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RIP Ray Berres


StatManDu
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Former White Sox pitching coach Ray Berres died Thursday at age 99.

 

Berres coached for the Sox longer than any othe man and was the leader of the great pitching staffs of the Go Go Era.

 

Ray was a good friend of mine. I got to know him after moving to his hometown in 1987 where I have been ever since. He was a quiet, unassuming man who was humble to the very end. I would have posted something earlier but I was running down this story for the local paper. I talked to about a dozen people today about Ray and they all flowed.

 

I am proud to say I had a small part in getting Ray inducted into the State Hall of Fame back in 1999. Back then, I floated the idea of Ray landing in Cooperstown. Hopefully one day, Ray and other great and innovative coaches such as Walt Hriniak or Charlie Lau or Roger Craig are honored in Cooperstown. Same goes for scouts.

 

RIP Ray Berres. Proud to call you friend. Prouder of the way you lived your life.

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QUOTE(WilliamTell @ Feb 4, 2007 -> 01:57 PM)
RIP, I'd hate to die at 99, if I'm going to live that long, why can't I just make it to the centura mark.

 

My dad was actually Berres doctor for the last 20 years and you would think he was a cripple for the last ten years, but that was not the case. He was in great shape mentally and physically and lived by himself until this last year and a half when he was finally placed in a nursing home. At the age of 96 he still drove by HIMSELF from his home in Twin Lakes, WI to my dad's office in Kenosha!! ( About a 30 minute drive and he did it every couple months!! ) When the Sox went to the World Series he tried as hard as he could to get me tickets and I will always be grateful for that. Its a shame he didn't get press here in the local newspaper(The Kenosha News). When the Sox were going to the World Series, I even sent a letter to the editor to interview Berres, a guy from Kenosha who was a legendary pitching of the Sox the last time they went to the World Series. I got zero response. And I can tell you directly from him that he was estatic about the 2005 World Series.

 

Nice story about Berres here:

 

http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2005/.../iq_3722225.txt

 

You lived a long and good life. RIP Ray

Edited by sweatpants
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QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Feb 6, 2007 -> 06:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
RIP

 

Ray wanted to be left alone in his later years. That's why the News didn't want to bother him around the time of the World Series. Ironically enough that's what it said in the Racine paper. He accomodated them because he was a genuinely nice man. In another twist of irony there was no mention of the 2005 World Series in that article.

 

The day Ray died the Racine Journal Times ran a canned AP story with inaccurate info while the Kenosha News ran a detailed recap of his life.

 

http://www.kenoshanews.com/articles/index....ticleNum=637648

Edited by StatManDu
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