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| A Sad Day in Angels History | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Sep 21 2008, 10:23 AM (139 Views) | |
| PK14 | Sep 21 2008, 10:23 AM Post #1 |
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Lyman Bostock. Two words I have known for two hours. Who is Lyman Bostock? To Carl Patten, a teenager all the way back in September of 1978, he was a caring person. Carl was with his friend waiting outside the gates of the Angels dressing room waiting for an autograph. Bostock just happened to be the last one out of the dressing room and noticed the two boys. Bostock was worried about the two boys being out so late after a game without adult supervision, so he took them across the street from the stadium to a restaurant and waited with them until Carl's dad picked them up. You can only imagine the shock and awe in the two boys minds when they heard Lyman Bostock, dead at the age of 27. So lets go back all the way in Lyman's life, before he hit it big. He was born in Birgmingham, Alabama, the son of a former Negro League ball player, Lyman Bostock, Sr, and his mother Annie Pearl Bostock. Annie and Bostock Sr. split when Bostock Jr. was about four years old. Bostock Jr. ignored his dad for the remainder of his life feeling that he abandoned him after his parents relocated again when Bostock Jr. was eight years old. Lyman played baseball when he was in High School, and then he attended at the time San Fernando Valley State College. He would meet his future wife, although he did not play baseball his freshman and sophomore years there, participating in student activism. In 1970 he would be selected in the amateur draft by the St. Louis Cardinals. He did not sign with the Cards, choosing to stay in college, and then began to play baseball. He was an all-conference player in the CCAA, as he hit .344 as a junior and .296 as a senior in college. He was then drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 26th round, 596th overall pick, in 1972. In his minor league career, he debuted with the Charlotte Twins in 1972. He would hit .294/.421/.384 that same year. In 1973, he would be with the Orlando Twins where he would hit .313/.415/.438. By 1974, he would be in AAA with the Tacoma Twins and hit .333/.411/.421 and was third in the PCL in batting average. In 1975 he hit .391/.434/.446 in 22 games with the Tacoma Twins before being called up by the Twins. So he debuted with the Twins in 1975, same age as teammate Bert Blyleven who would go on to play through the 1992 baseball season, and Bostock hit .282 in 98 games. The AL league average batting average was .258 in 1975, and Bostock would finish the season with 104 hits in 369 at bats, 52 runs, 21 2B, 5 3B, 0 HR, 29 RBI, 2 SB, 28 BB, 42 K, and a .282/.331/.366 batting line, you can call that season a below average season even back in 1975. In 1976, his first full season, he came out of the gates strong as ever. From April 9th through May 11th, he had a .382/.411/.456 batting line, and his best month would be July where he hit .370/.441/.520, going 37-100 with 16 runs, 5 2B, 3 3B, 1 HR, 17 RBI, 9 BB, 10 K, and 2-3 in SB's. He finished the season with a .323/.364/.430 batting line and a 130 OPS+, signaling he had a well above average season. He was 4th in BA, 5th in triples, and 5th highest AB/K ratio. In 1977, he enjoyed by far his best season in his short lived career. 199 hits, 104 runs, 36 2B, 12 3B, 14 HR, 90 RBI, 16 SB, 51 BB, 59 K, and a .336/.389/.508 batting line to go along with a 144 OPS+. He finished the season 2nd in BA, 7th in OBP, 4th in runs, 4th in hits, 7th in total bases, 5th in 2B's, 5th in 3B's, and 8th in OPS+ to go along with being voted 27th in the MVP voting. 1978. He had another real good year, this time finishing 23rd among MVP voting. He had just signed a new deal with the California Angels, a 2.7 million/5 year deal which at the time was a very big amount of money and ranked him among the highest paid players in baseball. He responded hitting only .147 with a .200 OBP in April, and what he did next was one of the most generous things he did. He insisted on giving back his first month's salary back to the organization, although Gene Autry, the Angels owner, declined. He then gave the $40,000, his first month salary, away to a charity after reviewing many requests from different charities for the money, trying to determine who needed it the most. "If I can't play up to my capabilities, I don't want to get paid for it" were his words. He would go on to hit much better in May, hitting .261/.330/.375. In June he hit his best, hitting .404/.458/.431. From July 1st through September 23rd, he hit .304/.375/.395 in 296 at bats finishing his last season just under the .300 BA mark at .296. His last game. He went 2 for 4 in a 5-4 loss to the Chicago White Sox on September 23rd. After the game, as usual when playing in Chicago, he made the short trip to Gary, Indiana to be with his uncle Thomas Turner. After eating with a group of relatives at his uncles house, Bostock and his uncle visited a woman, Joan Hawkins, who Bostock tutored as a teenager but hadn't seen for seven years. Afterward, Bostock's uncle agreed to give Bostock, his friend, and her sister, Barbara Smith, a ride to a relative's house. Smith had been living with Hawkins while ignoring her husband, Leonard Smith. Leonard Smith was outside of Hawkin's home in his car watching them and seen them go into Turner's Buick Electra 225. As Turner's car stopped at a red light, Leonard's car pulled up alongside Turner's car. Smith leaned out of his car with a .410 caliber shotgun and fired into the backseat hoping to hit and kill his wife, Barbara Smith. Instead, he shot Bostock in the left side of his head and would be taken to a nearby Gary hospital. Two hours later, baseball lost a caring, loving, young promising person in Lyman Wesley Bostock, Jr. He was only 27 and would be turning 28 in about a month. "We are all better people for having known Lyman and having him touch our lives," Angels teammate Ken Brett. ![]() Leonard Smith pleaded insanity and was issued to psychiatric treatment. Six months later, they released him saying he was not mentally ill. Instead of facing 60 years in prison, he faced six months in a treatment center and afterward walked out a free man. Not many people believed he was insane, and Thomas Turner sure as hell never believed it for a minute. A memorial scholarship fund was commissioned in his name, and is annually awarded to a needy CSUN student athlete. In 1981, he became the first inductee into the CSU Northridge Matadors Hall of Fame. Some of his baseball accomplishments: he hit for the cycle on July 24th, 1976. He collected 12 putouts in the 2nd game of a doubleheader, tying the major league record. His 17 putouts in that doubleheader set an American League record. "Rise above, move on and remember the beauty of Lyman Bostock." |
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9:51 AM Jul 11