Dodgers Legend Dies at 97; Was Last Link to Brooklyn's 'Boys of Summer'

BRONX, NY – OCTOBER 5: Pitcher Carl Erskine #17 of the Brooklyn Dodgers kicks at the rubber before facing Gene Woodling #14 of the New York Yankees (not pictured) during Game 6 of the 1953 World Series on October 5, 1953 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. Erskine died Tuesday at age 97.

Carl Erskine, whose pitching prowess helped the Brooklyn Dodgers end their championship drought in 1955, died Tuesday. He was 97.

The Indiana native was a mainstay on the Dodgers teams that reached the World Series five times in eight years from 1949-56. He moved west with the franchise from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1957 and played the last of his 12 major league seasons — all with the Dodgers — in 1958.

Erskine was the last living member of the “Boys of Summer” Dodgers made famous in Roger Kahn’s chronicle of Brooklyn’s beloved baseball team. He is survived by his wife, Betty, and three children, five grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

A right-handed pitcher, Erskine went 122-78 with a 4.00 earned-run average in his career. His two no-hitters rank second in Dodgers franchise history to Sandy Koufax. In 1953, Erskine set a World Series record by striking out 14 Yankees hitters in one game.

Erskine was a National League All-Star in 1954 when he went 18-15 with a 4.15 ERA. Only five pitchers in Dodgers history have made more Opening Day starts than Erskine’s four.

Between his postseason heroics and his off-the-field charm, Erskine’s fame exceeded his talent. In an interview with the New York Times, Erskine revealed how his nickname, “Oisk,” was bestowed on him the day he arrived in the big leagues.

“The Brooklyn fans, from reading the papers, were aware that this kid pitcher was coming up from Fort Worth,” he once recalled. “I got off the subway and I had my duffel bag with me, ‘Fort Worth Cats’ on the side. Well, as I got near the rotunda of Ebbets Field, people spotted me. My first introduction to Ebbets Field was: ‘Hey, there’s Oiskine. From Fort Woith.’ It was just a natural turn of the tongue in Brooklyn.”

In 2002, Erskine Street in Brooklyn was named for him, and the honors kept rolling in during Erskine’s later years. In 2023, he received the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award. Erskine’s son, Gary, accepted the award in his honor:

Erskine’s post-playing career took him far from the major-league spotlight. He retired to Indiana, where he helped Betty raise their son, Jimmy, who was born with Down syndrome.

According to the Times:

Erskine sold insurance, worked as a bank president and coached baseball at Anderson College. Jimmy went everywhere with the family — to dinner, to church, to his siblings’ athletic events. He attended public school in Anderson, where an elementary school was named in the family’s honor in 2004.

Erskine’s work with the Special Olympics in Indiana was the focal point of a documentary film about his life released last year.

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