Sad news arrives today with the word of the passing of Chuck Tanner at the age of 81. Tanner, of course, was the manager of the 1979 Pirates World Series winning team, and probably the most optimistic man ever to wear a baseball uniform.
I had the pleasure of running into Chuck at PNC Park a few years back and asking him if he would be willing to speak to the SABR Forbes Field Chapter at one of our meetings. He immediately agreed and the day he spoke to the group remains one of the highlights of my association with SABR and the Pittsburgh Chapter. He talked and talked (hard to believe, I know) and when his hour was up and I went to tell him he didn't have to stay any longer, he looked at me and told me that he would finish talking when he was ready and not before. So it is always a thrill for me to say that I was sent to the bench by Chuck Tanner.
A post script to that meeting was having the phone ring at home early the next morning, a Sunday morning, only to hear that it was Chuck Tanner calling me to thank me for having him at our meeting. Tanner was a genuine person. The guy you saw in media interviews was the real person. A real gentleman.
One story that he told that day was that he played for the Milwaukee Braves he once pinch hit for Hank Aaron, and not only did he hit for him, he hit a home run in the at bat!! Quite a story, but the spoilsport researchers at SABR will tell you that while Tanner may indeed have pinch hit for Hammerin' Hank, he did not hit a home run when so doing. Too bad, but as they said in the closing lines of John Ford's classic "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence"....."when the truth contradicts the legend, print the legend!" So here's hoping that Tanner continues to tell the story of that pinch hit round tripper of his up there in Baseball Valhalla.
RIP Chuck Tanner.
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