![rusty staub rusty staub](https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/nola.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/f/8f/f8f0b21d-ff96-5ba6-aa9e-500eac743bbd/5cdd8ec22f310.image.jpg)
"I felt so deeply about this man (Kennedy), I had so much respect for what his family had done for this country, that I felt that if a family can do this much for us, then we must do something for them," Aspromonte told the Chronicle that day. Today, New York and the world lost a true hero. For June 9, Eckert said games would continue but that individual players could sit out the game as a show of respect.Īnd so the Astros and Pirates played June 9, albeit without Staub, Aspromonte and Wills, with the Pirates winning 3-1. He had good power and was more of a line. He was very effective in knocking in runs. ToppsĪccording to news accounts at the time, baseball commissioner William Eckert ordered that no game should start June 8, the day of Kennedy's funeral, until after the senator's burial, which was delayed as his remains were carried by train from New York to Washington, D.C. Rusty was one of the best hitters in the late 60s and through the 70s. Very touching."Īstros teammates Bob Aspromonte and Rusty Staub in a baseball card from Topps' 1966 set. I still have them hanging in my sports room at my house. "But I received some incredible letters from the Kennedy family to say how appreciative they were. His hard work resulted in over 2,700 hits in a Major League career that many people who saw him early on would never have pegged him for an amount that high. "We felt strongly about it, Rusty and me and Maury Wills, and all three of us got traded," Aspromonte said Friday, chuckling at the memory. If the main criteria for the Hall is perseverance and effort then Rusty Staub should have been a first ballot Hall of Famer.
![rusty staub rusty staub](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/03/041709church_rusty-staub.jpg)
Aspromonte, who was the Astros' players union representative, went to the Braves and Staub to the Expos, who also traded for Wills. Both Astros players forfeited a day's pay – about $300 for Staub and $200 from Aspromonte – and both were traded by Astros general manager Spec Richardson after the season. 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.