NEW YORK (AP) — Oscar Gamble, an outfielder who hit 200 home runs over 17 major league seasons, has died of a rare tumor of the jaw. He was 68.
Gamble, recognizable during his playing days for an Afro that spilled out of his helmet, died Wednesday at UAB Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama, according to his second wife, Lovell Woods Gamble.
She said he was diagnosed with a benign tumor of the jaw, ameloblastoma, about nine years ago. It became ameloblastic carcinoma in 2016 and he had the first of several operations that August. He entered the hospital on Jan. 22. She said he never chewed tobacco.
Gamble spent seven seasons with the New York Yankees in two stints, playing for AL pennant winners in 1976 and 1981. He lived in Montgomery.
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(AP Photo/Ray Stubblebine, File & AP Photo/File)