Rusty Staub, beloved Mets icon, dead at 73
He was not on the list.
In every way, Rusty Staub, the beloved Mets' hitting icon, who passed away early Thursday morning at age 73, was bigger than life — a bigger-than-life baseball personality, humanitarian, gourmet chef, wine connoisseur, friend-to-all and, to the fans of Montreal, quite simply, "Le Grand Orange."
The hulking 6-2 Staub, whose post-retirement weight fluctuated from 250-300 pounds, had battled a number of health issues in recent years, including a near-fatal heart attack, October 2, 2015, on a flight from Ireland to New York. He reportedly became woozy while playing golf near his Palm Beach Gardens, Florida home in late January and was later discovered to be suffering from cellulitis, which evolved into a blood infection that resulted in a shutdown of his kidneys.
Staub died at 12:30 a.m. Thursday at the Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach due to multiple organ failure. He was initially admitted with pneumonia, dehydration and an infection and had spent the last eight weeks in the hospital. He would have turned 74 on Sunday.
Staub’s legacy is immense and will be immediately felt at Citi Field Thursday afternoon, when the Mets open their season against the Cardinals.
"The Mets family suffered another loss earlier today when Daniel 'Rusty' Staub passed away in a West Palm Beach Hospital after an illness," the team said in a statement before taking the field in Flushing. "He was almost as well known for his philanthropic work as he was for his career as a baseball player, which spanned 23 seasons. There wasn't a cause he didn't champion. Rusty helped children, the poor, the elderly and then there was his pride and joy, The New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund.
"A six-time All-Star, he is the only player in major league history to have collected as least (sic) 500 hits with four different teams. The entire Mets organization sends its deepest sympathy to his brother, Chuck and sisters Sue Tully and Sally Johnson. He will be missed by everyone."
A prolific hitter, Staub compiled a lifetime .279 average with 2,716 hits, 292 homers, 499 doubles and a major league record-tying 25 pinch hit RBI in 2,951 games over 23 seasons with Houston, the Montreal Expos, Mets, Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers from 1963-85. In 1983, at age 39 with the Mets, he tied Dave Philley as the only players in baseball history with eight consecutive pinch hits. In addition, Staub and Ty Cobb, Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield are the only four players in history to hit home runs in the majors before turning 20 years old and after turning 40.
"So sad," Tom Seaver told the Daily News by phone from Calistoga, California. "Rusty was a close, close friend. Great teammate. He visited me often out here in the vineyard. I will miss him. Most of all I will miss his energy. Everything he did was at 90 miles an hour."
Off the field, Staub was a prominent humanitarian. His Rusty Staub Foundation, which in 1986 established the New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund, distributed over $11 million in the first 15 years of its existence to the families of New York area police and fire fighters killed in the line of duty, and since the September 11, 2001 attacks, received over $112 million in contributions. On January 8, Staub announced that, in conjunction with Catholic Charities, his foundation had also served 9,043,741 meals to the hungry at food pantries throughout New York over last 10 years, with funds though his annual wine auction dinner and foundation golf tournament. i
Remembering the life and career of baseball icon Rusty Staub
“For more than thirty years, Rusty dedicated his life to helping others," said Stephen Dannhauser, the foundation's chairman, in a statement. "He worked tirelessly on behalf of the widows, widowers, and children of New York City's fallen heroes.
"He cared about each and every family and they felt the same way about him. Rusty started more than just a charity — he started a family. While many admire Rusty for his impressive record as a baseball player, it is his work off the field that truly made him one of the greats. We will miss his laughter, friendship, and leadership but we will work to carry on his mission through our continued stewardship of the charity he founded."
Added MLB commissioner Rob Manfred: "Rusty was a superb ambassador for our sport and a generous individual known for community efforts, particularly for the New York City Police and Fire Departments. On behalf of Major League Baseball, I extend my deepest condolences to Rusty's family and friends, Mets fans and his many other admirers in the United States and Canada."
Daniel Joseph Staub was born April 1, 1944 in New Orleans, but as his mother, Alma, explained, he became "Rusty" before he left the hospital. "One of the nurses nicknamed him “Rusty” because of the red fuzz he had all over his head and it just stuck." His father, Ray, was a minor league catcher in the Class D Florida State League in 1937-38 who gave him a bat when he was 3 years old and instructed him to swing at anything round he could find. By the time he was a teenager, Rusty was a star first baseman at Jesuit High in New Orleans and after leading his team to the 1961 Louisiana State AAA championship, he signed a $100,000 bonus with the then-National League expansion Houston Colt 45s.
After just one season of minor league ball, Staub joined the Colt 45s in 1963 as a 19-year-old rookie and Opening Day cleanup hitter, but hit only .224 with six homers in 150 games. He clearly wasn't ready, but after being sent back to the minors in mid-season 1964, he returned to Houston in 1965 a much more finished product, batting .256 with 14 HR and 63 RBI. Two years later, made his first of his six All-Star teams, batting .333 with 10 HR, 74 RBI and a league-leading 44 doubles.
Staub attributed his '67 breakthrough to Houston's move to the spacious Astrodome (where they were renamed the Astros). "I was originally signed as a home run hitter," he said, "but when we moved to the Dome, I didn't try to pump the ball as much."
At the same time he was establishing himself as Houston's first star, he was developing a reputation for being a very tough salary negotiator, holding out for eight days into the 1968 season before finally signing his contract. The holdout led to a strained relationship with Astro GM "Spec" Richardson who, the following January, traded him to the Expos for outfielder Jesus Alou and first baseman Donn Clendenon. However, the trade hit a snag when Clendenon, an African American, decided to retire rather than to report to the Astros, purportedly because he felt Houston manager Harry Walker (for whom he'd played previously in Pittsburgh) was a racist.
A major dispute ensued between Astros CEO Roy Hofheinz and Commissioner Bowie Kuhn after Kuhn ordered the trade to go through with Montreal sending two (far inferior) substitute players to Houston in place of Clendenon.
For Staub, who, by his New Orleans heritage was steeped in French culture, the trade to Montreal became an instant love affair with the French-Canadian fans. He hit .302 with 29 homers his first season, 1969, with the Expos as the lone All-Star on a dreadful 110-loss team. After hitting a two-run homer and making a specular game-ending catch to break a 20-game Expo losing streak, Montreal Gazette sportswriter Ted Blackman began referring to him as "Le Grand Orange." It stuck with him the rest of his life.
