Ted Williams

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.''

popular name: Tony Conigliaro

date_of_death: February 24, 1990

age: 45

cause_of_death: Pneumonia and kidney failure

claim_to_fame: Sports

best_know_for: Tony C was a phenomenal baseball player who, in his first at bat for the Boston Red Sox hit a towering home run on the first pitch. During his 1964 rookie season, Conigliaro batted .290 with 24 home runs and 52 RBI in 111 games. At the age of 22, at age 22, he not only reached a career total of 100 home runs, but attained that milestone at the youngest age for an American League player. Sadly his promising career was derailed by a fastball to the face that left him with debilitating injuries. The grave of Tony Conigliaro at Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden Massachusetts is always adorned with baseballs and mementos.

popular name: Vitas Gerulaitis

date_of_death: September 17, 1994

age: 40

cause_of_death: Carbon monoxide poisoning

claim_to_fame: Sports

best_know_for: Dashing and daring, Vitas Gerulaitis was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Lithuanian immigrants. He was the sport’s ultimate jetsetter in the late 1970s, adored by a legion of female fans, who screamed, “Take me home!” after his matches. He was also an intense competitor to his closest rivals, Connors, Guillermo Vilas, Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, who became good friends. During a golden era for men’s tennis, he rose to a career-high No. 3 and was ranked inside the Top 10 for seven straight years until 1983. On his last day, staying in the pool house of a friend in Southampton, NY, Gerulaitis ordered a sandwich and watched golf on television. At 3 p.m. the next day, 17 September, a housekeeper found his body. An inquest found that he had died of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning from a faulty propane heater, which had seeped into the heating and air conditioning system. He was 40 years old. He was laid to rest at St. Charles Resurrection Cemeteries in East Farmingdale, NY.