After debuting at 19, outfielder blossomed into 2time AllStar
Claudell Washington, who was called up to the big leagues at the age of 19 despite never playing baseball at Berkeley High School, died of complications from prostate cancer at an East Bay hospital Tuesday night.
“I couldn’t find a better friend than Claudell,” former A’s starter Mike Norris said Wednesday morning. “I’m at a loss for words. This is one of the toughest days of my life right here. He was like a brother to me.”
Washington, 65, was one of the more underrated players of the 1970s and ’80s, making two AllStar teams, including the 1975 team at the age of 20. He hit .308 that year, his first full majorleague season.
“If you hit .308 at the Coliseum, that’s doing something,” Norris said. “Claudell’s skill set was unique: He didn’t have the most power, but he could hit homers. He wasn’t the fastest player, but he could steal bases. He was a good outfielder. And he was one of the best hitters I’ve ever seen.
“I don’t care what you’re doing, you’re not getting a fastball by him, and he was never intimidated, not by Nolan Ryan, not anyone. He had no respect for pitchers at all.”
Washington had dealt with cancer and other ailments for the past several years, and Norris said he’d entered the ICU Sunday. J.J. Guinn, the
scout who’d signed Washington when Washington was working as a janitor, visited him Monday, according to Norris. “He was in a lot of pain and misery at the end,” Norris said. “I hope he is in a better place.”
Washington made his bigleague debut with the A’s on July 5, 1974, when catcher Ray Fosse went on the disabled list, Fosse recalled Wednesday.
“Just a tremendous talent and he always had a smile on his face,” Fosse said. “We called him the clothes hanger, because his shoulders were so broad and the rest of him was so thin. A quiet guy — I think he just let his talents on the field do it.”
Three nights later, Washington’s second game in the big leagues was particularly memorable: He tripled at the Coliseum and later provided the gamewinning hit in the 10th inning off Cleveland’s Gaylord Perry, who’d been trying to nail down his 16th consecutive victory. Washington also was 4for7 in the World Series that year.
“He had so much raw ability, everything you’d want in a ballplayer,” former A’s third baseman Sal Bando said Wednesday. “He fit in well and really helped us when we needed a spark.”
Phil Garner, a teammate of Washington’s in Oakland, said: “The more he played, the better he got. That’s a tribute to the talent he had. Just a
“Just talent a and tremendous he always had a smile on his face.”
Ray Fosse, former A’s catcher
lovable kid, a real bright personality.”
Washington played for seven teams in his 17year bigleague career and hit .278 with 164 homers and 312 stolen bases. He made his second AllStar Game in 1984 as a member of the Atlanta Braves, and in 1988, he hit the 10,000th homer in Yankees history. He was also involved in several highprofile trades, including going from the Rangers to the White Sox for Bobby Bonds in 1978 and from the Braves to the Yankees for Ken Griffey Sr. in 1986.
In addition, Washington has some popculture cred: He is mentioned in the 1986 teen classic “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off ”; it’s his foul ball that Ferris catches while playing hooky at Wrigley Field.
In 1985, Washington was one of 21 bigleague players investigated for cocaine use during the Pittsburgh drug trials, but his sixmonth suspension was revoked after he made charitable donations and completed community service.