The 100 Greatest Royals of All-Time: #75 Bruce Dal Canton

By all accounts he seemed like a really nice, quiet guy – a teacher who got a chance with the Pirates when it seemed as if a MLB career had already passed him by. He was a valuable swingman for the Royals, and has continued his teaching career as a pitching coach in the minors.

RIP Bruce.

First of all, condolences to the family.

Second, for a site that likes to spout stats, you sure didn’t look very far into this one.

Royals first year 1969 – next year is their 40th anniversary

Assuming all players were at least 21 when they played, we are coming up on former Royals getting old. If they played for the team in ‘69 they are a minimum of 60. If they were older veterans on those early teams, they could be in their mid-70’s. Plus, life expectancy is what 72-75? It’s just natural. Granted, it is unusual to go from 1 to 5, but with ages getting higher, it’s something you are going to see more often unfortunately.

That’s certainly an undeniable fact and one that I’m quite aware of. Not sure that anybody stated that it was a statistical improbability, if anything it’s probably been remarkable that the Royals alumni have been blessed with good health for the most part. Still, before this year, we’d only lost 20 alumni in our history so 5 this year alone is a huge jump (and after only 8 deaths from 2000-2007). I guess this year is just making up for a good year in 2007.

Ex-Royals players deaths
1. Jerry Adair (1969-70) – May 31, 1987 – 50 years old – liver cancer
2. Joe Foy (1969) – October 12, 1989 – 46 years old – heart attack
3. Tony Solaita (1974-76) – February 10, 1990 – 43 years old – murdered in a land dispute
4. Aurelio Monteagudo (1970) – November 10, 1990 – 46 years old – car accident
5. Aurelio Lopez (1974) – September 22, 1992 – 44 years old – car accident
6. Juan Rios (1969) – August 28, 1995 – 53 years old – ?
7. Vada Pinson (1974-75) – October 21, 1995 – 59 years old – stroke
8. Jerry May (1971-73) – June 30, 1996 – 52 years old – farming accident
9. Joe Hoerner (1973-74) – October 4, 1996 – 59 years old – farming accident
10. Don O’Riley (1969-70) – May 2, 1997 – 52 years old – fatally shot while working in a convenience store in KC
11. Dan Quisenberry (1979-88) – September 30, 1998 – 45 years old – brain cancer
12. Kenny Robinson (1996) – February 28, 1999 – 29 years old – car accident
13. Al Cowens (1974-79) – March 11, 2002 – 50 years old – heart attack
14. Darrell Porter (1977-80) – August 5, 2002 – 50 years old – toxic effects of cocaine
15. Chris Zachary (1969) – April 19, 2003 – 59 years old – bone cancer
16. Ken Brett (1980-81) – November 18, 2003 – 55 years old – brain cancer
17. Ted Abernathy (1970-72) – December 16, 2004 – 71 years old – alzheimers
18. Nelson Briles (1974-75) – February 13, 2005 – 61 years old – heart attack
19. Pat Kelly (1969-70) – October 2, 2005 – 61 years old – heart attack
20. Moe Drabowsky (1969-70) – June 10, 2006 – 70 years old – cancer
21. Lance Clemons (1971) – January 22, 2008 – 60 years old – cancer
22. Steve Mingori (1973-79) – July 10, 2008 – 64 years old – natural causes
23. Bill Sorrell (1970) – July 22, 2008) – 67 years old – ?
24. Todd Cruz (1979) – September 2, 2008 – 52 years old – heart attack
25. Bruce Dal Canton (1971-75) – October 7, 2008 – 66 years old – ?

I think the only broadcaster we’ve lost is Gene Osborn. He did Royals TV in 1975 and died in November of 1975 (kidney disorder).

…is available at . I’ve been meaning to order one and send it to him but I haven’t gotten around to it.