Remembering Oscar Gamble

Sad news from baseball on Wednesday, as we learned of the death of Oscar Gamble. The lefthanded hitting outfielder belted 200 home runs with seven different teams over a 17-season career.
Although his best season came with the 1977 White Sox, the affable Alabaman is best remembered for a pair of stretches as a Yankee (1976; 1979-'84), including three trips to the playoffs. Gamble was a guest at several Yankee Old Timers Days over the years, including 2011 when I snapped these images. The one above was during batting practice; below, the image flashed on the video board as he was introduced during the ceremony, reminding us that he grew baseball's most famous Afro hairstyle of the 1970s, although truth-be-told, he shortened it by several inches after being traded to the Yankees.
And a small footnote. While Oscar didn't play for the 1978 World Champs, he helped bring the man who hit that season's playoff-winning home run to New York. Just before opening day in April 1977, he was sent to the White Sox for Bucky Dent.

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