Reno Bertoia
Reno Bertoia | |
---|---|
Bertoia in 1959 | |
Third baseman | |
Born: (1935-01-08)January 8, 1935 San Vito al Tagliamento, province of Pordenone, region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy | |
Died: April 15, 2011(2011-04-15) (aged 76) Windsor, Ontario, Canada | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
MLB debut | |
September 22, 1953, for the Detroit Tigers | |
Last MLB appearance | |
April 28, 1962, for the Detroit Tigers | |
MLB statistics | |
Batting average | .244 |
Home runs | 27 |
Runs batted in | 171 |
Teams | |
Reno Peter Bertoia (January 8, 1935 – April 15, 2011) was an Italian Canadian professional baseball player.
Career
Born Pierino, [1] Bertoia moved with his family to Canada from Italy at the age of two and a half and grew up in Windsor, Ontario. His next-door neighbour and role model was Hank Biasatti. Bertoia attended and graduated from Assumption College High School in Windsor. Signed by the Detroit Tigers in 1953, Bertoia continued his education by attending Assumption University from which he graduated in June 1958 while a member of the Tigers. Bertoia also became close friends with Hall of Fame outfielder Al Kaline while with Detroit, and was an important part of Kaline's early years with the Tigers.[2]
In 10 major league seasons he played in 612 games and had 1,745 at bats, 204 runs, 425 hits, 60 doubles, 10 triples, 27 home runs, 171 runs batted in (RBIs), 16 stolen bases, 142 walks, .244 batting average, .303 on-base percentage, .336 slugging percentage, 586 total bases and 31 sacrifice hits.
On May 7, 1958, Bertoia hit a grand slam against the Washington Senators at Griffith Stadium, making him the first Italian-born MLB player to do so. [3]
In January 1964, Bertoia signed to play in the Japanese Central League with the Hanshin Tigers. He asked for his release a few months into the season because his wife was pregnant and had been ill during most of the family's stay in Japan.
After his retirement as a player, Bertoia received his full high school teaching credentials and returned to Windsor, where he worked as a teacher for 30 years with the Windsor Catholic School Board.[2] He was inducted into the Windsor/Essex County Sports Hall of Fame in 1982, the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988[2] and the University of Windsor Alumni Sports Hall of Fame in 1988.
Bertoia died on April 15, 2011, of lymphoma in Windsor.[2]
References
- ^ "L'Italiano BERTOIA nei 'Tigers', di Detroit". Corriere dello Sport (in Italian). September 4, 1953. p. 2. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
- ^ a b c d Caton, Mary (April 15, 2001). "Former Detroit Tiger Reno Bertoia dies". Archived from the original on April 20, 2011. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
- ^ ITALIAN BORN RENO BERTOIA HITS GRANDSLAM – THE FIRST IN HISTORY Retrieved January 27, 2023
External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet
- SABR bio
- Prince George Newspapers
- v
- t
- e
and coaches
- Bob Addy
- Roberto Alomar
- Felipe Alou
- Sparky Anderson
- Jimmy Archer
- Jason Bay
- George Bell
- Reno Bertoia
- Ted Bowsfield
- Tom Burgess
- Helen Callaghan
- Gary Carter
- Joe Carter
- Nig Clarke
- Jimmy Claxton
- Reggie Cleveland
- Frank Colman
- Murray Cook
- Rhéal Cormier
- Charlie Culver
- Andre Dawson
- Carlos Delgado
- Ryan Dempster
- Rob Ducey
- Tony Fernández
- Russ Ford
- Dick Fowler
- Jeff Francis
- Hippo Galloway
- Cito Gaston
- George Gibson
- Roland Gladu
- Jack Graney
- Vladimir Guerrero
- Roy Halladay
- Vern Handrahan
- Bill Harris
- Jeff Heath
- Tom Henke
- Pat Hentgen
- John Hiller
- Arthur Irwin
- Ferguson Jenkins
- Oscar Judd
- Corey Koskie
- Tony Kubek
- Tommy Lasorda
- Phil Marchildon
- Dennis Martínez
- Pedro Martínez
- Kirk McCaskill
- Manny McIntyre
- Dave McKay
- Larry McLean
- Roy Miller
- Justin Morneau
- Lloyd Moseby
- Rocky Nelson
- Wayne Norton
- Tip O'Neill
- Frank O'Rourke
- John Olerud
- Bill Phillips
- Ron Piché
- Terry Puhl
- Paul Quantrill
- Tim Raines
- Claude Raymond
- Sherry Robertson
- Jackie Robinson
- Steve Rogers
- Goody Rosen
- Jean-Pierre Roy
- George Selkirk
- Pop Smith
- Matt Stairs
- Rusty Staub
- Ron Stead
- Dave Stieb
- Ron Taylor
- Fred Thomas
- Larry Walker
- Tim Wallach
- Duane Ward
- Pete Ward
- Ernie Whitt
- Jimmy Williams
- George Wood
- Gord Ash
- Nat Bailey
- Paul Beeston
- Richard Bélec
- Andy Bilesky
- Charles Bronfman
- Bob Brown
- Carmen Bush
- James F. Cairns
- Ray Carter
- Tom Cheek
- Jack Kent Cooke
- Ronald Cullen
- Jacques Doucet
- John Ducey
- Bob Elliot
- Bob Emslie
- Jim Fanning
- Pat Gillick
- Calvin Griffith
- John Haar
- Peter Hardy
- Ron Hayter
- Doug Hudlin
- William Humber
- Joseph Lannin
- George "Knotty" Lee
- Bobby Mattick
- Don McDougall
- John McHale
- Jim McKean
- Doug Melvin
- Joe Page
- Lester B. Pearson
- Bob Prentice
- Ernie Quigley
- Hector Racine
- Jimmy Rattlesnake
- Jim Ridley
- Ron Roncetti
- Allan Roth
- Gladwyn Scott
- Frank Shaughnessy
- Dave Shury
- William Shuttleworth
- Harry Simmons
- Allan Simpson
- Bill Slack
- George Sleeman
- Bernie Soulliere
- Howard Starkman
- Rob Thomson
- Dave Van Horne
- Peter Widdrington
- Roy Yamamura
- Harold Younker
- Canadian-born players of the AAGPBL
- Beachville & Zorra teams, 1838
- London Tecumsehs, 1877
- National youth team, 1991
- Team Canada, 2011
- Team Canada, 2015
- Vancouver Asahi