Thanks for this to all that contributed.

Almost 5000 posts by Richard SS. In a way these posts are "the fabric" partly of his life. He probably had 2 or 3 other passions.

If/when a close family member of mine dies, and they will ... then a history of their passionate thoughts and feelings is preserved in a cyber location. That is very valuable. Better than photo albums possibly/maybe.

I only just realized this.

I have a beer. Cheers Richard!!

Richard S.S. was a valued member of our batterbox family. He is missed. He will forever be a part of our history.

Before he passed he mentioned how difficult it was to continue posting. The day of one of those posts I went shopping and the ALS society was selling Blue Cornflower lapel pins. I bought one. I still have it. It was the first, and so far only time, I'd ever seen a collection for the ALS Society. I googled the Blue Cornflower to find out why they chose that flower. It's worth a google, go have a look.

Richard S.S. is not my first acquaintance to die from ALS. ALS is a horrid, vicious enemy of humans that we haven't been able to get the better of. When I see humans who think wearing a mask, or keeping their distance, is too much to demand of them, I think of Richard and his terrifying journey. Just wear the mask when they ask us to! After all, only (sarcasm  font) 12 million(ish) have caught C-19 and only a tiny few just over 500,000 have died. Just 500,000!! Everyone of these was like Richard S.S., loved and cherished by friends and families, liked and respected by coworkers and fellow travelers on blogs like ours. Everyone of these was torn from a web of connections for eternity. The web they came from, like our web with Richard S.S is the loser.

If you can't do it as a human - do it as a friend of Richard S.S. - in his memory. It will help us all on our journey to be a little closer to being a human and a little further away from being a Chimp - with who we share 98% of our DNA. Search for your inner empathy. We humans need every shred of it we can get. Richard, I miss you.

Richard,

Rest In Peace Richard, you always brought vigour to your posts with enviable consistency. I used to challenge you for generalizing your points into absolute terms but I am a better person for understanding that it only strengthened your resolve and passion for the dialogue and most important I've learned from that passion. Your passion to this board even after your body started to fail you is inspirational to me. You will be missed, most certainly. I hope you are enjoying yourself wherever that place may be now. Thanks a ton Richard SS.


dalimon5

Sad to see he is gone. He was always a good person to have discussions with and it is a shame I never got to meet him in person (or most others here for that matter). Sad to see he didn't have any children or a spouse based on his obituary. Kind of sad how little I can find online about him. The picture of him appears to just be from work, and the comments that were there were all directed towards his sister. One always wants to be remembered, and at least here we do remember him as a smart guy who was fun to debate baseball with. Hopefully he had friends locally who were there with him towards the end as well as his sister.

I second what Mylegacy said.

I looked up the Blue Cornflower, thank you Mylegacy. I choose to remember Richard as having the same attributes as the flower - strong and resilient.

Rest in peace, Richard.

I was very saddened to hear this - Richard S.S. certainly had a very unique voice and his passion for the Jays was ever on display. Another sobering lesson on the fragility of life in a time where we have had all too many of them. My thoughts and prayers are with Richard and his family, and I extend also my appreciation to JB21 for bringing this to our attention, and to all the posters here for their contributions past and present. We are more important to one another than we often realize, and I hope Richard understood that.

Well said Four Seamer.

Rest in peace, Richard S. S.

Well said, John. Your comment makes me wonder if his sister (or other family members) know how we all have appreciated his input and passion for a decade. I hope they've stumbled upon our little community and his many posts.

I'm much more of a lurker on this site than others but I recall Richard as an engaged, intelligent contributor to many discussions. This is sad news, indeed. Rest in peace, Richard.

May you rest in peace Richard, and my sincere condolences to his family.

Condolences to Richard S.S. family and may he RIP - I hope he enjoyed the ride in 2015/16.

A horrible, horrible disease, ironically linked forever to Lou Gehrig. Based on his posts, he seemed like a decent guy, and I feel sad for the suffering Richard and his family went through. May have been a blessing if he went quickly.

Life is not always fair.

Gotta say this thread and the caring we are all showing suggests how good a group this is. Everyone here was great when my wife died nearly 6 years ago, and the outpouring here shows that we all still care about each other today. Part of why I'm always writing my little stories here about baseball. So rare we've had issues, so often we've had good stuff.

RIP Richard S.S.

Your presence will be missed in these parts.