Sad Day for Bay Area Baseball

The deaths of Tony Phillips and Jim Davenport were just announced. A great utility player and the consumate old-time baseball guy (and a heckuva third baseman).

Obit for Phillips:
http://www.sfgate.com/athletics/article/Tony-Phillips-former-A-s-infielder-dies-of-6842487.php


Obit for Davenport:
http://www.sfgate.com/giants/article/Original-SF-Giant-Jim-Davenport-dies-6842357.php

Jim Davenport QB'ed at Southern Miss and led his team to 2 wins over Alabama, who'd originally signed him but didn't allow married players. wow!

Sad news. A double whammy. As a life long Bay Area resident these are two guys I watched a lot. Davenport was a favorite growing up and Phillips was close to my age but I enjoyed watching him just as much. In fact, I met Phillips last Summer and chatted with him briefly. We have a small independent minor league here in the Bay Area called The Pacific Association that consists of teams in Pittsburg (no H in Calif.), Sonoma, San Rafael, and Vallejo. I was watching a game between Pittsburg and Vallejo in Vallejo and of all things Tony Phillips was playing second base for Pittsburg! Long story short I ran into him before the next game and chatted briefly and wished him luck. They play these games on high school fields so the fans can easily mingle with the players before and after games.
Well Pittsburg also signed Jose Canseco to DH and pitch as an attendance gimmick. Former Big Leaguer Aaron Miles was also the owner and player manager. This was midway through the season and Phillips stayed for about two weeks mostly playing DH and a little infield. I don't think it was a limited thing like Canseco. I just think he wasn't satisfied with his performance and hung it up. Still it was fun watching a 56 year old man play professional baseball. RIP Tony and Jim.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/team.cgi?id=7664a706