Diunte: Charlie Osgood, teenage pitcher for Brooklyn Dodgers, dies at 87
From SABR member Nick Diunte at Examiner.com on January 27, 2014:
Charlie Osgood, a former pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1944, according to reports available this Saturday, passed away January 23, 2014, in Tewksbury, Mass. He was 87.
In the summer of 1944, with the Brooklyn Dodgers roster depleted by players leaving for their World War II service, Branch Rickey reached into the depths of his available talent pool to pluck seven different players aged 18 or younger to fill the void left by his departed veterans.
For one of his recruits, Rickey didn’t have to look any farther than the Dodgers’ family. Clyde Sukeforth, the Dodgers scout who later gained notoriety for his instrumental role in scouting and signing Jackie Robinson, had a nephew in Osgood who was a prized high school pitching star in Massachusetts. Desperate to stem their pitching woes, Rickey signed Osgood directly to the major league club.
Read the full article here: http://www.examiner.com/article/charlie-osgood-teenage-pitcher-for-the-brooklyn-dodgers-dies-at-87
Related link: Listen to Bill Nowlin’s SABR Oral History interview with Charlie Osgood from April 9, 2001
Originally published: January 27, 2014. Last Updated: January 27, 2014.