Longtime Baltimore Oriole player and coach Elrod Hendricks passed away from a heart attack on Wednesday at the age of 64, one day shy of his 65th birthday. Elrod played parts of twelve major league seasons and caught over 600 major league games. He served as the Orioles' bullpen coach for a record 28 seasons and was one of the most popular players in franchise history. This past Monday Hendricks played Santa Claus at the team's annual Christmas party for underprivileged children.I spent an hour with Elrod Hendricks on the visitor's dugout bench at Yankee Stadium a couple of years ago and he struck me, as I'm sure he did everyone, as a kind and decent man. The photo for this blog, and the author photo I've used for each of my first two books in the Baseball Behind the Seams series, is of me walking with Elrod Hendricks following that talk. I'm very happy that the Shortstop book, which is now in production, will carry that photo as well.
God bless Elrod Hendricks.
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