Oldest ex-Major League Baseball player dies at 100 (teammate of Babe Ruth's)

[Dennis Donovan]

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/28800711/





updated 6:42 p.m. ET, Thurs., Jan. 22, 2009

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Bill Werber, who was the oldest living ex-major leaguer and a teammate of Babe Ruth, died Thursday. He was 100.

Werber, a career .271 hitter who led the American League in stolen bases three times, played with Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx and Lefty Grove in stints with the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. He hit .370 as the third baseman on the 1940 World Series champion Cincinnati Reds.

Until recently, Werber would vividly tell stories of his days playing in baseball’s golden era. But Werber had been in deteriorating health for the past month and recently moved into an assisted-care facility in Charlotte, where his daughter, Patricia, lives.

“He just refused to eat and that was his plan. He was just having fluids,” his son Bill Werber Jr., said. “He was sharp — extremely sharp — up until three or four weeks ago.”

As a collegian, Werber traveled briefly with the storied 1927 New York Yankees. He played for Hall of Fame managers Casey Stengel, Joe McCarthy, Joe Cronin and Bucky Harris, and locked horns in a contract dispute with Connie Mack.

Werber was also the leadoff hitter in the first televised game in 1939.