in an afterlife but I do believe that he lives on in our memories as well as the photos, interviews & video that exists on him .. I will always love William Daniel Staub

Hobie said...

Always thought of Krane & Rusty as parallels, playing as teenagers for expansion teams. Both my age and among my all time favorites.

Reese Kaplan said...

I've told this story here before but it bears repeating. When I was about 12 years old my father took me to the Mets Welcome Home dinner at one of the big Manhattan hotels. After the event they announced some players would stay around for autogrpahs. Wayne Garrett actually knocked down someone in his haste to escape the ballroom. Rusty Staub stood up and I figured, "Oh, here goes another one."

However, he took off his sport jacket, folded it neatly, rolled up his sleeves and said, "I'll stay here as long as it takes to meet everyone. All I ask is that you form a line." A class act all the way.

Years later when I ran into him at his restaurant I mentioned that incident to him and he seemed genuinnely surprised that I would have remembered him doing that. He stood and talked to me and my guest for about 15 minutes before moving on to see other patrons in the restaurant.

He is sorely missed for sure.

Tom Brennan said...

What a nice memory, Reese

TP said...

Rusty was both a classy MLB player and a class act, very charitable and giving. Very sad day. RIP.

Jon Messinger said...

Both my age, and both among my all time favorites, too. Never met Rusty, but do remember the wonderful job he did with his charity for N.Y.C. firemen and policemen for years, but especially during 9/11; 100% of the donations went to the victims and their families, none to "overhead." Knew Eddie from the basketball courts, not that I was on his level of being all city in his 2nd sport. Know he's note doing well; hoping that he gets better soon .

Tom Brennan said...

Hey, Rusty and Kranepool often came up in a discussion of Which of the slow foots would win a race.

Answer: Staub. Cagey Rusty stole 47 of 80 in his career, Eddie the K just 15 of 42.

Just more proof Rusty got everything he could out of his baseball skills - and out of life.