Officially, Bobby Baun was listed as 5-foot-9 and 175 pounds. How then, many of the defenseman's opponents would ask, could Baun hit like he was six inches taller and 50 pounds heavier?
Baun, a four-time Stanley Cup champion with the Toronto Maple Leafs and one of the cleanest hitters of his or any generation, died Tuesday at age 86.
"Bobby was hitting but a lot of the time he was taking the worst of it," former Maple Leafs captain Dave Keon said Tuesday from his home in Florida, high with praise for a rugged defenseman with whom he played on Toronto champions in 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1967.
"Bobby and Carl Brewer were a pair on defense and Tim Horton and Allan Stanley were another pair. Bobby was fearless. He wore his heart on his sleeve, played as hard as possible every game, blocked shots and did anything that he could for us to win."
Bobby Baun, wearing a favorite plaid jacket, with fellow Toronto Maple Leafs alumnus Johnny Bower at the 2017 NHL Alumni Gala in Toronto. Dave Stubbs, NHL.com
During his 1960s prime, the native of Lanigan, Saskatchewan nicknamed "Boomer" laid on the body like a freight train, truck or brick wall on skates, crushing attacking skaters with thunderous checks in open ice, in the corners and most of all in front of the Maple Leafs goal.
"I loved having Bobby clearing my crease, even if I couldn't see around him," late Toronto goaltending legend Johnny Bower joked in 2017, laughing about his dear friend "who was as wide as he was tall.
"Anyone foolish enough to plant their skates in front of me knew he probably wasn't going to be standing for long."
Baun's durability was a thing of legend, becoming hockey lore when he scored Toronto's overtime winner in Game 6 of the 1964 Stanley Cup Final against the Detroit Red Wings while skating on a right ankle that had been fractured late in regulation.
In the Olympia Stadium clinic, Baun was told the damage would get no worse if the ankle were frozen by injection and taped up. So it was that he returned to play one more shift in the third period.
"There was no sensation," Baun said. "You couldn't feel a thing from the knee down. You might say, 'How could you skate?' and I still think, well, how could I skate? You could. There was no problem."
With his overtime goal staving off elimination, the Maple Leafs won Game 7 back home, Bower blanking Detroit 4-0 to give Toronto its third consecutive Stanley Cup win.
"Was it worth it?" Baun later said of playing on the fractured ankle. "Sure it was. That's how much winning the Stanley Cup meant to me. Most hockey players would tell you they'd do the very same thing."
Bobby Baun mixes it up with Montreal Canadiens captain Jean Beliveau in front of Toronto goalie Johnny Bower at Maple Leaf Gardens during a 1964 game. Michael Burns Sr./Hockey Hall of Fame
Baun would the Stanley Cup again with the 1967 Maple Leafs, then join the Oakland Seals when he was left unprotected in the 1967 expansion draft. Packaged to Detroit in a six-player trade in May 1968, Baun played two seasons and a month with Detroit before returning to the Maple Leafs by way of the Buffalo Sabres and St. Louis Blues, neither of whom he played for. His 964-game NHL career ended with a neck injury suffered five games into the 1972-73 season.
"Bobby had played in Oakland and Detroit, but he was happy to be back in Toronto and he played well," Keon said. "And then the neck injury happened. There was some talk about him having surgery but they weren't sure if he might be paralyzed, so he put it off and retired."
Baun had arrived with Maple Leafs having been groomed with the organization's Junior B Weston club and major-junior Toronto Marlboros. He seemed ready to make the full-time jump to the NHL for the 1956-57 season, but played 20 games for Toronto and 46 for Rochester in the American League that year, finally reaching the Maple Leafs full-time in 1957-58.
Bobby Baun (bottom right), his fractured ankle still frozen, celebrates Toronto's 1964 Stanley Cup victory following a Game 7 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Maple Leaf Gardens. Michael Burns Sr./Hockey Hall of Fame
Almost immediately, he cemented his reputation as being a fearless shot-blocker and punishing hitter, albeit one who skated bow-legged and seemed at times to have the mobility of a fire hydrant.
But Baun worked diligently at improving his skills, shooting many buckets of pucks after practice and grinding away at his industrial-strength skating.
"Let's just put it this way," Keon said with a laugh. "Bobby would never sneak up on you. You'd hear him coming."
In time, he would be a regular sparring partner of Chicago Black Hawks star Bobby Hull or anyone else who'd test his toughness.
Baun would rally to the side of any teammate, perhaps most famously on Dec. 7, 1963, during a wild 3-0 win on home ice against Chicago.
Referee Frank Udvari would call 155 minutes in penalties that night, Baun picking up 25 of Toronto's 69 minutes during a penalty-box rumble late in the third period.
Oakland Seals captain Bobby Baun is chased by Toronto's Dave Keon behind goalie Charlie Hodge, Maple Leafs' Frank Mahovlich (27) nearby, during an Oct. 28, 1967 game at Maple Leaf Gardens. Graphic Artists/Hockey Hall of Fame
Chicago's Reggie Fleming was sent off for having speared Eddie Shack, Baun dropping his gloves to settle the score. Sent off together, Baun and Fleming turned up the heat in the penalty box, each earning misconducts and game misconducts.
Ultimately, the NHL fined Baun $2,800 for the melee, a steep sum for a player who was earning about $12,500 that season. But Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe, who valued grit and a clenched fist as much as anything, sent Baun and his family a check for $2,800 as a Christmas gift, in appreciation for the defenseman's efforts.
"Men must stand up and be counted," Smythe praised Baun in an accompanying letter.
Like many others, however, Baun would have a falling out with Maple Leafs coach and general manager Punch Imlach, a bridge later mended. He was used little in the 1967 Stanley Cup Final; while dressed for Game 6, the clinching game in the team's most recent championship, he never got on the ice until the handshake line, turning away from Imlach's extended hand and skating off the ice before the Cup presentation.
On a rare rush, Bobby Baun gets past Montreal defenseman Jean-Guy Talbot to score on Charlie Hodge during Toronto's 3-0 Game 6 win during the 1964 Stanley Cup semifinals. Michael Burns Sr./Hockey Hall of Fame
Feeling very much not a part of the organization, he wasn't in Toronto when the team paraded the Stanley Cup downtown. But his playing career done, Baun settled for good in Toronto, the city still in his heart, running a few Tim Hortons doughnut franchises and a golf course.
He was recognized everywhere he went, always reminded of his 1964 fractured-ankle heroics and how he was woven into the wool sweater of the Maple Leafs' four 1960s titles.
"Bobby was an integral part of our success," Keon reflected. "And he was a great teammate."
Top photo: Bobby Baun with the 1950s major-junior Toronto Marlboros and the Toronto Maple Leafs of the 1960s. Turofsky/Hockey Hall of Fame; Macdonald Stewart/Hockey Hall of Fame
