NEW YORK _ In many ways and in two languages, Rusty Staub was a big hit and a big help. In Montreal, he was Le Grand Orange, who put major league baseball on the map. In New York, he helped the Mets win an unlikely pennant and later helped the families of fallen first responders get back on their feet.
The colorful, run-producing humanitarian died Thursday at a hospital in West Palm Beach, Fla., the Mets announced. He was 73.
"The Mets family suffered another loss earlier today when Daniel "Rusty" Staub passed away in a West Palm Beach Hospital after an illness," the team said in a statement. "He was almost as well known for his philanthropic work as he was for his career as a baseball player, which spanned 23 seasons."
Staub received his nickname from a nurse shortly after his birth in a New Orleans hospital, when it was clear he would have a bright red mane. Staub carried that moniker cheerfully through 23 big league seasons, which featured 2,716 hits and 1,466 runs batted in, then into his second phase as a broadcaster, restaurateur and charitable fundraiser. Especially close to his heart was the New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund, which he established in 1985, the year he retired.
"There wasn't a cause he didn't champion. Rusty helped children, the poor, the elderly and then there was his pride and joy The New York Police and Fire Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund," the Mets said. "The entire Mets organization sends its deepest sympathy to his brother, Chuck and sisters Sue Tully and Sally Johnson. He will be missed by everyone."
A 1969 trade from the Astros to the expansion Expos turned him into a full-fledged personality, as he immersed himself in French-Canadian culture as he excelled at the plate. He was devastated when the Expos, looking to build with youth and depth, dealt him to the Mets in 1972. But that changed his life and turned him into a true New Yorker. He was a key member of the group that went from last place to the World Series in 1973. The left-handed batter had three home runs in the National League Championship Series against the Reds and still holds a share of the franchise records with five RBI in a postseason game.
Having played for both the Tom Seaver/Bud Harrelson-era Mets and the Dwight Gooden/Keith Hernandez-era Mets, he was inducted into the club's Hall of Fame in 1986.
Staub's popularity remained strong in his adopted home for the rest of his life, witnessed by the ovation he received when he threw the ceremonial first pitch during the Mets' 2015 postseason. Eleven days earlier he had nearly died from a heart attack during a flight home from Ireland.
"God wasn't ready for me yet," he said at the time. That night, he told mlb.com, "I was tap dancing in front of St. Peter. He could have taken me easily. But maybe he had some more good for me to do. You know, I do some pretty good work. And I don't know how much time I've got. So, I guess I'd better hurry up."
Last July, he was at Citi Field as Austin Tuozzolo, 5, threw a ceremonial first pitch before a Mets game. The youth from Huntington had lost his father, Paul, an NYPD sergeant, in a Bronx shootout. The former outfielder's organization gave financial and emotional support to the child's family. "If it gives them that little surge of energy that is very hard to find in things in life, to bring some joy and happiness to them, that's the purpose of this organization," said Staub, whose uncle Marvin Morton was a New Orleans motorcycle cop killed in the line of duty.
Also last year, he announced that the Rusty Staub Foundation had donated more than $1 million to its participating charities in 2017.
All of that was built on the baseball career of a six-time all-star who also played for the Tigers and Rangers, hit .300 or better five times and had three 100-plus RBI seasons. Along with being honored by the Mets, he was enshrined in the Texas and Canadian Baseball Halls of Fame.
Daniel Joseph Staub was born April 1, 1944, to Alma Morton Staub and her husband, Ray, a teacher who had been a catcher in the Florida State League. Rusty began swinging a bat at 3 and was a star (with his brother Chuck) at Jesuit High in New Orleans. He received a $100,000 signing bonus with the then-expansion Houston Colt .45s in 1962 and made the Opening Day roster in 1963.
By 1969, he was a two-time all-star and was not a favorite of manager Harry Walker, the former batting coach. Staub was still only 24 when the club traded him to Montreal in a deal that would indirectly greatly help the Mets _ the key player in return was Donn Clendenon, who refused to report to Houston, was traded to the Mets and became the Most Valuable Player of the World Series.
Staub flourished in Montreal, taking multiple French classes and embracing the nickname Le Grand Orange bestowed on him by Ted Blackman of the Montreal Gazette. He developed an interest in fine food and wine, which would lead to his decision to open two Manhattan restaurants in the 1990s.
He was unhappy when the Expos traded him for Ken Singleton, Tim Foli and Mike Jorgensen on April 5, 1972, but became a New York fixture. He earned a place in Mets fans' hearts forever as he helped the club rise from 11 { games out on Aug. 5, 1973, to Game 7 of the World Series.
Those fans never did understand the December 1975 trade that sent him to Detroit for beyond-his-prime pitcher Mickey Lolich, and welcomed Staub back when he signed as a free agent in 1980 after a short reprise in Montreal and one season with the Rangers.
The club named him its Goodwill Ambassador as well as a broadcaster. On Rusty Staub Day, July 13, 1986, Mets players came on the field during the ceremony wearing bright red wigs and presented him a plaque with their signatures on it.
In his remarks that day, Staub told the crowd, "I wish I could find the words to really make you understand how much I appreciate how much you've meant to me."
