By George Castle, CBM Historian
April 13, 2020
Glenn Beckert in his prime.
Even when the news of Glenn Beckert’s passing at 79 came your way on a lazy, housebound Easter afternoon, the reaction was not sorrow, but a knowing smile.
An all-time Cubs second baseman, Beckert enjoyed the light side of life amid a serious career as a contact hitter and key member of the fabled 1969 Cubs.
The stories about Beckert, who was in declining health for years, evoke laughs. About his alleged thriftiness. About his night-time wanderings with roomie Ron Santo. About given a nickname after a wrassler. About his apparent nervousness fielding the final out of Ken Holtzman’s strikeout-free no-hitter in Wrigley Field in 1969.
Beckert, Billy Williams talk to Woody English, witness to Babe Ruth’s “Called Shot.”
Listen here…15:21 minutes; 14mb .mp3 audio
I didn’t meet Beckert during his playing days. But after he settled into his second career as a broker working the pits at the Chicago Board of Trade, I was fortunate to cross paths many times doing stories on his present and past timelines. The man who generated so much good feeling from his nine years as a Cub simply accumulated even more.
Such as the time I took Beckert to his first game in the bleachers on Sept. 4, 1983 to surprise friend Jerrle Miller Gericke on her 28th birthday. We walked up to the still-empty center-field section before meeting Gericke in the last row in right field. Glenn spread his arms to exclaim, “I can’t believe the view you get from here.” Yep, the views of his crouched batting stance and his No. 18 pivoting to combine with Don Kessinger for another double play are never purged from memory.
STORY
Category Chicago Baseball History Feature, Chicago Baseball History News Tags 1969 Cubs, Billy Williams, Chicago Cubs, Cubs, Diamond Gems, Don Kessinger, Durocher, Ernie Banks, Glenn Beckert, Jerrle Miller Gericke, Ken Holtzman, Ken Rudolph, Kenny Hubbs, Lloyd Pettit, Ron Santo, Woody English, Wrigley Field