Joe Garagiola, witty ex-catcher, dies at 90
Joe Garagiola, who turned a modest major-league catching career into a 57-year run as a broadcaster in the sports world and beyond, died Wednesday.
The Arizona Diamondbacks announced his death before their exhibition game against the Giants, and there were murmurs of shock and sadness at the ballpark.
Growing up in the Hill neighborhood of St. Louis not far from future Hall of Famer Yogi Berra, Mr. Garagiola hit .257 during nine years in the majors.
Mr. Garagiola’s son, Joe Jr., is a former general manager of the Diamondbacks and a current executive with Major League Baseball.
Actor Ken Howard, the strapping , versatile character actor who starred in the 1970s drama “The White Shadow” and served as president of SAG-AFTRA, has died at age 71.
Mr. Howard’s career spanned four decades in TV, theater and film.
In the acclaimed CBS series, “The White Shadow,” which aired from 1978 to 1981, he starred as a white coach to an urban high school basketball team — a part, one of Howard’s best known, that drew on the personal history of the 6-foot-6 actor, who played basketball growing up on Long Island in New York and at Amherst College.