Babe Dahlgren, Man Who Replaced Gehrig, Dead at 84

Babe Dahlgren, the slick-fielding first baseman who replaced Lou Gehrig with the New York Yankees on May 2, 1939, died Wednesday at his Arcadia home of natural causes. He was 84.

Dahlgren spent 12 years in the major leagues with eight teams and played four positions.

He is best remembered as the man who took over for Gehrig, when his consecutive games played streak ended at 2,130 in Detroit in 1939.

Dahlgren was a member of the 1939 World Series champion Yankees, and had a lifetime batting average of .261.

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Bill MacPhail, a member of one of baseball’s foremost families who went on to help change the way television presented sports, died Wednesday at 76.

MacPhail, who retired last year as CNN Sports senior vice president, died of complications after heart surgery last week at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Atlanta.

MacPhail initially set out to follow his father, Larry--who ran the Cincinnati Reds, Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees--into baseball. He spent nine years in the sport before CBS hired him in 1956.

Survivors include his brother Lee, a former American League president, and three nephews, including Andy MacPhail, the Chicago Cubs’ general manager.

Al Zarilla, who played for the St. Louis Browns, Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox, died of cancer in Honolulu. He was 77. Zarilla, an outfielder, played for the Browns in the 1944 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. He finished his 10-year career with a .276 average.