Old Reliable, Requiescat In Pace

I got to know a little bit about Tommy Henrich from reading books such as David Halberstam’s fine book Summer of ’49, and everything I learned about Henrich was positive.

Work habits. Teamwork. Clutch play. All exemplary.

His life away from the ballpark apparently also qualifies.

Henrich, who died Tuesday at 96, even made an impression on the cynical Casey Stengel, his manager for two seasons with the Yankees:

“He’s a fine judge of a fly ball,” the Old Professor told The New Yorker in 1949. “He fields grounders like an infielder. He never makes a wrong throw, and if he comes back to the hotel at 3 in the morning when we’re on the road and says he’s been sitting up with a sick friend, he’s been sitting up with a sick friend.”