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Learned tonight that Bill Werber, the last living teammate of Babe Ruth passed away today at age 100. Werber was a three time stolen base champ, the first player ever to appear in game action on live TV, and was the first All-American basketball player at Duke. With his passing, only Linus Frey is still living from the 1934 Goudey set. Additionally, there are now no living players from the 1934-36 Diamond Stars set. R.I.P. Mr. Werber, you were a great one.
It's always tough when we lose someone who relates to those of us on this board. Billy Werber seemed to have many positive qualities that endured his entire life.
What a life it was..... 100 years old, not only played MLB but played with the likes of the Babe and Gehrig and other HOF's, became a millionaire, and most importantly it appears that he maintained a close and positive relationship with his family.
Now get this- last weekend I listed my copy of Speed Johnson's 1933 "Who's Who in Major League Baseball" on ebay. Since my wife was scanning it, I turned to the page with Bill Werber to show her that he was 100 years old and the last survivor in the entire book. Now he is gone. How do you explain such strange occurrences?
My condolences to his family and to the baseball world.
Edited to add since Linus Frey is still living, he is in fact the last survivor pictured in the book. Still a strange coincidence.
This message has been edited by barrysloate on Jan 23, 2009 6:43 AM
My grandma is approaching the century mark and there is nothing more enjoyable for me than getting her to talk about her life. I only wish I had started asking her 25 years ago!
Marty
This message has been edited by martyogelvie on Jan 23, 2009 9:18 AM
I started getting goudeys signed in the mail in 1988 when I was 13. Most everyobe had passes away by 2000 so i stopped trying. Then last year I got got Billy Werber one more time. It was so much fun getting back an old card like that signed by a player on it. Helped me relive old times (even if my old times were only 20 years before).
I just finished re-reading Werber's book "Memories of a Ballplayer", an interesting book that really shows how he totally enjoyed his life in and out of baseball.