RIP, Ed Kirkpatrick

Pretty good utility player for a bunch of teams (Angels, Royals, Pirates, Rangers Brewers) in the '60s and '70s. He'd been severely disabled for many years after a car accident.

 

RIP... When I was a kid, I used to search my baseball card collection for someone who had my birthday.
All the years I searched and he was the only one.

 

I did that too. Tony Armas was the only one for me.

 

Ross Newhan blogs:

<i>I received a call Monday morning that Ed (Spanky) Kirkpatrick, 66, had passed away after a long struggle with throat cancer.

Kirkpatrick didn't carry the national reputation of Sparky Anderson and Dave Niehaus, but among his friends he would become an inspiring figure who came out of Glendora High to play six years with the expansion Angels, and ultimately parts of 16 seaons in all, most often a part-time player with Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Texas and Milwaukee.

Four years after his final major league season in 1977, Kirkpatrck was in a horrific, 1981 auto accident that left him in a coma for 5 1/2 months and in a wheelchair, partially paraylzed, for the rest of his life.

During that time, at parties and other functions, Kirkpatrick never lost his sense of humor and uplifting personality, always willing to send a bet to the track or challenge friends to a football wager, a glint in his eye, and he never lost the love and support of his wife, Judy, who was beside his side through all the often difficult years, but years when their hearts continued to beat as one.</i>

 

Smasher: Thanks for posting that.

RIP