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Tony Conigliaro

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For the bartender and mixologist of the same name, see Tony Conigliaro (mixologist).

Tony Conigliaro
Conigliaro in 1966
Right fielder
Born: (1945-01-07)January 7, 1945
Revere, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died: February 24, 1990(1990-02-24) (aged 45)
Salem, Massachusetts, U.S.
Batted: Right
Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 16, 1964, for the Boston Red Sox
Last MLB appearance
June 12, 1975, for the Boston Red Sox
MLB statistics
Batting average.264
Home runs166
Runs batted in516
Stats at Baseball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Anthony Richard Conigliaro (January 7, 1945 – February 24, 1990), nicknamed "Tony C" and "Conig",[1][2] was an American Major League Baseball outfielder and right-handed batter who played for the Boston Red Sox (1964–1967, 1969–1970, 1975) and California Angels (1971). Born in Revere, Massachusetts, he was a 1962 graduate of St. Mary's High School in Lynn, Massachusetts. Conigliaro started his MLB career as a teenager, hitting a home run in his first at-bat during his home field debut in 1964, and reaching 100 career home runs faster than any player in American League history.

During the Red Sox "Impossible Dream" season of 1967, he was hit in the face by a pitch that caused a severe eye injury and derailed his career. Though he would make a comeback from the injury, his career was not the same afterwards, as he lost vision in one eye over time. After retirement from baseball, he had a heart attack and suffered brain damage at age 37, leaving him severely impaired for the last eight years of his life. Hall of Fame baseball writer Peter Gammons' article in Sports Illustrated at the time of Congliaro's 1990 death is entitled "A Life Torn By Tragedy".[3][4]

Early life

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Conigliaro was born in Revere, Massachusetts, on January 7, 1945. He was raised in Swampscott and Nahant, Massachusetts.[5][6] He attended St. Mary's High School in Lynn, Massachusetts, where he played starting quarterback on the football team and starred in baseball.[6][5] In 2020, the school retired his jersey number (12), and unveiled a portrait of Conigliaro that is in the lobby of its Tony Conigliaro Gymnasium.[6]

Baseball career

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Conigliaro was signed by the Red Sox in 1962, at the age of 17, for $20,000.[5] In 1963, he batted .363 with 24 home runs, and an on-base plus slugging (OPS) of 1.139, playing for the Wellsville Red Sox in the Single-A New York–Penn League.[7][8] He was the league's Rookie-of-the-Year and its Most Valuable Player.[9] In the fall of 1963, he played instructional league baseball in Sarasota, and was included on the Red Sox 1964 roster coming into spring training. At 19 years old he made the team going into the 1964 season, without returning to the minor leagues.[9][3]

During his 1964 rookie season, Conigliaro batted .290 with 24 home runs and 52 RBI in 111 games,[10] but a pitched ball broke his arm[11][12] and his toes in August. On the first pitch of his first at-bat in Fenway Park, in the team's 1964 opening home game, Conigliaro hit a towering home run in the second inning against the White Sox.[12][13] The proceeds of that game went to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library, to honor the recently assassinated President, and those in attendance that day included among others Robert F. Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, and Governor Endicott Peabody.[12] (His first major league hit came a day earlier against the New York Yankees, in New York.[14])

In 1965, Conigliaro led the league in home runs (32), becoming the youngest home run champion in American League history.[15][16] He batted .269, with 82 RBI and 82 runs scored, and a .850 OPS.[10] He suffered a cracked wrist from a pitched ball that year, but still played in 138 games.[12] In 1966, he hit .265, with 28 home runs and 93 RBI, playing in 150 games.[10]

Conigliaro in 1965

During spring training in 1967, Conigliaro suffered a hairline arm fracture from a pitched ball.[12] Through 95 games, he had 20 home runs in only 349 at-bats, while batting .287 with 67 RBI, 59 runs scored, and an .860 OPS.[10] He was selected for the All-Star Game in 1967.[17] In that season, at age 22, he not only reached a career total of 100 home runs, but attained that milestone at the youngest age for an American League player.[18]

On August 18, 1967, in his 95th game of the season, the Red Sox were playing the California Angels at Fenway Park. Conigliaro, batting against Jack Hamilton, was hit by a pitch on his left cheekbone and was carried off the field on a stretcher. He sustained a linear fracture of the left cheekbone and a dislocated jaw with severe damage to his left retina. He was left with 20–300 vision and stabbing headaches.[19][20][12] Those in attendance knew the injury was serios from the sound of the ball striking Conigliaro.[5][21][22] The batting helmet he was wearing did not have the protective ear-flap that has since become standard, partly due to this incident.[23]

He missed the remainder of the 1967 season, and was unable to play at all in the 1968 season because of poor vision.[3] In 1967, he was replaced in right field by José Tartabull and Ken Harrelson. The Red Sox reached the World Series, losing to the St. Louis Cardinals four games to three.[24] During the World Series, Harrelson hit .077 in 13 at-bats, and Tartabull hit .154 in 13 at-bats.[25] During the regular season, the two combined for only three home runs and 24 RBI in 327 at-bats.[26]

A year and a half later, in 1969, Conigliaro made a remarkable return, hitting 20 home runs with 82 RBI in 141 games.[10] He earned Comeback Player of the Year honors.[23] In 1970, he reached career-high numbers in home runs (36) and RBI (116).[10] Conigliaro said he batted most of the season with his left eye almost closed.[27] That season, he and his brother Billy formed two-thirds of the Red Sox outfield.[28] Shortly after the season ended, on October 11, 1970, the Red Sox traded, Conigliaro, Ray Jarvis and Jerry Moses to the California Angels for Ken Tatum, Jarvis Tatum and Doug Griffin.[29] (In 1970, pitcher Ken Tatum had hit the Orioles Paul Blair in the face with a pitch that resulted in multiple fractures and the need for surgery.[30]) There was some controversy surrounding the trade.[27]

His vision deteriorated in 1971, including a lack of depth perception and blind spots in his vision. He went on the disabled list in July, and formally retired from baseball at the end of the season, only 26 years old.[31][27][5] In 1971, Conigliaro played in only 74 games, batting .222 with four home runs.[10] In 1972, he opened a resort in Nahant.[32] He returned to the Red Sox briefly in 1975 as a designated hitter, hitting two home runs in 21 games, but was forced to retire because his eyesight had been permanently damaged.[5][29][20] He played his final games for the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox of the International League.[32][8]

Conigliaro in 1975

Conigliaro batted .267, with 162 home runs and 501 RBI during his 802-game Red Sox career. With the Angels, he hit .222 with 4 home runs and 15 RBI in 74 games.[10] He is the second-youngest player to hit his 100th homer (after Mel Ott), and the youngest American League player to do so.[33]

Final years and death

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After his retirement, in the fall of 1975, Conigliaro opened a restaurant in Providence, Rhode Island, managed by his brother Billy. In September of that same year, he was hired by WJAR TV 10 in Providence as a sports anchor.[34] In August 1976, he moved to a similar position at KGO-TV Channel 7 in San Francisco, and won an Emmy award.[32][35][36] He had also owned a health food store in California.[37] It is also reported he worked as a sportscaster in Providence.[37]

On January 9, 1982, then 37-year-old Conigliaro was in Boston to interview for a broadcasting position when he suffered a heart attack while being driven to the airport by his brother Billy. Shortly thereafter, he suffered a stroke and lapsed into a coma. Conigliaro never fully recovered and suffered slight brain damage due to the stroke, until his death more than eight years later, in February 1990, at the age of 45 from pneumonia and kidney failure. In commemoration, the Red Sox wore black armbands that season. He is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden, Massachusetts.[21][5][3] Conigliaro's parents and brothers cared for him closely during his last eight years, during which time he was bedridden, unable to walk and barely able to speak.[3]

During 1982, Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, whose wife had come out of a coma three years earlier, visited Conigliaro to try and give him some optimism.[36] In 1983, when insurance funds were running low to cover Conigliaro's medical care, teammates and others stepped in to raise money to help Conigliaro and the family with his care. In one April fundraising event at Boston's Symphony Hall, Frank Sinatra, Dionne Warwick, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio and Willie Mays were among those raising money to support Conigliaro ($230,000).[12][3] Conigliaro, who once had a modest signing career, had recorded a song with Warwick in 1976.[3] He had performed on The Merv Griffin Show a number of times.[32]

Since 1990, the Tony Conigliaro Award, instituted by the Red Sox after his death, is given annually to the MLB player who best overcomes obstacles and adversities through the attributes of spirit, determination and courage that were considered Tony's trademarks.[38]

While the tragedy of his life is well recorded,[3] others have also tried to find inspiring aspects in his determination to overcome obstacles and reinvent himself.[32]

Conigliaro's Corner

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Conigliaro's Corner bleacher seating (silver) can be seen to the right of the Budweiser sign in this July 2008 photo.

For the start of the 2007 season, Red Sox ownership added a new 200-seat bleacher section on the right field roof, providing an additional 200 available tickets for the season.[39] It was named "Conigliaro's Corner" in honor of Conigliaro. The seats were being marketed specifically towards families.[39] As of May 2007, the section was reserved for Red Sox Nation members on Saturdays and Red Sox Kid Nation members on Sundays.[39] The seats were removed prior to the start of the 2009 season.

Works cited

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  • Conigliaro, Tony (August 1970). Seeing It Through. with Jack Zanger. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0025272903.

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ Time Magazine, 1969, Conig's Comeback
  2. ^ Tony Conigliaro Forty Years Later: A Remembrance by Shaun L. Kelly
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Gammons, Peter (March 5, 1990). "A Life Torn By Tragedy". Sports Illustrated.
  4. ^ "2004 BBWAA Career Excellence Award Winner Peter Gammons | Baseball Hall of Fame". baseballhall.org. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Pearson, Richard (February 25, 1990). "TONY CONIGLIARO, 45, DIES". Washington Post.
  6. ^ a b c Shuman, Cary (January 23, 2020). "St. Mary's High School Retires Tony Conigliaro's Jersey Number – Lynn Journal". lynnjournal.com. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  7. ^ Linkugel, Wil A.; Pappas, Edward J. (July 1, 1998). They Tasted Glory: Among the Missing at the Baseball Hall of Fame. McFarland. ISBN 9780786404841.
  8. ^ a b "Tony Conigliaro Minor & Winter Leagues Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  9. ^ a b Nowlin, Bill. "Tony Conigliaro, Society for American Baseball Research". SABR.org.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h "Tony Conigliaro Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  11. ^ Carry, Peter (August 10, 1964). "BASEBALL'S WEEK". Sports Illustrated. 21 (6).
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Anderson, Dave (June 7, 1983). "SPORTS OF THE TIMES; A BIG NIGHT FOR TONY C." The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  13. ^ "Box Score for White Sox (1) vs Red Sox (4) on April 17, 1964 at Fenway Park". www.baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  14. ^ "Box Score for Red Sox (4) vs Yankees (3) on April 16, 1964 at Yankee Stadium". www.baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  15. ^ "1965 American League Batting Leaders". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  16. ^ "Youngest HR champs? Where Vlad, Tatis rank". MLB.com. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  17. ^ "1967 All-Star Game Box Score, July 11". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  18. ^ "Tony Conigliaro". Retrieved May 21, 2012.
  19. ^ "On a night in Boston a pitched ball blinded—and nearly - 06.22.70 - SI Vault". web.archive.org. August 11, 2009. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  20. ^ a b Bouchette, Ed (April 9, 2020). "My favorite player: Tony Conigliaro". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  21. ^ a b Berkow, Ira (March 3, 1990). "A Shooting Star Named Tony C". The New York Times. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  22. ^ Buckley, Steve (April 8, 2020). "My Favorite Player: Tony Conigliaro". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  23. ^ a b Cole, Tom (July 2, 2018). "He Never Saw It Coming: Looking Back at a Baseball Legend". Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  24. ^ "1967 World Series - St. Louis Cardinals over Boston Red Sox (4-3)". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  25. ^ "1967 World Series - St. Louis Cardinals over Boston Red Sox (4-3)". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  26. ^ "1967 Boston Red Sox Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  27. ^ a b c "Red Sox Players Apologize and End Quarrel Over Tony Conigliaro". The New York Times. July 15, 1971. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  28. ^ "1970 Boston Red Sox Statistics". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  29. ^ a b "Tony Conigliaro Trades and Transactions by Baseball Almanac". www.baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  30. ^ "THE WEEK". Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com. June 15, 1970. Archived from the original on May 14, 2021. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  31. ^ "Failing Eysight Forces Tony Conigliaro to Retire". The New York Times. July 11, 1971. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  32. ^ a b c d e HARRINGTON, DANIEL F. (November 3, 2014). "Daniel F. Harrington: The boy who wouldn't die". The Providence Journal. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  33. ^ "Home Run Records by Age". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
  34. ^ NEWS, NBC 10 (March 26, 2024). "Red Sox great Tony Conigliaro anchored sports on WJAR-TV". WJAR. Retrieved January 26, 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  35. ^ "Former Boston Red Sox slugger Tony Conigliaro, felled by... - UPI Archives". UPI. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  36. ^ a b McCallum, Jack (June 5, 1982). "Faith, Hope And Tony C". Sports Illustrated.
  37. ^ a b Archives, L. A. Times (August 23, 1987). "In That Freeze-Frame Instant 20 Years Ago, It Got Dark for Tony C". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  38. ^ "Tony Conigliaro Award | Baseball Almanac". www.baseball-almanac.com. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  39. ^ a b c "Conigliaro's Corner' addition part of Fenway changes". ESPN. Associated Press. April 4, 2007.
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