Charlotte Baseball Family Mourns the loss of Drungo Hazewood…
Just last night I wrote a story about former Knights hurler Frank Castillo, who passed away at the age of 44.
You can read that story here:
I was very saddened to learn of Frank’s drowning.
Today, the sadness for the Charlotte baseball family continues as the news of the passing of former Charlotte O’s slugger Drungo Hazewood has been confirmed. Much like Frank, I never had a chance to meet Drungo — but I heard a lot about him. Less than a year ago, I found out that he was battling cancer — and I wanted to do something to help. So, I did one of the things I love to do… I wrote a blog.
Here is that blog from August 22, 2012:
* Drungo Hazewood Needs Your Help
As I said in my recent blog about Frank Castillo, I have spent a lot of the year looking back to the history of the Charlotte Knights from 1990-present day. I have taken a big look at the history of Knights Stadium — the 24 years of memories. During the offseason, with help from Matt Spezialetti and Tim Doohan, we revamped the media guide and broke down the Knights and O’s records. Hazewood’s name is very prominent on that list.
He is the all-time Charlotte O’s leader in games played (505), at-bats (1,688), runs scored (278), walks (307), and strikeouts (554). The other categories, well, Hazewood is close to the top. He’s second all-time in hits (just two away from Jesus Alfaro’s 422), third in triples (just four away from John Denman’s 18), second in home runs (just three away from Tom Dodd’s 82), second in RBIs (thiry-one away from Tom Dodd’s 279), and second in stolen bases (28 away from John Denman’s 111).
As the Knights make the move back to Charlotte in 2014, one can’t help but think of Drungo who patrolled the Charlotte outfield from 1979–82.
For more on Drungo Hazewood, please take a look at the Sacramento Bee — his hometown newspaper:
* Hometown Report: Local Legend Hazewood Dies at 53
My thoughts and prayers go out to Drungo’s family and friends. At just 53 years old, Drungo was taken away too soon. Thanks for the great Charlotte baseball memories.