Don Richard Ashburn

Don Richard "Richie" Ashburn died in New York City on September 9, 1997. He was seventy. Born in Tilden, Nebraska, on March 19, 1927, he came east as a center fielder who hit with a spray-chart patience that drove pitchers mad and filled the gaps at Shibe Park and Connie Mack Stadium. Ashburn won batting titles, led the league in hits and walks, and played the outfield as if the grass owed him a living. The 1950 Whiz Kids Phillies rode his table-setting into a pennant. Later seasons with the Cubs and a final year with the brand-new Mets added chapters; the Mets years also began the second career that would define him for a generation of Philadelphians who never saw him play — the broadcast booth. As a Phillies announcer he partnered with Harry Kalas and turned "Whitey" into a municipal uncle: dry, Midwestern, allergic to empty praise. Fans who grew up on those summers learned baseball's grammar from the two of them. The Hall of Fame came in 1995 via the Veterans Committee, late enough to feel like justice and early enough for him to enjoy it. He died after a broadcast trip, still in the work. Gladwyne holds the stone. Philadelphia still hears the cadence.