To the editor:

Passings

1. Don Baylor — drafted by Orioles in 1967; played in Rochester in 1968 and ’69, in Baltimore from 1970 to ’75; traded to Oakland in 1976 for Reggie Jackson; signed with Anaheim in 1977 where he was an All-Star and American League Most Valuable Player; signed with Yankees in 1983; traded to Boston in 1986 and to Minnesota in 1987; re-signed with Oakland in 1988; went to the World Series with the last three teams, winning same with the Twins in 1987. He coached Milwaukee and St. Louis, was Manager of the Year in 1995 with Colorado, coached in Atlanta, managed the Cubs, coached the Mets and Mariners before returning to coach Colorado, Arizona and Anaheim, where he retired in 2015 after 48 years in professional baseball. Had 285 stolen bases, 2,135 hits and 338 home runs. Belongs in Cooperstown.

2. Comedians Jerry Lewis and Dick Gregory, who were better when serious, and Shelly Berman, who invented stand-up telephone comedy.

3. Gene “Stick” Michael — Yankee shortstop, scout, coach, manager and general manager.

4. Penny Chenery — owner of Secretariat, the greatest racehorse ever.

5. Bobby “The Brain” Heenan — pro wrestling manager-entertainer.

6. Jake LaMotta — tenacious middleweight boxing champion.

7. Edgar Smith — child-murderer who wrote “Brief Against Death” but nearly killed again after getting out of prison.

8. Monty Hall — TV host of “Let’s Make A Deal” (“Come on down!”)

9. Ludmilda Protopopov — elegantly won 1968 Olympic gold medal in pairs figure skating with husband Oleg.

10. Connie Hawkins — basketball Hall-of-Famer who played in the ABA, NBA and for the Harlem Globetrotters.

Markings

1. Architect I.M. Pei turned 100 — designer of the JFK Library (Boston), Louvre Pyramid (Paris) and East Wing of the National Gallery (Washington).

2. 100th anniversary of the October 1917 Bolshevik Revolution witnessed by, and described in, American John Reed’s “Ten Days That Shook The World.”

Kudos

1. Sgt. John Gay — Saranac Lake police officer who subdued a domestic violence arrestee with pepper spray and Taser.

2. Judge Bob Main — opined that the Adirondack Park Agency and Department of Environmental Conservation needed to amend the State Land Master Plan before removing train tracks from a railroad-designated travel corridor.

3. New York ACLU for suing the state to provide lawyers to defendants at bail hearings, as required by state statute.

Paul Herrmann

Saranac Lake