Yankees: Claudell Washington Dies at 65

New York Yankees outfielder Claudell Washington has passed away.

The Yankees family has received some sad news, entirely unrelated to the depressing proceedings dominating the MLB discourse these days.

Outfielder Claudell Washington, who was Rickey Henderson’s running mate in the New York outfield in the late ’80s, has passed away at the age of 65, following a long battle with illness. He joins Bob Watson as a member of the Yankees family we’ve lost in recent weeks.

Though most Yankee fans will remember Washington as one of the bastions of a forgettable era of New York baseball, he arrived with the NYY at the tail end of a very strong career that began in Oakland at the age of 19. His Yankee tenure spanned from midway through the 1986 season until 1988, before he returned to wrap his career in 1990. Washington’s best Yankee season came in ’88, when he hit .308 with 11 homers and 64 RBI. Prior to arriving in New York, Washington was a two-time All-Star: in his age-20 campaign in Oakland in 1975, and in 1984 with Atlanta.

Washington, a quirky player, contributed an extensive amount to the game of baseball, finding himself in the right place at the right time for a few noteworthy historical contributions. Of all the players to ever don the pinstripes, he was the one who smacked the franchise’s 10,000th home run during that incredibly weird ’88 season (85-76, fifth place in the East).

Non-baseball fans are likely familiar with Washington’s exploits, too, though they may not know it.

The foul ball that Ferris Bueller caught while playing hooky at Wrigley Field? It was struck by Washington.

Washington was one of the game’s journeyman who managed to make an underrated impact wherever he went — his name is still meaningful to A’s, Braves, and Yankee fans of a certain age.

Rest in peace to an All-Star, a Matthew Broderick co-star, and a 1974 World Series champion — in his first cameo in the game of baseball, he hit .571 at the age of 19 on the national stage. He won’t soon be forgotten.