Herb Score, Reading Baseball Hall of Famer, passes away

Reading Baseball Hall of Famer, long-time Major League pitcher and broadcaster Herb Score passed away early Tuesday morning at his home in Rocky River, Ohio. He was 75-years old. 

Score pitched for the 1953 Reading Indians that went a Reading franchise best 101-47. A lefty, he went 7-3 with a 4.68 ERA in 23 games (17 starts). He struck out 104 in 98 innings. 

The Indians had an Eastern League franchise in Reading from 1952-61 and again in 1965. 

Score pitched for Cleveland from 1955-59 and won the American League Rookie of the Year Award in 1955, going 16-10 with a 2.85 ERA in 32 starts with an AL best 245 strikeouts. Score is one of 13 players who once called Reading home to win a major individual award in the Major Leagues. He is the only former Reading player to win an AL Rookie of the Year Award.

He followed up his Rookie of the Year campaign with an even more impressive season in 1956, going 20-9 with a 2.53 ERA in 33 starts. He again led the AL in strikeouts with 263. He was an AL All-Star in 1955 and 1956. He later pitched for the White Sox from 1960-62 to cap an 8-year Major League career. 

Score went on to become the legendary "Voice of the Indians" for a 34-year run from 1963-1997, the longest tenured broadcaster in the history of the Cleveland Indians franchise. He retired after the 1997 World Series and was inducted into the Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame in 2006.

Score was inducted into the Reading Baseball Hall of Fame as an individual in 1992. The Hall honored him again in 2003, along with his 1953 teammates, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of that dream season. 

This story was posted on November 11, 2008