Coast Leaguer & MInor League Star Merv Connors Dies

Doug McWilliams learned of the death of Merv Connors, and he passed this SF Chron clip on, via Mark Macrae:

Connors died in Berkeley, California on January 8, 2006 at the age of 91.His father was Fire Chief for the city of Berkeley in the 1930's. After graduating from Berkeley High School, Connors would have a two decade career in baseball , mostly in the lower minors. He was a paratrooper in WW 2, going into France on "D-Day" with the 517th Para-infantry. He fought at the "Battle of the Bulge" and in Africa in the mid 40's. Exited the military as a Seargent. He spent the balance of his life as a delivery truck driver in the East Bay region of Northern California. He credits his long life to his adult habits of drinking beer, smoking cigarettes and chewing tobacco.

His minor league career was good enough to get him into the first volumn of Minor League Stars, from which I took most of the stats, adding BB & K data from the guides. His 400 home runs hit in the minors is still near the top of the list of all-time career home runs.