Baseball's Oldest Living former major leaguer,
Eddie Carnett, passed away on
Friday (November 4, 2016). He celebrated his 100th birthday just a few weeks ago and was
featured here in a few posts upon that occasion. Eddie started his career as a pitcher, but was converted to the outfield, and he also played a bit at first base. In the majors, Eddie debuted as a pitcher with the Boston Braves in 1941. After being converted to position player, he was with the White Sox in 1944 and the Indians in 1945. He was then called up by Uncle Sam to serve in WWII. Upon his return, the Indians released him. He continued on in the minors for a few more years (mostly in the Cubs system) and then became a long-time player coach with the Borger Gassers, retiring in 1954. With Eddie's death, Bobby Doerr become the Oldest Living former major leaguer. Bobby is 98.
Eddie was originally signed by the Cubs. I'm not sure what team he rooted for, but I'm glad the Cubbies could win a Series while he was still around.
The best images of Eddie are already up on the site--
here,
here, and
here--so I'll just add in this image of Eddie from 2012, when he threw out the first pitch at a Mariners Turn Back The Clock game.