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Good man. May he rest in peace.

Rusty did a whole lot of good things for his adopted home town of New York City. I actually had a 15 second run in with Rusty during the 1986 World Series, when he was working with the media. But everything he did from a charitable standpoint for NYC has re-garnered my respect for "Le grand orange".

Prayers for his family. RIP Rusty.

Graciously gave me his autograph after a Houston-Cardinals game outside of the Astrodome in 1968. Never forgot that.

Houma de Wave wrote:Graciously gave me his autograph after a Houston-Cardinals game outside of the Astrodome in 1968. Never forgot that.

As a kid growing up I use to listen to every Astro game during the Rusty era. I can remember almost every key player on that ‘68 team and others during that period. Once I got to Jesuit I really looked up to Rusty since he was a Blue Jay and followed his career to its end. The best man in my parents wedding (Donald Johnston) was married to Rusty’s sister Sally Staub. My mom and her remained close friends over the years. When we’d go visit I’d always ask her about Rusty. Sad day but good memories for life.

Met him at his restaurant in NYC years ago. He came out of the kitchen in his apron, we chatted about baseball and the culinary arts. A nice man who took a few minutes for us in the middle of a busy night.

Rusty was discussed at length during yesterday's broadcast of the Mets season opener. Keith Hernandez, whom became good friend with Rusty talked about how Rusty was brought back to the Mets for his second stint and promised by Frank Cashen that he'd play a lot of first base. Rusty could have stayed in the American League and probably finished his career with 3000 hits and 300 home runs. But Rusty stayed with the Mets, as a bench player and pinch hitter extraordinaire and ended up short of those two milestones (which probably would have landed him in the Hall of Fame.) Ron Darling spoke about his being told that he couldn't live in Manhattan when he first came to the Mets. Rusty walked into Cashen's office and told him "Darling can live wherever he wants, you cannot tell him he can't live in the City." He went on to say that Rusty would "Keep on eye out on the young Darling and make sure he's ready to go every 5th day."

I don't know if it's been mentioned, but Rusty was very active in the charitable organization that funded scholarships and living expenses for families of fallen NYPD and NYFD heros.

TPS, that's a great picture of Rusty as a Jesuit player. Thanks for posting.

I have heard nothing but good things regarding Rusty...it is sad when good people leave us, but we all know they are going to a much better place... RIP Mr Staub

MicMan wrote:Met him at his restaurant in NYC years ago. He came out of the kitchen in his apron, we chatted about baseball and the culinary arts. A nice man who took a few minutes for us in the middle of a busy night.

A nice man who took time to express care and interest in others, even when time was a scarce commodity. This is the sort of story for which we all wish to be remembered when we are gone.

This is a great thread.

Houma de Wave wrote:This is a great thread.

I couldn’t agree more. I like to call it like I see it and Rusty Staub is one of the few athletes in the world that I would aspire to be more like. The man was a special human being and we all feel a certain pride that he’s from our hometown and other hometowns he’s played in around the world. If only more sports figures were like Rusty. I hope one day he manages to get into the HOF.

Summer of 1965 before I entered Jesuit as an 8th grader, I took a week long trip with a Jesuit group chaperoned by a couple of coaches to Dallas Six Flags then Houston for Astro’s games and we all got to meet Rusty on the field before a couple of games. A great memory of a great man who lived the Jesuit motto of being Men for Others.
May have been the best high school baseball player in the history of the city.

Jaxwave wrote:Summer of 1965 before I entered Jesuit as an 8th grader, I took a week long trip with a Jesuit group chaperoned by a couple of coaches to Dallas Six Flags then Houston for Astro’s games and we all got to meet Rusty on the field before a couple of games. A great memory of a great man who lived the Jesuit motto of being Men for Others.
May have been the best high school baseball player in the history of the city.

I glad U enjoyed the trip, U were there for the first season of the Astros...prior to '65 they were the Colt 45's....amazingly, small parts Colt Stadium are still on the grounds

Great article here on Rusty. I’m sure many of us can relate.
http://sptspage.com/my-hero-my-friend-d ... all-youth/

One more. MLB video tribute.
https://www.facebook.com/MLBNetwork/vid ... 348541695/

tpstulane wrote:One more. MLB video tribute.
https://www.facebook.com/MLBNetwork/vid ... 348541695/

Fantastic video
I hope every young player would watch this video and pick up one amazing thing
Rusty had almost 3000 hits and 300 home runs while CHOKING UP ON THE BAT
I get so aggravated watching these young players all the way down on the knob and swinging so hard they create a whirlwind

RIP Rusty