What a sad day in sports. I’ve just read in the New York Times a short obit from AP for Pat Kelly, a former Baltimore Orioles outfield who died on Sunday of a heart attack. Wouldn’t you know it — the Times omitted the memorable exchange Kelly had with his manager, the famously cantankerous Earl Weaver, that is included in the full AP writeup (which can be found on the Washington Post‘s website — though the paper’s paper edition has not yet run anything on Kelly):

Kelly was known as much for his religious conviction as his left-handed swing. During his stint in Baltimore, this exchange between Kelly and fiery manager Earl Weaver supposedly occurred:

“Skip, don’t you want me to walk with the Lord?” Kelly asked.

To which Weaver replied, “I’d rather you walk with the bases loaded.”

Meanwhile, the AP neglected to note that Kelly was the younger brother of Leroy Kelly, the greatest Cleveland Browns running back this side of Jim Brown who lasted longer than Brown and whose running style epitomized ball control and eating up time on the clock on dank, late fall afternoons.