BALTIMORE, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- Long-time Baltimore Orioles bullpen coach Elrod Hendricks succumbed to a heart attack on Wednesday, just one day before his 65th birthday.
Hendricks, who missed 18 games this past season after suffering a mild stroke, had been with the organization as both a player and coach for 37 years. He was a catcher for the Orioles from 1968-1979.
The team announced at the end of the 2005 season that he would be re-assigned.
"I'm shocked," Orioles Manager Sam Perlozzo said to the Washington Post Wednesday night.
"Everybody was worried after the stroke, but he seemed fine and was his normal self," Orioles out-fielder Jay Gibbons told the paper.
During his playing career, Hendricks, who had been the team's bullpen coach since 1977, was a career .220 hitter with 62 home runs and 230 RBI in 711 games with Baltimore, the Chicago Cubs and the New York Yankees.
