Tony Conigliaro Redux - A surprise from Vargha! We Miss You!!!

Stone193

I was going to respond in a thread about Tony C. and then thought he deserved his own spotlight.

I apologize for the length but I think you will see why I wrote it.

Here's another story that could easily go unnoticed - especially by the younger crowd - I wrote this after watching HBO - a short segment on Tony Conigliaro.

I must confess, I did not know much about him other than he played for a short time. This is one of the more tragic stories of an all-too-short career abruptly curtailed by an errant pitch.

He was special to Boston fans. Young, good looking, homegrown and could belt out a homer! He dated hot chicks and even reached “rock” status with his own local hit song.

If there was an omen to beset the career of this young player, it was the broken arm that ended his rookie year where he hit .290 with 24 homers and was beat out for ROY by Tony Oliva in 1964. The next year he was the youngest person to win the AL HR title, at the age of 20, with 32 dingers. He was also the youngest to reach 100 HRs.

Then the wheels came off one August night at Fenway, when he was hit in the face by Angels pitcher Jack Hamilton. He missed the rest of ’67 and all of the ’68 season.

He triumphantly returned in ’69 when he won the Comeback Player of the Year. But, to the experts, they knew something was wrong. He was favoring his good eye by opening his stance a bit but did hit 36 homers. With his vision and performance diminishing, he was subsequently traded by Boston and was out of the “bigs” by 1971.

In 1982, Tony was auditioning for a job with the Red Sox as an announcer when he suffered a heart attack – due to the loss of oxygen, irreparable CNS damage was done to this athlete and in 1990 Tony C. – Boston’s answer to the departed Ruth – died.

I didn’t want to bore anyone with statistics – anyone can look those up – I just wanted to talk about a person with such great promise – the hand that God deals us – the courageous way people deal with this and how fragile our existence can be. Tony C. did a lot of living in a very short time! This is something that doesn’t easily fit on the back of a baseball card.



It was very sad to do this writeup.

mike

Onlypsahockey

Mike,

Thank you for such a great post.

I was 4 1/2 years old on that August night in '67 and can honestly say I never had the pleasure of seeing Tony C. play. I remember his stroke/heart attack and his eventual passing but sadly not his career. Anyone who I've ever discussed the man with has stated that Tony C. was the best. He had more potential than anyone since Teddy ballgame. My dad once told me that Tony would have rewrote the record books if not for that pitch. How great would the '75 Sox had been with 10 yr. veteran Tony Conigliaro on the roster? A more deserving candidate for the Red Sox to honor this Memorial Day does not exist.

JMHO, Bob

baseballfanatic

I couldnt begin to fathom what a roller coaster ride it was in 67 for Red Sox fans, finally hopping on a winner with the likes of Yaztremski, Petrocelli and Conigliaro only to see Tony C tragically pulled from the equation and not being able to play in the World Series. Talk about one of the biggest "what if's" in baseball...........

Axtell

<< <i>Talk about one of the biggest "what if's" in baseball........... >>



And unlike the Strawberries and Goodens of the world, this was a true tragedy.

I saw the special too and had faintly remembered the story of how a promising, home-grown talent was so destined for greatness and had it all cut down in one pitch.

I wasn't aware that he had passed.

As tragic as these stories are, I feel they must be brought to light now and again in order to remind everyone (not just sports fans) to be grateful for every one of your days.

DirtyHarry

I recall his heyday and unfortunate beaning vividly....like it was yesterday. I became a teenager in '67, and was at the onset of my obsession with baseball, players and collecting. As a kid, I must have seen that beaning incident on TV 50 times....and remember back then there was no cable.

I saw the HBO segment also. I recall the reports of both his heart attack and passing. What I never knew about was the quality of life he suffered with between the attack and his death. It brought a tear to my eye. He was a great talent shot down in his prime....and then quickly forgotten about. I am glad to see him get his day in the spotlight. Regards..

Gemmy10

Yes, I remember Tony C. getting hit by the pitch although I never saw the footage.

It's pretty amazing that Conigliaro had the most Homers (36) of his short career after the injury:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/conigto01.shtml

Tony Conigliaro Forty Years Later: A Remembrance

"“Just as Tony was about to hit, some jerk let off a smoke bomb which encircled the field in no time,” the Whale informed me. “It took about five minutes for the smoke to settle. During that time, Jack Hamilton never even warmed up. When the smoke finally cleared, he threw a high fastball to Tony. The kid never had a chance. The sickening thing about it was the fact that when the ball struck Tony’s cheek, it sounded like a loud clap. I knew he was badly injured.”

"Some years after Conig’s death, I conversed with acclaimed journalist Mike Lupica, who visited Tony up in the North Shore and wrote a stunning piece on Conigliaro in Esquire that was eventually included in David Halberstam’s anthology, The Best American Sports Writing of the Century. “What I most remember about the visit was Tony’s fierce coughing fits,” Lupica told me. “It shook me to the core. You just wanted it to stop. It broke your heart to see him in that condition. It was an absolutely searing experience. After he died, I remembered thinking, ‘At least he doesn’t have to cough anymore.’”

Tony Conigliaro died on February 24th, 1990. He was forty-five years old. By that time, I had moved on to Greenwich, Connecticut, where I began teaching at The Greenwich Country Day School. After I heard that Tony had passed, I put on my old “Conig’s Corner” shirt, drove to the school’s varsity baseball field that was then shrouded in a nighttime snow squall, and cried my eyes out on the pitcher’s mound.

Twelve years later, when it was revealed that Tony Conigliaro had fathered a child out of wedlock, and that his daughter was now an elegant young woman, I stared in wonder at the copy of The Boston Herald that had published her picture; she had her father’s eyes. Tony’s legacy had indeed been passed on."

04046

I'm glad you posted that remembrance by "jacklamabe" (second link above). I'm a SoSH guy and remember how good I thought it was the first time I read it.

Onlypsahockey

Thanks Gemmy for posting the jacklamabe65 link. That's a must read.

Brought a tear to my eye.

Thanks, Bob

Stone193

I brought this thread back because I received a very nice surprise in the mail today. A stunning 65T Conigliaro from Al - aka Novocent - it was a present from Vargha! - Al's is a great contributor here but hasn't posted much due to a very busy schedule at work. And of course we all know the legendary Vargha whom I miss very much!

For anyone who missed this thread and are not fully aware of the circumstances of Tony C's life - here's a great player with one of those "Gee I wonder what his career coulda been like" scenerios.



Thanx Al
We miss you here
mike

ctsoxfan

What a nice gesture! And, that particular Tony C card is one of my favorite cards from the 1965 set. I will concur - Al is a class guy!

Vargha isn't bad, either...

zef204

Great post! I was unaware of this story being neither an east coaster nor having Tony C. play a single game in my lifetime.

I looked him up on BaseballReference also and the thing that made me shake my head is the comparisons by age near the bottom on the right hand side. At 20,21,and 22 he was compared to Mickey Mantle and Frank Robinson. Wow.

I hope to catch that special next time its on. Gotta go set the TiVo.

iamthegreatcornholio

that was very nice of him - great card!

pandrews

thanks for bringing this thread back.. i missed it the first time around..