Truly sad. One of the best all around players ever.

Jimi

Always looking for T222 Fatimas!

GOD BLESS Sammy Baugh and his family.

Sammy Baugh, Sonny Jurgensen, and John Riggins made me a lifelong Redskins fan.






TED Z

Here's my favorite card of the greatest Redskin of all ... Rest in peace, Slingin' Sammy ...

RIP Mr. Baugh


Interesting fact:

It was at TCU that he picked up the nickname "Slingin' Sammy" -- but it wasn't for his passing. It was for the rockets he fired to first base as a shortstop and third baseman.



Steve

I have never been a football fan, but have only heard pleasant things about Sammy. He certainly lived a long, full life.

Every player, coach and front office person connected to the NFL should say take a minute of their time to reflect on the greatness of Sammy Baugh and his contributions to the development of the sport. Sadly, most won't.

Maybe not as OT as you'd think...

Sammy is a favorite of a lot of my coworkers. While he may have declined to go to big Hall of Fame events and such, he actually was very open to fans going to his ranch to visit and talk. Some of the guys here went down to spend a couple hours chatting with him, and he shared that, although he made his career in pro football, it was baseball that was his real love.

Sammy was one of those Jim Thorpe type of athletes who could have excelled in virtually any sport, and it would have been great to see him as a pre-war baseball player.

You have to love the old school athletes. These are the guys who still realize that fans are the only reason they were able to get paid to play a game they loved. Wish more modern athletes would learn from them...

He did play in the Cardinals organization for both Columbus and Rochester in '38.

It's true that he was delighted to have fans drop by. I know one fellow who had him sign literally thousands of pieces over the years.

I always loved that his address was simply "General Delivery".

Sammy was always one of my favorites when I was a kid. I have his '50, '51 & '52 Large, which makes mention that he ran a ranch in the same town back then as he still lived when he passed & that he turned down a "football" offer to play for the Cardinals, which I believe should have been printed "baseball".

I don't recall ever noticing this apparent UER before---Does anyone have one that says baseball?

Fred,

I don't believe that's what the comment on the card means.

"Rejected a St. Louis Cards' contract to make a career of football.", I believe, means that he rejected the contract (in order) to make a career in football.

In 1952, St. Louis did not have an NFL team. The Cardinals were in Chicago at the time, and did not move to St. Louis until 1960. So, in 1952, the St. Louis Cardinals was the name of only the baseball team.


Steve

Steve



I see what you mean! To me, the sentence could be interpreted either way.



The comments you & Jodi made about his baseball background and then seeing the comment on the card had me thinking baseball all the way!

I also knew there was no St Louis Cardinals at the time, which again suggests he was rejecting baseball.