Collegio Online

Issue date: 9/11/08 Section: Front Page

Media Credit: AP Former second baseman Don Gutteridge wears his 1944 St. Louis Browns World Series and sits in front of a portrait of himself at home in Pittsburg, Gutteridge, who played for four major league teams and managed the Chicago White Sox, died Sunday, Sept. 7, at his home.

Throughout his life, one thing stands true of Don Gutteridge, his family and friends say: Don loved people.
"He just connected with people and they connected with him," his son, Don Gutteridge Jr., said. "The one thing he did right to the very end was that he'd go to Otto's Café and have coffee and biscuits and gravy with everybody. Every morning."
Gutteridge died at his home in Pittsburg on Sunday afternoon after contracting pneumonia a little less than a month ago. He was 96.
His funeral will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday in Memorial Hall, to accommodate all the visitors.
"That's why we had to do it," Gutteridge Jr., an attorney in Oklahoma City, said. "Everybody told us that the church wasn't going to be big enough."
Gutteridge won six World Series rings in a playing career that spanned from 1936 to 1947 and included the Saint Louis Cardinals, Saint Louis Browns, Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates. He went on to coach the Chicago White Sox from 1955 to 1966. He became the team's manager for the 1969-70 season. Until his death, he was the oldest living former manager or coach in Major League Baseball. He made his Major League debut with the Cardinals on Sept. 7, 1936 - 72 years to the day of his passing.
"They've had calls from the Associated Press and there's going to be people all over the country coming in and that's not even the people in town," Bob Beasley, a neighbor and friend of 20 years said, "That's why they decided to move it into the auditorium. A lot of ties."
He left behind Helen, his wife of 74 years, his son Don Jr., and three grandchildren. Oct. 16 would have marked the couple's 75th anniversary.
"He was so devout," Beasley said. "He was madly in love with his wife. Till the day he died, he was concerned about her. She was his sweetheart."
Gutteridge was honored numerous times in the later years of his life. He is a member of six Hall of Fames including the Sports Hall of Fames for Kansas and Missouri.

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