Carl Erskine, one of the last living Brooklyn Dodgers and a mainstay of a pitching rotation that carried the team to four World Series in the 1950s before the team headed to Los Angeles, has died in Indiana.
A thoughtful man who threw himself into charity worker later in life, Erskine died early Tuesday morning after a brief illiness, according to several reports. He was 97.
Part of a nearly mythical group of ball players who were anointed “The Boys of Summer” by author Roger Kahn, Erskine played alongside Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider, Roy Campanella and Jackie Robinson, who became his closest friend on the team.