Bobby Doerr, Red Sox Hall of Fame second baseman, dead at 99

Bobby Doerr, the oldest living major leaguer who enjoyed a 14-year Hall of Fame career with the Red Sox, died on Monday, the team announced. He was 99.

Doerr, the second baseman known as the "silent captain" on the Red Sox teams of the 1940s and early '50s, is the only member of the Hall of Fame to live to be 99 years old. Though his playing career was cut short in 1951 at the age of 33 due to a back injury, Doerr worked for decades around the diamond.

The Los Angeles native worked as a scout for the Red Sox from 1957-1966 before serving as the team’s first base coach and hitting instructor from 1967-1969. The nine-time All-Star left Boston for Toronto as the Blue Jays’ first hitting coach from 1977-1981.

Doerr was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1986 before the Red Sox retired his No. 1 jersey two years later.

The Red Sox also inducted him into its inaugural Hall of Fame class in 1995.

Doerr, a career .288 hitter, smacked 223 home runs with 1,247 RBIs with the Red Sox. After leading the American League in slugging (.528) in 1944, he put his career on hold to enlist in the military, serving in his home state of California for the duration of World War II.

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