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Norm Sherry, a backup catcher who played four seasons for the Dodgers and spent decades as a coach in the majors and minors, died on Monday at age 89.
Nine years after signing with the Dodgers, Norm Sherry made his major league debut in 1959, a team that featured his brother Larry Sherry, a relief pitcher who would win World Series MVP that season. In four seasons with Los Angeles, Sherry the catcher hit .249/.311/.414 with 16 home runs, and started 96 games behind the plate from 1959-62.
In spring training in 1961, a mound conversation with a 25-year-old Sandy Koufax, who at that point had a 4.10 career ERA and an exactly average 100 ERA+. Sherry recalled the encounter in an interview with the Jewish Baseball Museum in 2016: