Hall of Fame outfielder Dave Winfield is dealing with loss.

He knew Joe Morgan from when “the Cincinnati Big Red Machine used to beat us like they owned us.”

He idolized Bob Gibson and grew up to face him. “I got brush-back pitches. But I also hit a home run, too.”

And Lou Brock “broke the all-time stolen base record against us in San Diego; and I’m playing right field, and I see him steal the base.”

Morgan died Sunday. Gibson died this month. Brock died Sept. 6.

“It’s been a bad year, man,” Winfield said. “A bad year.”

Morgan: ‘the best player in baseball’

You’ll understand if he takes his time to explain what each of these guys meant to him. Winfield, the Padres and Yankees great, posted a picture on Twitter of himself joking around with Morgan at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City.

“Everyone, this one hurts a lot,” Winfield wrote. “Really good man and a great player.”

Winfield was impressed with Morgan’s intellect as much as his playing ability.

“Joe Morgan was, first of all, very convivial … Joe was a businessman away from baseball. He was well respected on the field, off the field. He was an executive with the Cincinnati Reds. He was a co-chairman with the Hall of Fame.”

He never could get over watching Morgan play.

“I saw Joe Morgan, he was diminutive in size, but that would belie all of his talent,” Winfield said. “It was hard to process a guy that small being the best player in baseball for a couple of years.

“MVP a couple of years in a row (1975-76) on the best team in baseball. He would steal bases. He was a Gold Glove defender. He hit home runs. He got the walks. He got the RBIs. He led that team.”

Gibson: ‘just mowing ’em down’

Gibson, meanwhile, meant everything to Winfield as a youngster.

“I grew up in the ’50s and ’60s, and although we didn’t have a television until my adolescent years, Bob Gibson’s name just passed through, and you knew who he was. Particularly with his performances in the World Series.

“When you’re striking out 17 people, you’ve got the lowest ERA in the history of Major League Baseball … when I played baseball as a youngster, when I pitched, that’s who I was. That’s who I said I wanted to be: Bob Gibson. Just mowing ’em down.

“And he had his own style. Today, scouts and people might say, ‘Well, he has a flaw in his delivery.’ Or his ‘arm slot’ or something like that. They’d say, ‘you can’t pitch like that.’

“I have that picture, where’s he’s at almost a 45-degree angle delivering a pitch, hanging on the wall in my house with his signature on it.”

Brock: ‘he made it look easy’

As for Brock, “he wasn’t necessarily the fastest human being on the baseball field, but stealing bases was a science to him. He stole bases not just on sheer speed, but he was in the pitcher’s head. He knew what the catcher could do. Everything was synched, it was timed, it was planned.

“And he’d go back to first base, on his feet, standing up. Almost like a dancer. He made it look easy.”

And it couldn’t have been easy.

“What I learned from him,” Winfield said, “from having numerous conversations, I respected him a great deal, was his fitness. I’m thinking, ‘How do you steal that many bases in hot, hot St. Louis, on that turf?’ He was just an incredible player.”

Winfield went out of his way to make clear how much he respected the mind of each of these African-American heroes.

“All of these guys were very bright,” he said, peppering the conversation with the word “educated.”

“All these guys played the game correctly,” Winfield said. “They didn’t use anything to enhance their play. … Very few players today play the way they did. They had their own unique styles. Each one of them.

“Joe had that memorable arm flap before he hit the ball. The little chicken wing move.

“Lou Brock was just graceful and so knowledgeable.

“Bob Gibson, just, man … mmm … mmm … mmm …

“The game became a science to all of them. You don’t just play on talent alone.

“They deserve to be recognized, remembered, honored. … I’m hurting. I mean these guys. They were … mmm … all great guys. Incredible players. Historical figures. Giants in this game. And, to lose them all in a month.

“And then throw in the other guys I know, Whitey Ford, Tom Seaver. It’s been a bad year, man. A bad year.”

Reach Moore at[email protected]or 602-444-2236. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @WritingMoore.

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