Carl Erskine Cause of Death: Last surviving member of iconic Dodgers team of 1950s dies aged 97 due to pneumonia
The last remaining member of the "Boys of Summer" Los Angeles Dodgers Carl Erskine, has passed away. The 97-year-old former pitcher contracted pneumonia and passed away. The legendary player is survived by his wife, Betty, and four children, five grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren.
Carl Erskine was a one-time All-Star and won the 1955 World Series. He had a career ERA of 4.00 and 13.9 bWAR. He pitched to the record of 122-78 over the course of his MLB career, which did not include any other teams aside from the Dodgers.
Carl Erskine passed away at the age of 97
Carl Erskine was one of the players who played with Jackie Robinson. The Boys of Summer were an iconic part of LA history, and Erskine was the final living player who was on any of those teams.
Filmmaker Ted Green, who made a documentary on Erskine, said via MSN:
"He was the best guy I've ever known."
Erskine was a basketball player for a while and he admitted in 2015 that putting on a baseball uniform for the first time in high school proved to be a difficulty. He had mostly only played basketball growing up and was changing sports at this time:
"I didn't know how to put on a baseball uniform. It's got those funny socks and a few things inside you don't see and I didn't know how to put it on. The little shortstop in high school was a guy named Popeye Parker.
"And I just, without anybody watching me hopefully, I was watching him get dressed. He'd put on a piece and I'd put on piece. He'd put on the next piece. And I'd put on the next piece. And then I got to letter four years in high school."
Several teams had their eye on Erskine as he was in high school and taking up baseball, but he preferred the Dodgers to them. Our thoughts are with the team, MLB, and his family during this difficult time.