Former Flamethrower, Indians Broadcaster Herb Score Passes Away
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Former Cleveland Indians fastballing lefthander Herb Score passed away on Tuesday morning at age 75 at his home in Rocky River, Ohio according to an Indians team statement. He died after a lengthy illness.
MLB.com’s Justice B. Hill reports;
Score had been in poor health since his car pulled in front of a tractor-trailer on Oct. 8, 1998, in New Philadelphia, Ohio, a town about 80 miles south of Cleveland. Score teetered between life and death at Aultman Hospital in Canton, Ohio, with injuries to his hip, head and pelvis.
Even after he left Aultman Hospital for home, Score wasn’t the Herb Score that friends and baseball fans had come to know.
The team statement continued;
“Today is a sad day for the Cleveland Indians family and for Cleveland Indians fans everywhere. We have lost one of the greatest men in the history of our franchise. Generations of Indians fans owe their love of the Tribe to Herb Score, who was a powerful pitcher and legendary broadcaster. Our thoughts and prayers are with Nancy and the Family.”
Score took the Cleveland Indians and Major League baseball by storm in 1955 compiling a 16-10 record and winning AL rookie of the year honors while striking out an AL leading and then-MLB rookie record 245 in 227 1/3 innings with a 2.85 ERA a with a blazing fastball and a bottom-dropping curve. He went on to post a 20-9 mark in 1956 striking out a league-leading 263 in 249 1/3 innings with a 2.53 ERA. He completed 27 games and pitched 7 shutouts during the 2 year span.
As the 1957 season opened, Score had all of the earmarks of THE next great pitching star and ace of a new generation of Indian pitchers which would include Gary Bell, Mudcat Grant, and Jim Perry.
But then, on May 7th as recounted in an earlier blog post on pitcher’s vulnerability, Score was felled by line-drive off of the bat of Yankees’ shortstop Gil McDougald suffering eye and face injuries from which he recovered. Although he back to pitch in the 1958 season and pitched sporadically through 1962, his career and the potential greatness foreseen was over. Score was never the same. He altered his pitching motion, always fearing another such line-drive injury, but the change in motion reduced his effectiveness.
Score retired in 1962 with a career 55-46 record and 837 strikeouts in 858 1/3 innings.
AP Sports Writer Tom Withers notes for Yahoo sports;
Not long after ending his playing career, Score began a second one in baseball when he joined the Indians’ TV broadcast team in 1964. He moved to radio in 1968.
A native of Rosedale, N.Y., his deep voice and thick New York accent became a fixture for generations of Indians fans. He retired from broadcasting after the 1997 season, his 34th in the booth.
While the Indians languished for decades during Score’s broadcasting tenure, his last game ended up being Game 7 of the 1997 World Series. As it turned out, the Indians blew a ninth-inning lead and lost it in the 11th, missing a chance to end a World Series title drought dating back to 1948.
As always, Score’s last call was simple, accurate and to the point.
“Line drive, base hit, the game is over,” Score said, summing up Edgar Renteria’s series-winning hit off Charles Nagy.
Score’s personal send-off was brief, too.
“And so that is the season for 1997,” he said. “And there’s very little else we can say except to tell you it’s been a pleasure. I would like to thank all the fans for their kindness over the years. You’ve been very good to me. And we hope that whoever sits in this chair next, you’ll be as kind to them as you have been to me.”
Score’s subdued style was perfect for fans who couldn’t afford to take their pitiful Indians too seriously.
Score is survived by his wife of more than 40 years, Nancy, and three children.
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