Sadly, another former Oriole passed away last week, when catcher Joe Ginsberg died at a nursing home in Florida. I believe that he had been ill for at least a year because I received this response when I sent him a TTM request almost exactly one year ago.
He was a major league catcher for 13 seasons between 1948-62, and mostly worked in the backup role. He played for seven teams over that time, most notably the Tigers and Orioles, with whom he spent five seasons each. Joe made his O's debut on August 19, 1956 during the second season of the team's existence, and was the 98th player to don the Oriole uniform. He played for the Orioles through the middle of the 1960 season and appeared in 240 games for the Birds.
His career highlight was likely having been the catcher for one of Virgil "Fire" Trucks no-hitters in 1952 during his time with the Tigers.
Prior to the start of his MLB career, he spent two years in the military during WWII. I wish that I could have thanked Joe for his service. Rest in Peace, Mr. Ginsberg.
To briefly explain the misspelled/made up title of these weekly posts: Every Friday, I profile a former Oriole who has passed away. I've substituted the word unpossible for impossible as an homage to a line from "The Simpsons". Young Ralph Wiggum, who is not very smart, says "Me fail English? That's unpossible."
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2 comments:
I think he really did enjoy getting fan mail when he was well enough to sign. He (or his family) had actually made up some black & white post card -size photos that he could send to Mets fans - even though he only played in two games for them.
Paul-That's a great story, thanks for the insight!
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