Thursday, May 27, 2010

RIP Morrie Martin

Unfortunately, another former Oriole passed away earlier this week.
Morris "Morrie" Martin passed away on Monday after an almost year-long battle with lung cancer. He was 87, so at least he lived a long life, but I'm sure he and his family had to deal with a lot over the course of the past year.

He was a WWII veteran who played for 7 different teams over 10 seasons in the Big Leagues upon returning home from combat. He was only with the Orioles for the last few months of the 1956 season, and his only Orioles card is the card in the Crown set.

Morrie was a great TTM signer over the years, and signed at approximately a 95% clip until being diagnosed with lung cancer in June of 2009. Since then, he only returned a few requests that were sent his way, for obvious reasons. He was busy trying to fight off the disease that was trying to kill him.

I sent him a TTM request last September, but had no idea that he was sick at that time. I am not a fan of people that send requests when they hear that someone is near the end of their days. I guess that it seems a little morbid to me.

Well, I never received my TTM request back and once I heard that he had passed away, I grabbed the card below on the bay. I'm sure that more of his autographs will be listed soon and that the prices will get jacked up once sellers hear that he passed away (another thing that pisses me off). It will be very hard to ever find his signed Crown card, but at least this card is an upgrade over the index card at the top of the post.

Rest in Peace Morrie. Thanks for being a great signer while you were with us!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

A nice interview with Martin about his WWII service and baseball career. May he rest in peace.

http://www.examiner.com/x-33368-NY-Baseball-History-Examiner~y2010m5d26-Morrie-Martin-former-Brooklyn-Dodger-and-World-War-II-hero-passes-away-at-87

Orioles Magic said...

Thanks Kening, I appreciate it

Anonymous said...

I am Morrie Martin's grandaughter and just happened across your post and I know my grandpa would have honored your request had he been in better health. He admired his fans as much as they admired him. We are suffering a tremendous loss as is the baseball community. My grandpa was an inspiration in every sense of the word. Thank you so much for remembering him.

Orioles Magic said...

It's great to hear from you. From all accounts, it sounds like your grandfather was a great man. Thank you for the comment!