1995 in baseball

Deaths

• January 5 - Don Elston, 65, a relief pitcher for perennially weak Chicago Cubs teams for most of his nine-year major league career, who posted a 49-54 record with 63 saves and a 3.70 ERA in 450 games.
• February 7 - Cecil Upshaw, 53, who pitched for the Braves, Astros, Indians, Yankees and White Sox, and was selected the National League relief pitcher of the year in 1969.
• April 10 - Bob Allison, 60, a 1959 Rookie of the Year and an All-Star slugger who became one of the early stars of the Minnesota Twins.
• May 9 - Gus Bell, 66, a slugger outfielder with the Cincinnati Reds for nine of his 15 year-career and the oldest member of a rare three-generation major league family that includes his son Buddy, a third baseman and manager, and his grandson David, an infielder.
• May 30 - Glenn Burke, 42, an outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics, who was the first MLB player to publicly acknowledge his homosexuality.
• June 9 - Zoilo Versalles, 55, a slick-fielding Cuban-born shortstop who led the Minnesota Twins to their American League pennant in 1965 and became the first Latin American player to be named MVP.
• July 27 - Rick Ferrell, 89, a Hall of Fame member and All-Star catcher, and the half of one of the game?s more famous pitcher-catcher brother combinations, along wis his brother Wes Ferrell.
• August 1 - Harry Craft, 80, the first manager of the Houston Colt 45s in their 1962 season, who also managed the Kansas City Athletics and Chicago Cubs, and who has been credited for helping Roger Maris as a hitter early in his career.
• August 14 - Mickey Mantle, 63, a Hall of Famer and the most powerful switch-hitter in baseball history, who was the succesor to Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio as the symbol of the long reign of the Yankees.
• August 19 - Von McDaniel, 56, who formed an outstanding pitching combination with his brother, Lindy, on the 1957 St. Louis Cardinals.
• September 22 - Tony Cuccinello, 87, an infielder who was a five-time .300 hitter in a 15-year majors career playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers, NY Giants and Chicago White Sox.
• October 21 - Vada Pinson, 57, an All-Star center fielder for the Cincinnati Reds in the 1960s, who twice led the National League in hits and was one of only six player in ML history to hit 250 home runs and steal 300 bases, along with Willie Mays, Bobby Bonds, Joe Morgan, Andre Dawson and Barry Bonds.
• December 7 - Bill Bruton, 69, the leadoff hitter, chief base stealer and rangy center fielder for the powerful Milwaukee Braves of the 1950s.