Dodgers legend Carl Erskine, last surviving 'Boys of Summer' member, dead at 97

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Carl Erskine, a legendary pitcher for the Dodgers who was the last surviving member of the 1950s "Boys of Summer" squad, has died. He was 97 years old. 

Erskine died in his hometown of Anderson, Indiana, at Community Hospital Anderson, according to Michele Hockwalt, who serves as the hospital’s marketing and communication manager. 

"For millions of fans, he was a baseball hero," Hall of Fame Chair Jane Forbes Clark said in a statement about Erskine.

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Brooklyn Dodger Carl Erskine and Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley May 15, 1956, at Ebbets Field.  (Sports Studio Photos/Getty Images)

Erskine was a Dodgers lifer, playing his entire career with them, from 1948-59. He was with the team after it moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1957. And he helped the Dodgers win five National League pennants during his years with the team, including 1955, when the Dodgers won the World Series. 

The Dodgers won only one World Series during that run of pennants.

A one-time All-Star during the 1954 season, Erskine had a career 4.00 ERA with a 122-78 record and 981 strikeouts. 

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His best year came in 1953, when he won 20 games to lead the National League. He also beat the New York Yankees in the World Series that year in Game 3, striking out 14 hitters, which was a record back then. 

The record stood until another Dodgers ace, Sandy Koufax, broke it in 1963 with 15 strikeouts in one World Series game. 

Erskine received the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award in July 2023, which honors an individual whose efforts enhance the game’s