Choo Choo Coleman, member of original Mets, dies at 80

NEW YORK (AP) - Clarence "Choo-Choo" Coleman, a catcher on the expansion 1962 Mets who spent four seasons in the major leagues with New York and the Philadelphia Phillies, died Monday at age 80.

Coleman, who had been suffering from cancer, died at the Regional Medical Center in Orangeburg, South Carolina, according to a niece, Linda Hibbler. Coleman had lived for more than two decades in nearby Bamberg.

Hibbler said he was born on Aug. 18, 1935. Baseballreference.com listed his date of birth as Aug 25, 1937.

Coleman said he was given his nickname was when he was young.

"When I was 8 or 9, I ran around a lot," he told The New York Times in 2012. "My friends called me Choo-Choo because I was fast."

Coleman played with the Indianapolis Clowns in the Negro American League and signed with the original Washington Senators. He was released and signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was selected by Philadelphia at the 1960 winter meetings draft and hit .128 in 47 at-bats over 34 games with the Phillies.The Mets took him in that expansion draft.

He batted .250 with six homers and 17 RBIs in 55 games for the '62 Mets, who went 40-120, the second-most losses in major league history behind only the 1899 Cleveland Spiders (20-134). Coleman also played for the Mets in 1963 and 1966, finishing with a .197 career average, nine homers and 30 RBIs in 462 at-bats over 201 games.

After his baseball career, he owned and operated a restaurant in Newport News, Virginia, before retiring to Bamberg.

He is survived by his third wife, Lucille; a son, Clarence Coleman Jr.; and a daughter, Elnora Vanessa Swint, according to Hibbler. A funeral is scheduled for Saturday at Greater Sidney Park Baptist Church in Bamberg.