Thanks to Loyal Reader and NPL Buddy Harv for tipping me off to the fact that former Pirates Skipper Larry Shepard passed away yesterday at the age of 92.
Shepard had a rather undistinguished tenure as Pirates manager in 1968-69, although, in terms of winning percentage, it was a lot more distinguished that the administrations of recent Bucs' pilots. My one memory of Shepard was that at one point he seriously lobbied Joe L. Brown to trade Roberto Clemente to the Washington Senators for, I believe, short stop Ed Brinkman. (That would have made Aramis Ramirez for Bobby Hill look good by comparison!)
I also remember asking Bill Mazeroski at a golf outing a number of years back what he thought of Larry Shepard as a manager (can't remember why that even came up at the time). Maz' response was that Shepard "was okay for an a******." (If you can't figure it out, that's a body part that everyone has!)
Fairly or not, something tells me that the passing of Larry Shepard will not be met with the rush of sadness and great memories as did the recent passing of Chuck Tanner.
RIP Larry Shepard.
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