The guy went into a real bad slump in 1978 and offered Angel managment his salary back and he wasn't kidding...the guy was a star in the making before brutally murdered in a drive by..lived in Southern Cal during that time...Bostock could really hit, can you imagine anyone in MLB today offering their salary back....Just sitting here in the Taiwan airport today waiting for my flight to Bangkok...:toast:
Lyman Bostock was a most tragic story.
Following an Angels/White Sox game during the last week of the 1978 season, as he regularly did when in Chicago, Bostock visited his uncle, Thomas Turner, in nearby Gary, Indiana.
After eating a meal with a group of people on this Saturday night, Bostock got in the back seat of his uncle's car. As the vehicle was stopped at a traffic signal at the intersection of 5th and Jackson streets, a car pulled up alongside them.
The driver of the second car got out and fired one blast of a .410 caliber shotgun into the back seat where Lyman Bostock was sitting. The assailant, Leonard Smith, did not even know Bostock. His lethal wrath was intended for his estranged wife, Barbara Smith, who was along with the group as a guest of Bostock's uncle, who happened to be her godfather.
The blast missed the woman but struck Bostock in the left temple, and he died two hours later at a Gary hospital. Lyman Bostock, Jr. was just 27 years old. It was later discovered that Bostock had known the woman in the car for a total of 20 minutes.
Leonard Smith was tried twice for murder, with his lawyers arguing that Barbara Smith's infidelity had driven her husband insane.
The first trial resulted in a hung jury. In the second trial, Leonard Smith was found not guilty by reason of insanity and was committed for psychiatric treatment.
Within seven months, he was deemed no longer mentally ill by his psychiatrists and released. Including his time in jail awaiting and during trial, Smith's total time in custody amounted to 21 months.
In his brief four season career, Bostock was a .311 hitter with 23 home runs and 250 RBIs in 526 games. A memorial scholarship fund was commissioned in his name, and is annually awarded to a needy CSUN student athlete. In 1981, he became the first inductee into the CSU Northridge Matadors Hall of Fame.
Lyman Bostock, Jr. is interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.
RIP Lyman Bostock...
Details from Wikipedia.
wil..
Following an Angels/White Sox game during the last week of the 1978 season, as he regularly did when in Chicago, Bostock visited his uncle, Thomas Turner, in nearby Gary, Indiana.
After eating a meal with a group of people on this Saturday night, Bostock got in the back seat of his uncle's car. As the vehicle was stopped at a traffic signal at the intersection of 5th and Jackson streets, a car pulled up alongside them.
The driver of the second car got out and fired one blast of a .410 caliber shotgun into the back seat where Lyman Bostock was sitting. The assailant, Leonard Smith, did not even know Bostock. His lethal wrath was intended for his estranged wife, Barbara Smith, who was along with the group as a guest of Bostock's uncle, who happened to be her godfather.
The blast missed the woman but struck Bostock in the left temple, and he died two hours later at a Gary hospital. Lyman Bostock, Jr. was just 27 years old. It was later discovered that Bostock had known the woman in the car for a total of 20 minutes.
Leonard Smith was tried twice for murder, with his lawyers arguing that Barbara Smith's infidelity had driven her husband insane.
The first trial resulted in a hung jury. In the second trial, Leonard Smith was found not guilty by reason of insanity and was committed for psychiatric treatment.
Within seven months, he was deemed no longer mentally ill by his psychiatrists and released. Including his time in jail awaiting and during trial, Smith's total time in custody amounted to 21 months.
In his brief four season career, Bostock was a .311 hitter with 23 home runs and 250 RBIs in 526 games. A memorial scholarship fund was commissioned in his name, and is annually awarded to a needy CSUN student athlete. In 1981, he became the first inductee into the CSU Northridge Matadors Hall of Fame.
Lyman Bostock, Jr. is interred in the Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.
RIP Lyman Bostock...
Details from Wikipedia.
wil..
Highlights of Lyman Bostock's short career.
Hit for the cycle (July 24, 1976)
Collected 12 putouts in the second game of a doubleheader, tying the major league mark, as the Twins swept the Red Sox, 13–5 and 9-4.
Bostock became only the third big leaguer to do it in a nine-inning game and just the second center fielder in the 20th century. His 17 putouts in the doubleheader also set a record in the American League that still stands today (May 25, 1977).
In 1976 hit .323, finishing fourth behind Kansas City Royals George Brett (.333) and Hal McRae (.332), and teammate Rod Carew (.331).
His .336 batting average in 1977 was only second to Carew's .388. Carew would be traded to the Angels in 1979 shortly after Bostock's murder.
---------
Viejo Dinosaur -- Bon Voyage...wil...
Hit for the cycle (July 24, 1976)
Collected 12 putouts in the second game of a doubleheader, tying the major league mark, as the Twins swept the Red Sox, 13–5 and 9-4.
Bostock became only the third big leaguer to do it in a nine-inning game and just the second center fielder in the 20th century. His 17 putouts in the doubleheader also set a record in the American League that still stands today (May 25, 1977).
In 1976 hit .323, finishing fourth behind Kansas City Royals George Brett (.333) and Hal McRae (.332), and teammate Rod Carew (.331).
His .336 batting average in 1977 was only second to Carew's .388. Carew would be traded to the Angels in 1979 shortly after Bostock's murder.
---------
Viejo Dinosaur -- Bon Voyage...wil...
