Colorful Cardinals ace Andujar dies
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/cardinal-beat/colorful-cardinals-ace-andujar-dies/article_73c373a7-042f-5343-a9e3-29c094ebbf07.html

Joaquin Andujar, former Astros pitcher, dies at 62
http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2015/09/08/joaquin-andujar-former-astros-pitcher-dies-at-62/



I remember seeing Joaquin hit a tape measure homer at the Astrodome. IIRC, he switch hit. As one of these stories mentioned, he considered himself quite a hitter despite once striking out 50 times in 97 ABs for a season. I just heard a great Whitey Herzog interview on the radio that I am going to try to find online.

Enjoyed watching him w/the 'Stros. Wished he would have pitched for Houston as well as he did for the Cards. Thx for the memories Joaquin.

Tim Kurkijan just tweeted that he never had a grand slam hit off of him, but he hit a grand slam.

I wonder how many, if any, pitchers have accomplished that. I have to think nobody else has.

one of the characters of the game -- especially for the late 70's / early 80's astros.

my favorite quote from him...when asked to sum up baseball in one word...he replied: "you never know"

I'll always remember his meltdown and ejection from Game 7 of the '85 series. Dude was pissed.

I miss all of the "colorful" guys in the game. Pasquel Perez was another one. Whitey Herzog insists that Andujar "was never playing with full deck." He said that Andujar's mood swings were so bad that when ever he showed up to the park pissed off, Whitey hid from him until he could talk to either Ozzie Smith or George Hendricks. Apparently those two guys could talk down Andujar in short order.

Joaquin would come looking for him in order to vent, and Whitey would tell him that he had to talk to a reporter waiting for him on the field first, and then Smith or Hendricks would talk to him. Whitey said he would come back in 15 minutes to ask Andujar how he could help him, and he would always tell him to never mind because he was in a great mood. It was funny when Whitey told it. He also said that Andujar sent him and his wife very thoughtful and expensive gifts after the '82 World Series. He was the only guy on the team who did that. Whitey said he "had a heart of gold."

One last thing, despite considering Ozzie Smith to be a dear friend, Andujar always referred to him as "that f***ing midget." RIP, Joaquin.

Still had one of Berman's best nicknames.

My mom's second least favorite Astro, behind only Enos Cabell.

So many giants of the Houston past are dying way too soon.