Former St. Louis Cardinals OF/1B David Green Dies At 61 After Choking

There’s one notable player in Milwaukee Brewers history—someone who had a hand in the team’s only World Series despite never playing for them. In fact, the native Nicaraguan David Green was playing for the Brew Crew’s opponent—the St. Louis Cardinals—in that Fall Classic.

David Green Cause Of Death

Well, the 61-year-old Green died of respiratory failure in a St. Louis hospital Saturday after choking at his suburban house earlier in the week.

The outfielder and first baseman arrived with the Cardinals before the 1981 season when then-GM Whitey Herzog insisted upon having him in a deal that sent future Hall of Famers Rollie Fingers and Ted Simmons, as well as future Cy Young winner Pete Vuckovich, to Milwaukee. All three played crucial roles to the Brewers’ first playoff appearance in 1981 and follow-up World Series in 1982.

Signed by Milwaukee as a teen in the mid-’70s, Green became one of MLB’s top prospects.

“David Green? He’s got Willie Mays’ physical abilities and Pete Rose’s mental abilities,” Ray Poitevint, the Brewers’ director of player procurement, said before the Brewers agreed to trade Green to the Cards.

“We have not even tried to assess his market value,” Brewers GM Harry Dalton said the same month. “He was even further out of the question (to be traded) than (Paul) Molitor.”

“No way we make that deal if they don’t give up David Green,” then-assistant Cardinals GM Joe McDonald said in 1985. “I know (the Brewers) had a meeting and all of their people didn’t want him to go. But we finally said, ‘Look, that’s it.’ I don’t know anybody who had his Roberto Clemente skills.”

Green hit .291 with 27 stolen bases and 19 triples at in AA Holyoke in 1980 for the Brewers, and then rose to MLB quickly with St. Louis. He struggled early on in 1981, but he was part of the 1982 World Series between his former and current teams; he would go on to notch a double and triple in 10 at-bats.

Green was solid for the Cards through 1984 but was then dealt to San Francisco. He dealt with alcohol problems and received unsubstantiated scrutiny that his actual age may be as many as four years older than believed.

He eschewed the media in 1985, which wasn’t flattering for his reputation, and was re-acquired by the Brewers in 1986.

Failing to win a starting job out of spring training in 1986, Green took his talents to Japan to play for a season before a brief return to the Cardinals in 1987.

“I had heard he was a bad guy,” Brewers second baseman Jim Gantner said in 1986. “He wasn’t a bad guy at all. He was great to have in the clubhouse. He was always joking, a lot of fun to be around.”