SARASOTA, FLORIDA - Former Brooklyn Dodgers shortstop Coop “Beeftip” Huggins, 106, died Sunday afternoon in an assisted living facility in Sarasota, Florida. Both eccentric and controversial, Beeftip Huggins is remembered in the hallowed halls of Major League Baseball as one of the all-time greats.
During his nine year career from 1941 to 1950, Huggins became a household name thanks to his signature move, The Double-Dicked Cyclone, where he would stand in the center of home plate with a baseball bat in each hand and spin around really, really fast.
Manager Leo Durocher remarked, “Yeah, the whole Double-Dicked Cyclone thing didn’t really work, but it was just sort of a fun thing that the team liked. What can I say, it was the 40s!”
“You might say that Beeftips Huggins was an innovator. I remember as a kid going to Ebbets Field and seeing his Double-Dicked Cyclone. It was pretty funny I guess, aside from the fact that it seemed like something might have been seriously wrong with him. Like, mentally speaking” said Hall of Fame inductee, Larry Duff.
While his career batting average (.115) was significantly affected in his final 2 years by his inexplicable decision to keep his sudden vision loss a secret - the result of an injury suffered while drunk and trying to seduce Roy Rogers’ famous horse Trigger during a photoshoot - Beeftip was all but a guaranteed base hit in his first 7 seasons with the Dodgers. Except of course, when it was Double-Dicked Cyclone time. While it drove the fans wild, it usually ended with Beeftip striking out, then hitting his knees and vomiting from the dizziness.
Beeftip Huggins was also a member of the historic Dodgers team when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947. When Robinson won the National League’s Most Valuable Player Award in 1949, Huggins reportedly became furiously jealous and quit the team only to return one hour later in blackface claiming to be “Pee Wee Washington,” a supposedly new player from “out-of-town” that had just been traded to the team.
Manager Leo Durocher remarked, “We knew it was Beeftip almost immediately, we just wanted to see how far he would take it. We even let him play a couple games as “Pee Wee.” Looking back, probably wasn’t a good idea but what can I say, it was the 40s!”
“By today’s standards Beeftip Huggins is extremely problematic - especially on the topic of race. But you have to remember that this was back in the 40s when being racist was cool as shit. Plus that Double-Dicked Cyclone thing was hilarious.” said Levy Gossman, Dodgers Chairman in a statement.
The Jackie Robinson Foundation issued a short statement this morning: “Fuck that guy.”