He was better known as Dick Stuart, and his name was even more familiar when recalled as "Dr. Strangeglove" because of his many errors at his first base position for 10 years in the major leagues.Even if it has to be "Strangeglove" that reminds fans of his home run achievements, I'm happy. But I just knew him as a fine friend. We met after his big league career had ended and he worked for a collection agency, carrying with him 8X10 photos instead of a business card. We worked financial deals together, and then he agreed to be my batting instructor for the 1981 Mount Vernon Generals of the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League. It was a great year because Mount Vernon won for the first time in 15 years. Our record was 29 and 12, the best.
On that team, I was President, GM, and first base coach. Special coaching advisors that year was ex big leaguer, Nick Testa, and Fred Calaicone of Pace. Along with Dick, is it any wonder that we won the flag in '81? A guy named Bobby DeVincenzo was the manager.
The leading batter on Mt. Vernon was promising catcher, Joe Pareres, while our regular third baseman was a guy named Gene Larkin. Parers led the team in hitting with .386 and 3 home runs while Larkin was only "fair:", at .289 and one home run. But Larkin spent 6 years with the Minnesota Twins. Joe P. didn't get signed but still plays!!!
Maybe a bit of Dick Stuart rubbed off on everybody.
Dick was a lovable guy who never stopped kidding and telling us his baseball stories. In 1960, when Pittsburgh's Bill Mazeroski hit his famous series ending home run to defeat the New York Yankees in that 7th game, guess who was on deck at the time? Big Stu. I once invited him to a party and he asked the host this trivia question. No one knew the answer. Stu said, "It was ME. I was on deck!!!" And who hit the most professional home runs in one year? Well, it wasn't Barry Bonds. It was Stuart. Here's how he did it. With Lincoln, in the minors, in 1958, he belted 66 home runs, and he finished the season with the Pirates, adding 16 more for a grand total of 82.
Dick always claimed that while he made lots of errors, 160, he fielded balls that nobody else could reach for. In 1963 and 1964, when playing for the Boston Red Sox, he had a total of 2366 putouts, but also had a total of 238 assists, better than most. And he had an explanation for the 53 errors he had for those seasons.
Kiddingly, Dick once said, " Moe. When my mom and dad came to see me play, I didn't let them sit behind first base. It was too dangerous."
A famous Stuart quote, "One night in Pittsburgh, thirty- thousand fans gave me a standing ovation when I caught a hot dog wrapper on the fly."
The hot dog story is true!
For a guy 6 feet 4 inches and a 200 pound frame, he also belted 30 career triples and only 157 doubles. What an unusually high ratio. But he said many of those doubles could have been triples but he always paid attention to his third base coaches.
He wound up his career with a respectable .264 lifetime batting average, 228 home runs, with 743 runs batted in, with 1,055 hits. He struck out 957 times in 3,997 at-bats, much better than lots of guys who are swinging and missing these days. No, he wasn't a Hall of Famer.
Dick Stuart's career ended with the Dodgers, Mets, and California, in 1969. He became very low key in later life. We spoke periodically, but I could never get him to attend any baseball functions, with one exception. I persuaded him show up at the annual New York Baseball Writers Dinner, where I listened to him and Dusty Rhodes trade stories. But that was a long time ago.
Dick became a loner. He was a California guy all his life. And while we traded Christmas cards, none of us made a move to visit the other. That's life, but I regret not speaking to him for the last half year.
He did have a daughter who used to show up once in a while in Mount Vernon, but he might have also had a son. I just don't remember.
All I know is that I learned of his passing by picking up the newspaper like everybody else. The difference, of course, is that I was shell-shocked. 70 was much too soon.
I will always miss him.
