
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 28, 1995                   TAG: 9507280105
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MICH.                                LENGTH: Short

HALL OF FAME CATCHER FERRELL DIES AT 89

Rick Ferrell, a Hall of Famer who for 41 years held the American League record for games caught, died Thursday. He was 89.

He died of arrhythmia at the Woodward Hills Nursing Home in Bloomfield Hills.

Ferrell, a native of Durham, N.C., played in the major leagues from 1929 through 1947 for the St.Louis Browns, Boston Red Sox and Washington Senators. He was voted into the Hall of Fame by the veteran's committee in 1984.

His league record of 1,806 games caught stood until broken by Carlton Fisk in 1988. Al Lopez, a National League contemporary of Ferrell, established the major-league mark of 1,918 that was subsequently broken by Bob Boone (2,225) in 1990 and then by Fisk (2,229) in 1993. Fisk's mark is also the AL record.

Ferrell was the AL catcher in the first All-Star Game in 1933 and was the last surviving American League player from that game. AL manager Connie Mack had him catch all nine innings of the 1933 game even though Bill Dickey and Mickey Cochrane were on the squad.

Ferrell, who played 18 years in the majors, had a career batting average of .281 with 1,692 hits, 28 home runs and 734 RBI. His brother, Wes, was a major-league pitcher, winning 193 games in 15 years, including six 20-victory seasons.

Rick Ferrell was an executive with the Detroit Tigers from 1950 to 1992.

Ferrell, who lived in Troy for the past 18 years, is survived by his sons Rick Ferrell Jr. and Tom Ferrell of Grand Rapids, and daughters, Maureen Ferrell and Kerrie Ferrell, both of Ann Arbor.

by CNB