Pat Putnam’s Passing and Baseball Legacy

Former major-league first baseman Pat Putnam died in late August at the age of 72 in Punta Gorda, Florida. A report in *Florida Weekly* indicated that he died of natural causes after a neighbor found him in his bedroom.

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Born in Bethel, Vermont, in 1953, Putnam moved to Fort Myers at age 8, where his father coached his Little-League team. He emerged as a left-handed power hitter at Fort Myers High School, then played at Miami Dade North Junior College and the University of South Alabama. The Texas Rangers selected him 22nd overall in the 1975 secondary phase of the MLB draft. In 1976, while with the Asheville Tourists of the Class A Western Carolinas League, Putnam posted a .361 average, 24 home runs and 142 RBIs, earning the league’s first Triple Crown and the Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year honor—the first Class-A player to receive the award since 1936.

NewsweekFormer Rangers, Mariners, Twins first baseman dies at 72

Putnam debuted with the Rangers in September 1977. After injuries opened a regular role, he hit .277 with a team-leading 18 home runs in 1979 and placed fourth in the BBWAA Rookie-of-the-Year voting. Traded to the Seattle Mariners in December 1982, he posted a .269 average, 19 home runs and 67 RBIs in 1983, earning selection as the team’s MVP. He finished his MLB tenure with the Minnesota Twins in 1984. The reports note that he retired with a .255 batting average, 63 home runs and 255 RBIs over 677 games. He later played two seasons in Japan for the Nippon-Ham Fighters, hitting 37 home runs, and finished his playing days with the Fort Myers Sun Sox of the Senior Professional Baseball Association.

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After leaving professional baseball, Putnam settled in Fort Myers, where he owned a business specializing in air and water purification. As the first player from the Fort Myers area to reach the major leagues, his career remains a point of local pride and a touchstone for the region’s baseball scouting reputation.

Newsweek

The *Florida Weekly* report, cited by multiple outlets, confirmed that Putnam’s death resulted from natural causes, concluding the life of a player whose early minor-league achievements and later local entrepreneurship left a lasting imprint on Southwest Florida’s baseball heritage.

Newsweek