And So This is Chris Dead...

Oh, gee. A mediocre baseball catcher just made it into the 2016 death roll.

Chris...who? Chris Mass?

No, no. If I remember right (and I'm not Googling) Chris was one of the first catchers when the New York Mets became a baseball team in 1962. Expansion teams never do well, even if they have New York money behind them, and the Mets were legendarily inept through the 60's. Like "Dem Bums," the Brooklyn Dodgers, they were beloved no matter what. Memorabilia on anyone who EVER played for the Mets or Yankees is collectible. (Although being in pinstripes, on the YANKEES is MORE collectible than being a Met). If you're some Huelbig with stitches in your fucking skull that look like a baseball, you have to either have your photo taken with EVERY team member, or have an autograph.

CANNIZARO. That's a long last name to write. That, and being a nobody who bounced around to several teams before retiring, means that he's actually a bit pricier than one would expect. Even a shitty 3x5 card is high priced for what it is. He should be in the $1 or $2 range, not $10.

Funny, how some curmudgeon who didn't like to sign anything, or some obscure guy who was rarely asked, can be more expensive than an average good player who was affable with fans.

$39 for a fucking signed photo or ball? FUCK OFF. But rare is rare, and who knows, when word gets out that he croaked, and there will be NO MORE SIGNINGS, the price might even go up.

ALSO: a photo of the player wearing his METS or YANKEES uniform in the photo, will easily be DOUBLE the price than one where he's in the outfit of a lesser team. Chris with a Braves hat on? You can see, THOSE are the $10 cheapies. It isn't just having the autograph, it's having it on a piece of METS r YANKEES memorabilia, not some fucking city nobody cares about, like Atlanta.

On the other side of the pond, another footnote is going six feet under. Sid Bernstein. Er, no, no. Williams. Same thing, really. Most true Beatles fans (ones who have actually read some books on them, and collected some rarities) have heard the two names, and have not been impressed. After all, what are they? Businessmen. And what did they do? They eventually got replaced.

Both of them have turned up on the slightly more in-depth documentaries only real Beatles fans bothered to see. The late Mr. Bernstein was better known in America because he lived in NYC and was always promoting himself as the guy who brought The Beatles to concert venues. But what the fuck could he say besides that? He didn't exactly hang with the Fab Four.

Mr. Williams did remain in Liverpool, so that made him easily available for anyone who had a GOOD reason to talk to him, but what could he say? "I managed them when they were rotten." If not rotten, well, put it this way, WHO plays "My Bonnie" and the other Hamburg stuff, or has been able to sit through the Cavern tapes more than once or twice out of curiosity? So what could the guy talk about? Just enough to be a good sound byte a few times, if he had something to say about Stu "the original 5th Beatle" or maybe Lennon's temper.

I'm not sure if Bernstein was as much of a local celeb as Williams. First off, NYC has so many celebs, and ones easily recognizable, that mere businessmen don't mean much. But both guys bring up the anxious dilemma: what, WHAT do you say to them that hasn't already been asked? You want to acknowledge them in some way, but what way? This is even more of a problem when the person (Williams, not Bernstein) is known to be a curmudgeon.

Oh the anxiety of being around a semi-celebrity. This brings me back to unMerry Chris Dead. No doubt it was whispered in whatever neighborhood HE lived in, "That guy was once a major league ballplayer!" Oh. Well. Er. Maybe I should get his autograph. Maybe I should SAY something to him! Say what? "Er, what was your favorite moment when you played baseball 40 fucking years ago?" Was there one?

Deaths of people like Chris and Mr. Williams do signify the continuing passing of time, and a wistful feeling their their lives NEARLY were a success. Chris could've been an all-star if there weren't about ten better catchers around. Imagine if Williams had guided The Beatles to the top. Chris WAS a ballplayer, not a good one. Wiliams WAS a manager, but lacked the skills and the spark to bring his band to the top. They will be missed. Mostly by their immediate families.