Two car accidents devastated the baseball world during the latter days of April. And then we lost a little known but colorful figure from the early 1970s in May. Here are tributes to those baseball men who lost their lives over the past two months, along with a few additional passings from the month of March.

(Died on May 13 in Saluda, North Carolina; age 63; Lou Gehrig’s disease): A colorful character and a longtime minor leaguer, Hodge played one season in the major leagues. Appearing in 85 games as a utility infielder for the Cleveland Indians in 1971, Hodge hit .205 with one home run. After his playing days, Hodge became a minor league coach. He last worked in baseball in 2001, serving as a coach for Pawtucket, the Triple-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.

COMMENTARY: Limited in physical talents, Hodge struggled to build a niche in the major leagues. A native of small town North Carolina, Hodge played only one season, collecting 83 at-bats for the dismal 1971 Indians. On a team with little appeal, Hodge stood out as a rare baseball personality. He sounded so much like actor Jim Nabors, who played "Gomer Pyle" on the old Andy Griffith Show, that friends and acquaintances called him Gomer. After collecting four hits in his first four at-bats, three of them as a pinch-hitter, Hodge declared in his best Nabors voice: "Golly, fellas, I’m hitting 4.000!" And he didn’t mean it kiddingly.

Hodge couldn’t keep up his early hitting pace. He finished the season at .205. He wasn’t much better defensively. While willing to play anywhere—first base, second base, or third base—Gomer didn’t play any of the positions well. Not so surprisingly, he didn’t return to the major leagues in 1972.

After Hodge’s playing days, his first marriage ended in divorce and he lost most of his savings. Diagnosed with ALS two years ago, Hodge endured the final stages of the disease before dying in mid-May. He could not speak, restricted to communicating with his wife and friends through simple hand movements.

In spite of his tragic illness, Hodge left an impact. His down-home manner, his sense of humor, and his willingness to talk made him a favorite of teammates and media alike, a kind of folk hero in Cleveland. Equipped with an easygoing personality, Hodge eventually managed to return to baseball as a minor league coach. Even years after his 1971 cameo, he remained a popular target for autograph seekers. That’s a pretty good legacy for a man who played only one year in the big leagues.

Milt Bocek

(Died on April 29 in Brookfield, Illinois; age 94): An outfielder, Bocek appeared in 30 games for the Chicago White Sox in 1933 and ’34. As a rookie, he batted .364 in 22 at-bats. Over his two-year career, Bocek hit .267 with a home run and six RBIs.

Josh Hancock

(Died on April 29 in St. Louis, Missouri; age 29; head injuries caused by a car accident): A member of the 2006 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals and an active pitcher with the team in 2007, Hancock was killed almost immediately when his Ford Explorer crashed into the back of a tow truck on Interstate 64 in St. Louis. According to a St. Louis medical examiner, Hancock’s blood-alcohol level was 0.157, which is nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08 allowed in the state of Missouri. According to police chief Joe Mokwa, a glass pipe and 8.55 grams of marijuana were also found in Hancock’s vehicle. It is not yet known if drugs were in Hancock’s system at the time of his death.

Three days prior to the fatal incident, Hancock had been involved in another car accident. On April 26, Hancock’s SUV had collided with a tractor-trailer at an intersection in Sauget, Illinois, causing the front bumper of his car to be torn off.

Hancock became the second active member of the Cardinals to pass away during the last five seasons; former Cardinals ace Darryl Kile died in June of 2002 because of a coronary artery blockage. Hancock’s final appearance in a Cardinals uniform had taken place just one day earlier. The 29-year-old right-hander pitched three innings of long relief in St. Louis’ Saturday afternoon loss to the Chicago Cubs. In eight games this season, Hancock posted a 3.55 ERA for the Cardinals, one year after making 62 regular season appearances in relief for St. Louis during its championship run of 2006.

Originally drafted by the Boston Red Sox in 1998, Hancock made his major league debut for the Red Sox in 2002. He later pitched for the Philadelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds before being released in January of 2006. After the Cardinals invited him to spring training in March, Hancock made the team and became a durable and oft-used member of Tony LaRussa’s bullpen, finishing 15 games along the way and playing a subtle role in the team’s World Championship season.

(Died on April 27 in Weymouth, Massachusetts; age 90; effects of a stroke): An outfielder with the Boston Bees, McLeod played in six games in 1938, collecting two hits in seven at-bats. His first major league hit came against Paul Dean, the brother of Hall of Famer Dizzy Dean. McLeod’s major league career was cut short by service in World War II. As an infantryman in the U.S. Army, McLeod fought in the Battle of the Bulge.

(Died on April 23 in Menlo Park, California; age 73; car accident): A highly acclaimed author who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1964, Halberstam was best known for his reporting on the Vietnam War and his writing on civil rights and the Washington press corps, but also gained a strong foothold in the sports world. Of his 19 books, three dealt directly with baseball: The Summer of ’49, October 1964, and The Teammates. Halberstam’s writing career began in the newspaper business; while working for the New York Times, his reporting on the Vietnam War earned him the Pulitzer Prize in 1964. Halberstam eventually left the newspaper to pursue a fulltime career as a book author. At the time of his death, Halberstam was en route to interview former NY Giants quarterback Y.A. Tittle for a book about the famed 1958 NFL Championship Game.

COMMENTARY: It took me awhile to realize it, but David Halberstam wasn’t a baseball writer per se. He was an accomplished author who happened to like sports, baseball in particular. And when he wrote about the national pastime, he did so in such a way that it made you wish he had concentrated on baseball fulltime. Sadly, we will not have the opportunity to hear his voice on the game any longer.

While growing up, I had always assumed that Halberstam was just a sportswriter, largely because of two classic books he penned, the underrated Breaks of the Game (a chronicle of the NBA’s Portland Trailblazers in 1979) and The Summer of '49 (which tracked the memorable pennant race between the Yankees and Red Sox). Then I learned that he was a wide-ranging author who just happened to dabble in writing about sports, which he obviously considered worthwhile fodder for his talents as an author. I think that’s a good indication that sports represents more than just the "toy department" of newspapers, as some news people have claimed over the years.

If you happen to work in the sports department of a newspaper or radio station and you ever hear such elitist talk from someone in the news department, just remind them about the work of David Halberstam. If sports, specifically baseball, were worthwhile enough for a Pulitzer Prize winning writer, then there must be some value in it for everybody else.

Dick Kryhoski

(Died on April 10 in Beverly Hills, Maine; age 82): A left-handed hitting first baseman, Kryhoski was perhaps best remembered for being part of a 17-man trade between the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees in 1954. Kryhoski also played for the Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Browns, Baltimore Orioles, and Kansas City A’s.

Lou Limmer

(Died on April 1 in Boca Raton, Florida; age 83): Limmer was best known for hitting the final home run in the history of the Philadelphia A’s. A left-handed hitting first baseman, Limmer played for the A’s in 1951 and 1954. In 530 at-bats, he batted only .202 but clubbed 19 home runs, including 14 during the 1954 season.

Don Dennis

(Died on March 22 in Fort Scott, Kansas; age 65; cancer): Pitching in two seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals during the 1960s, Dennis won six games, lost five, saved eight games, and posted an ERA of 3.69 in just over 114 innings. In December of 1966, the Cardinals traded Dennis and Walt "No-Neck" Williams to the Chicago White Sox for Johnny Romano and Lee White.

Willard Schmidt

(Died on March 22 in Newcastle, Oklahoma; age 78): A right-handed pitcher, Schmidt won 31 games over a career that included stops with the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds during the 1950s. Schmidt was once included as part of a trade for legendary Gold Glove outfielder Curt Flood. In December of 1957, the Cardinals traded Schmidt and two other players to the Reds for Flood and outfielder Joe Taylor.

(Died on March 12 in Long Beach, California; age 76; cancer): A first baseman-outfielder who played in the major leagues from 1958 to 1963, Larker spent most of his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers. At first a backup outfielder, Larker participated in the team’s 1959 World Championship and eventually became the Dodgers’ starting first baseman after the departure of Gil Hodges. In 1960, Larker batted .323 to finish second in the National League batting race and also earned selection to the mid-season All-Star Game. He later played for the Houston Colt .45s, Milwaukee Braves, and San Francisco Giants, reaching a career high with nine home runs for the original Colt .45s in 1962.

Art Lopatka

(Died on March 10 in Elk Grove Village, Illinois; age 87; congestive heart failure): Lopatka posted a record of 1-1 with an ERA of 6.35 in eight major league appearances. His career was cut short during a batting practice accident that occurred in April of 1946, when a Del Ennis line drive struck Lopatka’s hand.