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View Full Version : R.I.P. Ernie Koy


hudsonharden
01-02-2007, 12:12 AM
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=163775

Former Brooklyn Dodger Koy dies

Posted: January 1, 2007

Associated Press

BELLVILLE, Texas -- Ernie Koy, the former Brooklyn Dodgers outfielder who homered in his first at-bat in the majors, died Monday. He was 97.

Koy's family said he died in his sleep at home, longtime University of Texas sports information director Bill Little said. Koy, a rancher, broke his hip on Dec. 1.

Koy, known as "Big Ernie," was a three-time, all-Southwest Conference selection in football, where he was a running back, and baseball. He is in the Longhorn Hall of Honor and Texas Sports Hall of Fame.

Koy played 10 years of pro baseball, including five in the majors. He played for the Dodgers from 1938-40, then spent time with the St. Louis Cardinals, the Cincinnati Reds and the Philadelphia Phillies before joining the Navy in 1942.

He hit a three-run homer in his first at-bat in the majors and finished his career average with a .279 average, 36 home runs and 260 RBIs. He played in the first televised baseball game and the first night game at Ebbets Field.

His two sons, Ted and Ernie Jr., played on national championship football teams at Texas in 1963 and 1969.

In addition to his sons, he is survived by wife Jane, daughter Margaret Kistler and seven grandchildren.

Funeral services are Wednesday at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Bellville.

EbtsFldGuy
01-02-2007, 05:50 PM
Was it his son who was a running back, #27, for the football Giants during the Ticker Fredericks era?

VIBaseball
01-02-2007, 10:54 PM
Was it his son who was a running back, #27, for the football Giants during the Tucker Frederickson era?

Ernie Jr. was indeed with the Giants from 1965 to 1970, EFG.

I hope somebody will bump up the list of living Brooklyn Dodgers on this thread.

It's been mentioned here before, but Ernie Sr. was in the Dodger lineup for the second of Johnny Vander Meer's back-to-back no-hitters in 1938. Also, in a pregame event, Koy ran against Jesse Owens in a 100-yard dash, winning with a 10-yard headstart (or so it was credited in the papers; in an interview years later, Ernie said it was only eight yards!).

musial6
01-02-2007, 11:11 PM
Trading Koy for Joe Medwick AND Curt Davis gave the Dodgers the '41 pennant.