Rusty Staub
1944-2018
"Le Grande Orange"
Rusty Staub, one of the more dominant players of his era, died earlier this week, a few days shy of his 74th birthday.
Staub played for twenty-three seasons, 1963-85, for five different teams, Astros, Expos, Mets, Rangers, and Tigers. He had a career batting average of .279, hit 292 home runs, and had 2,712 hits. He was essentially the first great player of the Montreal Expos franchise, whose fans gave him that iconic French nickname, "Le Grande Orange". He was guy I never liked to see come to bat against the Pirates in a critical situation.
Did you scoff when I said that he was one of the more dominant players of his era? Baseball-Reference considers him "similar" to Tony Perez, Dave Parker, Brooks Robinson, Steve Garvey, and Al Oliver. Pretty good company.
RIP Rusty Staub.
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