Ed Ott ✝

Ott, who is unrelated to Hall of Famer Mel Ott, began his Major League career as a right fielder with the Pirates in 1974. He converted to playing catcher in 1975, backing up Manny Sanguillén and Duffy Dyer. The Pirates traded Sanguillen to the Oakland Athletics before the 1977 season, and new Pirates manager Chuck Tanner installed Ott into a platoon role alongside Dyer. He played in 104 games that year while hitting for a .264 batting average. His batting average improved to .269 in 1978 while appearing in 112 games.\n', ' Ott platooned with catcher Steve Nicosia in 1979, and had his best season with a .273 batting average along with 7 home runs, 51 runs batted in and a career-high .994 fielding percentage, second only to Gene Tenace among National League catchers. Led by future Hall of Fame inductee, Willie Stargell, the 1979 Pirates won the National League Eastern Division pennant, then defeated the Cincinnati Reds in the 1979 National League Championship Series, before winning the 1979 World Series against the Baltimore Orioles. During the seven-game series, Ott posted a .333 batting average along with 3 runs batted in.\n', ' With young catcher Tony Peña ready to take over the catching duties, the Pirates traded Ott to the California Angels in April 1981. Ott had a down year in \'81 batting just .217. He tore his rotator cuff in \'82 and missed the entire year. After 16 minor league games spread across the \'83 and \'84 seasons, Ott retired.\n', '