RIP

Stan Musial -- the Hall of Fame outfielder who played for the St. Louis Cardinals for 22 seasons -- passed away today. He was 92.

The Cardinals announced Musial's passing in a press release. He died Saturday evening at his home in Ladue, Mo., surrounded by family.

Musial won seven National League batting titles, three MVP awards and led the Cardinals to three World Series championships in the 1940s.

Earl Weaver, the Hall of Fame manager of the Baltimore Orioles, passed away early this morning of an apparent heart attack. He was 82.

Weaver, according to reports, was aboard an Orioles fantasy cruise in the Caribbean when he collapsed in his room at around 2:00 AM. Doctors were unable to revive him.

As manager of the O's from 1968-1986, Weaver won six division titles, four American League pennants, five 100-win and one World Series championship. His nickname was "The Earl of Baltimore."

Robert F. Chew -- best known for playing Proposition Joe on "The Wire" -- was found dead yesterday in his apartment in Baltimore ... TMZ has learned.

According to the coroner in Baltimore, Chew died of cardiovascular disease. "Morbid obesity" was listed as a contributing factor.

Chew had very little acting experience before "The Wire" or after. He was on the cult HBO show -- which took place in Baltimore -- for five seasons.

Pauline Phillips --the woman who founded the "Dear Abby" advice column -- died yesterday at the age of 94.

A rep for Phillips tells TMZ ... Pauline had been battling Alzheimer's disease.

Pauline's daughter, Jeanne -- who took over the "Dear Abby" column -- says ... "I have lost my mother, my mentor and my best friend."

She adds, "My mother leaves very big high heels to fill with a legacy of compassion,commitment and positive social change. I will honor her memory every day by continuing this legacy."

"Dear Abby" first appeared in print in 1956 -- and eventually grew to a daily readership of 100 MILLION.

Pauline's twin sister was advice columnist Ann Landers -- who died in 2002 at the age of 83.

During her career, Phillips used the pen name Abigail Van Buren -- she used the name "Abigail" from the wise woman in the Old Testament and "Van Buren" was adopted in honor of one of her favorite presidents.

Actor Conrad Bain -- who famously played father figure Phillip Drummond on "Diff'rent Strokes" -- has passed away. He was 89.

Bain family sources tell TMZ, Bain died Monday night at a retirement home in Livermore, CA from natural causes.

We spoke with Bain's daughter Jennifer who tells us, "He was an amazing person. He was a lot like Mr. Drummond, but much more interesting in real life. He was an amazing father."

Bain -- who became a household name starring opposite Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges on the iconic 80s series -- is survived by his three sons and one daughter. He also has a surviving twin brother Bonar Bain.

Bain's daughter says he spent his last few days with his family. Bain would have turned 90 on February 4th.

"Diff'rent Strokes" star Todd Bridges is inconsolable in the wake of Conrad Bain's death -- telling TMZ, he just spoke to Bain last week and everything seemed fine.

Bridges tells us, "I am deeply saddened by the sudden passing of Conrad as we were looking forward to celebrating his 90th birthday next month."

He added, "In addition to being a positive and supportive father figure both on and off-screen, Conrad was well-loved and made going to work each day enjoyable for all of us. He will be missed, but never forgotten."

TV icon Huell Howser -- who hosted KCET's "California's Gold" for 18 seasons -- died after a battle with prostate cancer ... this according to his official death certificate, obtained by TMZ.

Howser passed away at 2:35 AM on January 7 at his home in Palm Springs, CA ... just a short time after he quietly and unexpectedly retired from TV.

According to the death certificate, filed with the Dept. of Health, Huell's remains were cremated ... and his ashes were scattered at sea ... off the coast of L.A. County.

A man was shot dead outside a Hollywood nightclub early Sunday morning in the throes of a massive brawl ... and our photog captured it all.

Cops tell us ... It started inside Empire nightclub ... where several fights broke out between some women ... before it moved outside.

You see women in the video throwing punches, pulling hair, slapping etc.

Within minutes the violence escalated into all out mayhem ... dozens more joined in -- men and women.

Suddenly ... a man in a grey sweatshirt pulls a gun ... takes aim -- and two shots are clearly heard.

Moments later, you see a man lying dead in the middle of the street -- and it appears the victim was the intended target.

Another man was also shot during the brawl. He's in stable condition.

Charlie Sheen is covering a huge chunk of the funeral costs for the paparazzo who died while covering Justin Bieber ... cutting a $12,000 check to the photog's family ... TMZ has learned.

We broke the story ... 29-year-old Chris Guerra died after being struck by a car in Los Angeles on New Year's Day while taking pictures of Bieber's car. We're told Guerra will be laid to rest in a private service set for tomorrow

Turns out, Charlie is tight with a former photog who was friends with Guerra ... and got word that the family was trying to raise money to cover the costs. So Charlie, being Charlie, sprung into action and grabbed his checkbook.

We contacted Sheen about the situation, and the actor gave us the following statement: "A tragic incident like this erases the line between the photographer and the subject. It's an unforgiving moment that begs us all to be human and work as one to prevent this in the future."

Director David R. Ellis -- the guy behind the epic action flick "Snakes on a Plane" -- was found dead early Monday morning in a hotel room in South Africa ... this according to his rep.

60-year-old Ellis was in Johannesburg to work on a remake of the film "Kite," a Japanese anime movie.

Details surrounding Ellis' death are unclear and no cause of death has been released.

L.A. TV icon Huell Howser -- best known for hosting the wildly popular travel show "California's Gold" on KCET -- has passed away at age 67.

A rep for KCET tells TMZ, Howser died in his Palm Springs home early Monday morning of natural causes ... details surrounding his death have not been released.

He hosted his Cali travel show for 18 seasons -- and only recently retired in November after completing over 440 episodes.

Fun fact: Howser also appeared on two episodes of "The Simpsons" ... Matt Groening was a huge fan.

Jack Klugman's cause of death was prostate cancer according to the actor's death certificate ... TMZ has learned.

The document also states Klugman died at his home in the San Fernando Valley. His wife Peggy was by his side.

Klugman -- who died unexpectedly on Christmas Eve -- was most famous for playing Oscar Madison on the legendary TV show "The Odd Couple" ... followed by the title role on "Quincy, M.E." in the 70s and 80s.

The actor had already beat cancer once in the 80s -- and although the throat cancer battle cost him his voice, he eventually trained himself to speak again.

The 32-year-old son of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling was found dead Sunday night.

Sheriff's Homicide Detectives were sent to a home on the 22600 block of Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu around 11:30pm last night, where they found the body of Scott Sterling.

The coroner's office says he died of a possible drug overdose, but the cause of death will be confirmed by an autopsy.

No other details were immediately available.

Scott's father, Donald, bought the Clippers in 1981 for $13 million.

General H. Norman Schwarzkopf -- the commander of U.S. forces during the first Iraq conflict -- has died in Tampa, Florida.

Schwarzkopf became popularly known as "Stormin' Norman" during 1991 Gulf War that booted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's forces out of neighboring Kuwait.

Operation Desert Storm lasted just over a month as Schwarzkopf's international coalition made quick work of the Iraqi troops.

Schwarzkopf had retired in Tampa where he held his last assignment as commander-in-chief of U.S. Central Command.

Schwarzkopf was 78 years old. Cause of death is unclear, at this point.

Side note about "Stormin' Norman" -- aside from his military success he was also largely responsible for Katie Couric's rise to fame.

Fontella Bass -- famous for her epic,1965 hit song "Rescue Me" -- died Wednesday in Missouri. She was 72.

According to Fontella's family, the singer passed away in a St. Louis hospital from complications she suffered following a heart attack three weeks ago. Bass also had several strokes since 2005.

The R&B star scored a ton of hits over her career -- including "You'll Miss Me (When I'm Gone)" and "Don't Mess Up a Good Thing" -- but none as big as "Rescue Me."

She's survived by her four children.

Ryan Seacrest tells TMZ ... the countdown to 2013 will be a special one, because he'll be honoring his late friend and mentor ... the great Dick Clark.

Seacrest was leaving a birthday lunch at Cecconi's in West Hollywood when we asked him how he felt about this year's NYE show .... the first one since Dick passed away back in April.

"I miss him," Seacrest told us ... adding, "I'm excited about New Year's though to celebrate him ... it'll be a fun night."

Clark hand-selected Seacrest to take over the main hosting gig on New Year's Rockin' Eve after he suffered a stroke back in 2004.