R.I.P.
Chet Lemon
(5-08-2025)
At the same time my mother was giving birth to me in hospital, our dog Molly gave birth to golden retriever + whatever puppies. Only one of the litter was kept there at my grandparents' (who were babysitting our pregnant dog); his name was Chet.
My uncle raised the dog while living under their roof for several years before the freedom of a college escape meant the dog, Chet, would be lonely. Soon thereafter, Chet developed stomach cancer and would be dead before spring training.
But how did Chet get his name? Who named him? While the story has always been that my uncle named the dog on a whim, it turns out he more than likely named the dog after the Denver Bears star of a few years prior. In 1975, Denver was the AAA farm club of the Chicago White Sox. Chet Lemon played 70 games for Denver that year and triple-slashed .307 /.373 /.508 while playing 3B and a bit of OF.
He barely tasted his cup of coffee in the bigs later that year as the season was pretty much already over.
The following fifteen years saw Chet rack up 55.7 WAR, leading the majors in HBP four times, and in doubles once (1979), ending up a three-time all-star.
Chet Lemon lived to be 70 years old.
Chet, the dog, lived to be 12 in golden retriever years (ca.77 human years)
Born on the same day as the dog, I'm still alive at 44.
