Carl Erskine was more than just baseball

Jerry West. Willie Mays. The Baby Bull — Orlando Cepeda.

It has been a rough couple of weeks for Baby Boomers and the stars they idolized when they were growing up, as the list has been shrinking with each passing.

And, Carl Erskine – we certainly did not forget you. In fact, it was rather fitting that 97-year-old Carl Erskine passed away one day after Jackie Robinson Day (April 15) this year.

“Oisk will always be remembered as a wonderful and influential part of my childhood forever,” Lafayette High grad and former Los Angeles Dodger Al Ferrara told me, “The streets of Brooklyn would echo at the start of punchball and stickball games, I am Number 17, Oisk.”

Related Article: Carl Erskine: A boy of summer

Erskine was one of Jackie Robinson’s staunchest supporters when he joined the Dodgers as Major League Baseball’s first black baseball player.

And Erskine continued to fight for human rights his entire life.

He was the next-to-last survivor to have played for the Brooklyn Dodgers in Ebbets Field. Sandy Koufax is the sole survivor.

And what a pitcher Erskine was — two no-hitters, pitched in five World Series, including a complete game 14-strikeout performance against the New York Yankees in the 1953 World Series.

But it was a letter that Erskine sent me, dated June 30, 2014, that I have kept and continue to read from time to time.

He also sent his book, “The Parallel”, with this note: “I wrote this little book to help Special Olympics — This is a personal gift to you.”

Signed Carl Erskine.