Paul Blair enjoyed a seventeen year Major League career. I was well aware that he played on four pennant winning teams with the Baltimore Orioles, two of which went on to win the World Series. I had forgotten, and would have been unable to remember if pressed on the matter, that he also played on two World Series winners with the Yankees in 1977 and 1978. I, of course, have a distinct memory that he played on the losing team in the 1971 World Series. He was 69 years old.
Pittsburgh criminal defense attorney James Ecker died on Christmas morning at the age of 84. If you were regular watcher of TV news in Pittsburgh over the years, you are familiar with the sight of Ecker and his distinctive white head of hair as he accompanied one notorious or heinous accused criminal during a perp walk following an arrest or during one highly publicized criminal trial or another. I suppose it is easy to look down upon a guy who "always" seemed to defend such "obviously guilty" people, but if we value the Constitution and the rights that it bestows upon all of us, we really should value the role that people like Jim Ecker play in our society. To that end, I would highly recommend that you read Tony Norman's column in this morning's Post-Gazette:
As an aside, I found it most interesting that in his spare time, Jim Ecker enjoyed reading John Grisham novels.
RIP Paul Blair and James Ecker.
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