The Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan died on Sunday in Danville, California, family spokesman James Davis said in statement on Monday. The sparkplug of the Big Red Machine and the prototype for baseball’s artificial turf era was suffering from a nerve condition, a form of polyneuropathy.

Morgan was a two-time NL Most Valuable Player, a 10-time All-Star and won five Gold Gloves during his 22-year career through 1984. With Joe, his 1,650 runs, 689 bases and 268 homers have become a part of the sport’s history. More than anything, Morgan was known for the force he created on the field.

The left-swinging number 8 could go flapping his left elbow at the plate, hit a home run, steal a base and disrupt any game with his daring.

With a 5-foot-7 stature, Morgan took the tiebreaking single with two outs in the ninth inning of Game 7 in 1975 giving the Reds the crown in a classic matchup with Bost

“He was just a good major league player when it didn’t mean anything,” former Reds and Tigers skipper Sparky Anderson once said. “But when it meant something, he was a Hall of Famer.”

MLB mourned the ‘passing of Joe Morgan, a Hall of Famer, two-time MVP and two-time World Series champion,’ on Twitter.