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Ron Hunt, the first Mets star without having previous ties to the Dodgers, Giants or Yankees, died last Wednesday after several years of declining health.   He was 85.  The scrappy St. Louis native endured himself to Polo Grounds fans with his hard-nosed play and willingness to be hit by a pitch. (Hunt still holds the post-1900 record for most HBP's in a season with 50.)  The runner up to Pete Rose for the 1963 NL Rookie of the Year, Hunt made history the following year, as the first Met ever to start the All Star Game -- fitting as it was played at the brand-new Shea Stadium.  Traded to the Dodgers after the 1966 season, Ron later played for the Giants, Expos and briefly, at the end of his career, the his hometown Cardinals.  I met Ron when he was saluted at Citi Field late in the 2019 season.

Freddy Cannon was a bigtime baseball fan -- and was delighted to play at the Dodgers 50th anniversary celebration in Los Angeles -- but made his name as a full tilt rock and roller during the 1950s and '60s.  A radio mainstay thanks to such classics as "Tallahassee Lassie," "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans," "Action" (the theme from TV's Where the Action Is) and the summer anthem "Palisades Park," Cannon made a record 110 American Bandstand appearances and remained active recording and performing until just months before his death, at 89, last Friday.


While the Rays and Yankees have dominated the American League East, the Red Sox have been July's hottest team!  An under-the-radar contributor, Anthony Seigler  -- who struggled during six years in the Yankee minor league system, never making it above AA -- doubled in the final run in Boston's 5-3 Saturday victory over the Rays.  

That made it a dozen wins in a row; it became 13 on Sunday.  Monday night, trailing entering the bottom of the 7th, Cedanne Rafaella (below, from 2023 when he played for AA Portland) tied the score with an RBI single. Teammate Caleb Durbin hit the go-ahead homer in the 8th, as the streak reached 14 -- one shy of the club record set 80 years ago!


 

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