Michael George Sadek (May 30, 1946 – January 20, 2021) was an American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player who was a

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). Originally drafted by the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

, he spent his entire major league career with the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

. He was a backup throughout his eight-year major league career, which spanned the years and through . Sadek's nickname was "The Sheik" which was coined by Giants teammate Craig Robinson who, upon seeing the name Mohammed Ahmed Sadek, declared to the catcher, "Hey, you’re a sheik." During his time in MLB, he was known as one of the most funny jokesters. In the 1996 film '' The Fan'', Sadek served as

Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director, and film producer. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of List of awards and ...

body double In filmmaking, a double is a person who substitutes for another actor such that the person's face is not shown. There are various terms associated with a double based on the specific body part or ability they serve as a double for, such as stunt ...

in scenes where DeNiro's character was throwing a baseball. Sadek died on January 20, 2021, in

San Andreas, California San Andreas ( Californio Spanish for "St. Andrew") is an unincorporated census-designated place and the county seat of Calaveras County, California. The population was 2,994 at the 2020 census, up from 2,783 at the 2010 census. Like most town ...

, at the age of 74. He was survived by his son, Mike Jr., along with Mike's wife Melanie and their three children, Mike Sr.'s grandchildren. A daughter, Nicole, had died at age 25 in a parachuting accident.

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1946 births 2021 deaths Major League Baseball catchers San Francisco Giants players St. Cloud Rox players Orlando Twins players Charlotte Hornets (baseball) players Amarillo Giants players 20th-century American sportsmen Phoenix Giants players Baseball players from Minneapolis Minnesota Golden Gophers baseball players {{US-baseball-catcher-1940s-stub