To Absent Friends - Rennie Stennett, Charles Grodin

Two notable persons left us yesterday, and deserve recognition from The Grandstander.

Rennie Stennett

1949-2021

Renaldo "Rennie" Stennett died yesterday at the age of 72, a cancer victim.  Stennett was a valuable member of the Pirates 1971 and 1979 World Series Champion teams.  Being a key member of those teams is reason alone to include Stennett as an Absent Friend.  He was a mid-season call-up in 1971 and in only fifty games, he hit .353 for the Bucs during that season's stretch run.  His career with the Pirates ran from 1971 through 1979, during which Stennett hit .278 over that time.  He then spent two seasons with Giants and retired with a .274 career batting average.

In 1977, Stennett was hitting .334 and battling teammate Dave Parker for the batting title when in August of that season, he suffered a broken leg and dislocated ankle while sliding into second base.  He was never the same ball player after that.

He will also be forever remembered for going 7-for-7 in a game against the Cubs in 1975, a feat never accomplished in MLB before or since.  I was was working in Cleveland, Ohio at the time, and I remember getting a call at my desk from my Dad to tell me that Rennie Stennett had just gone 7-for-7 in an afternoon game against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.  Funny, the things that you remember.  Coincidentally, just this past weekend, I saw a feature about that 7-for-7 performance on the Inside Pirates Baseball show prior to one of the Pirates games.

Mr. Seven-for-Seven

Stennett remained a lifelong Pirate, was active in the Pirates Alumni group and would usually show up a couple of times a year for events at PNC Park.

Charles Grodin

1935-2021

Comic Actor and Pittsburgh native Charles Grodin (Peabody High School grad) died yesterday at the age of 86.

As often happens when someone likes this leaves us, you remember what you remember ("Midnight Run", "The Lonely Guy", "The Heartbreak Kid"), and then you read the obits and realize what you have forgotten.  For instance, he played the Robert Armstrong role in the awful 1976 remake of "King Kong", and he co-starred on Broadway with Ellen Burstyn in the play "Same Time, Next Year."  The movie version of that play is one of Mr. and Mrs. Grandstander's favorites.  It starred Burstyn and Alan Alda, but in watching the movie, you can just see how Grodin would have been perfect in the part.  He also auditioned for Mike Nichols for the role of Benjamin Braddock in "The Graduate", a part that eventually went to Dustin Hoffman.

Grodin also has become a part of our regular vernacular as a result of a scene in the 1988 comedy-action movie "Midnight Run."  Grodin plays a white collar criminal who is being escorted back to justice by a bounty hunter plated by Robert De Niro.  It is a road trip wherein Grodin completely exasperates De Niro which leads to a classic line that De Niro delivers, as only De Niro can, to Grodin:  

"I got two words for you: SHUT THE F--- UP!"

RIP Rennie Stennett and Charles Grodin.