LC baseball great Dark dies at 92
Published 9:43 am Friday, November 14, 2014
Alvin Dark, generally considered to be the greatest athlete ever to come out of Lake Charles, died early Thursday morning at his home in Easley, S.C.
Dark, 92, excelled at all sports, but made his name nationally as a baseball player and manager.
He was the 1948 major league rookie of the year and was a three-time All-Star during his 13-year playing career. Dark was the captain of the 1954 World Series champion New York Giants and later managed both the San Francisco Giants and Oakland A’s to World Series titles.
Gene Dark said his father died at 1:30 a.m. Thursday.
“He went very peacefully,” Gene Dark said. “He was ready to go. It was all very nice and peaceful. He didn’t want any fanfare, so we buried him (in Easley) at 4 o’clock this afternoon (Thursday). Those were his wishes.”
Gene Dark said a memorial service will be held at some point in Lake Charles.
Dark continued to live in Lake Charles in the offseason during his baseball playing and managing career, but lived in San Diego for several years after his retirement.
He moved to Easley in the early 1980s and was involved with the Alvin Dark Foundation, which supports ministries.
Dark is a member of the New York Giants Baseball Hall of Fame, the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, the LSU Sports Hall of Fame and the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame.
Before his death, Dark was the oldest former baseball manager to win a World Series. He was the first manager to coach both the American and National League teams in All-Star Games.
In 1955, he was honored with the first Lou Gehrig Memorial Award, which was given to the player who best exemplified Gehrig’s character and integrity, on and off the field.
Hall of Famer Willie Mays, who played with Dark with the New York Giants and for him when he managed the team after it moved to San Francisco, told the San Francisco Chronicle, “It’s a sad day for me with all the help he gave me. He was such a mentor to me. A very nice man.”
Dark was born Jan. 7, 1922, in Comanche, Okla., but his family moved to Lake Charles shortly afterward. As a youngster, Dark had a job delivering the American Press.
After graduating from Lake Charles High School, Dark enrolled at LSU on a football scholarship, taking it over an offer to play basketball at Texas A&M.
At LSU he made All-SEC as a sophomore running back in 1942 and lettered in basketball and baseball that winter and spring before World War II called.
He enrolled in the V-12 Navy College Training Program, which sent him to Southwestern Louisiana Institute (now UL-Lafayette), where he continued his education. At his one year at SLI, Dark excelled in football, basketball and baseball; ran track; and played on the golf team.
He completed his military training and was sent to the Pacific just before the war ended. After the war, he was stationed in China, where his platoon supported supply trains.
When he returned to Lake Charles in 1946, he had been drafted by the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles, but elected to sign with the Boston Braves National League team to pursue his first love, baseball.
He spent his only season in the minors in 1947, then made the Boston Braves club for good in 1948. He earned the starting shortstop job and won the major league rookie of the year award — the last year each league didn’t honor a first-year player — and finished third in the National League MVP voting.
He was traded to the New York Giants in 1950 and was immediately named the team captain by fiery manager Leo Durocher.
Dark may have had his best year in 1951, making his first All-Star appearance while hitting .303 with a career-high 196 hits. He led the league with 41 doubles, scored 114 runs and hit 14 home runs.
But he was best known that year for his role in the one-game playoff with the Brooklyn Dodgers for the NL pennant. He led off the top of the ninth with a single to spark a rally that ended with Bobby Thompson’s three-run homer to give the Giants a 5-4 victory in the “Miracle on Coogan’s Bluff.”
He hit .412 against the Cleveland Indians in the 1954 World Series, which the Giants won in four straight games.
Dark was traded by the Giants during the 1956 season and eventually played with the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies. He retired after his 1960 season with the Milwaukee Braves.
He managed the San Francisco Giants the next year and directed them to a World Series win in 1962.
He later managed the Cleveland Indians (1968-71) before taking over the wild and crazy Oakland A’s for the 1974 and 1975 seasons.
Dark, a religious man, often clashed with colorful Oakland owner Charley Finley, but the A’s won the Series in 1974.
“In his later years, he didn’t really want to talk about baseball much,” said Gene Dark.