Mike Tiernan

popular name: Eddie Bennett

date_of_death: 01/16/1935

age: 31

cause_of_death: Alcoholism

claim_to_fame: Sports

best_know_for: Eddie Bennett was an American batboy and mascot for several teams, most notably the New York Yankees during the 1920s and 1930s. At the time of his death, Bennett was considered to be the "most famous mascot in the world". Bennet had a spinal injury when he was very young which resulted in a hunchback. He was considered to be a "good luck charm" by the members of the club, and became a well-known celebrity in New York. On May 19, 1932, Bennett was hit by a taxi on a New York City street. He suffered a broken leg and other injuries from which he never recovered. To find relief from the pain he suffered from the injuries, Bennett started to abuse alcohol. He was forced to retire as the Yankees mascot in the middle of 1933 season, although Ruppert insisted he remain on the payroll all year. The New York Times reported that the "notoriously superstitious" ballplayers and fans blamed Bennett's absence on the Yankees' failure to win the pennant in 1933 and 1934. In January 1935, Bennett died penniless due to alcoholism.

popular name: Buck Baker

date_of_death: April 14, 2002

age: 83

cause_of_death: Natural causes

claim_to_fame: Sports

best_know_for: Buck Baker was an American stock car racer who began his NASCAR career in 1949 and won his first race three years later at Columbia Speedway. During his NASCAR Cup Series career, Baker won two championships, 46 races and 45 pole positions, as well as recorded 372 top-tens. In 1957, he became the first driver to win two consecutive championships in the series. Between 1957 and 1959 Baker competed in the NASCAR Convertible Division. From 1972 to 1973, he competed in the Grand National East Series, where he recorded five top-tens in twelve races. Mr. Baker was a member of Six Racing Hall of Fames and voted one of the 50 greatest drivers in NASCAR history. After his retirement from active racing, Buck Baker opened and operated the "Buck Baker Racing School", where Jeff Gordon and Randy Newman among others, drove their first stock cars. He was inducted into the Motorsports Press Association's Hall of Fame in 1982 and in the International Motorsport's Hall of Fame in 1990. In February 2013 he was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Upon his death he was interred at Magnolia Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Charlotte North Carolina.

popular name: Judy Johnson

date_of_death: June 15, 1989

age: 89

cause_of_death: Stroke

claim_to_fame: Sports

best_know_for: William "Judy" Johnson was an American professional third baseman and manager whose career in Negro league baseball spanned 17 seasons, from 1921 to 1937. Slight of build, Johnson never developed as a power threat but achieved his greatest success as a contact hitter and an intuitive defenseman. As a third baseman, Johnson was often compared with Pie Traynor of the Pittsburgh Pirates, also a Hall of Famer. Johnson hit over .300 seven times in the Negro leagues, with a career high of .416 in 1929, in the days when black players were not permitted to play in the major leagues. Regarded as one of the greatest third basemen of the Negro leagues, in 1975 Johnson was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame after being nominated by the Negro Leagues Committee. Connie Mack, for 50 years the owner-manager of the Philadelphia Athletics, once said, ''If Judy were only white, he could name his own price.''