Former Italian/American Ballplayer: Reno Bertoia (1953-1962)

Reno Bertoia was one of only six MLB players, and the most recent who were actually born in Italy. Reno Peter Bertoia was born January 8, 1935 in San Vito al Tagliamento, Udine, Italy. Udine is located in the North Eastern section of Italia, between the Adriatic Sea & the Alps. When Reno was 22 months old his parents immigrated to Canada and settled in Windsor Ontario. His neighbor growing up was Hank Biasatti who was also born in Italy, and would play pro basketball & MLB baseball.

He grew up a Tiger fan while he was a newspaper boy during their 1945 Championship season. Bertoia signed with Detroit in 1953 as a bonus baby and played one game that season at the age of 18 as the second youngest player in baseball. In his first game he faced Satchel Page and got spiked at second base. The next season he was a rookie and a roommate with Hall of Famer Al Kaline. The two became good friends and Bertoia was an important part of Kaline’s early Tiger years. Bertoia would play utility infield for the Tigers for six seasons, struggling at the plate his first three seasons never batting higher than .206.

In 1957 he hit a career high .275 in 1957 with 4 HRs, 16 doubles, & 28 RBIs. On December 6, 1958: he was Traded with Jim Delsing and Ron Samford to the Washington Senators for Rocky Bridges, Neil Chrisley and future Met coach Eddie Yost.

In Washington he saw more playing time playing primarily second base in 1959 & then switching over to third for the 1960 season. In 1960 at third base he posted a .961 fielding percentage making only 13 errors in 112 games. In 1960 he was third in the AL in triples with seven, 4th in getting by pitches with eight and his 13 sacrifice hits were 5th. Overall he hit .265 with 4 HRs and a career high 45 RBIs. In 1961 he was traded to the expansion Twins, then sent to the Kansas City A’s & back to Detroit where he finished his MLB career in 1962. Bertois finished with a .244 lifetime average, 27 HRs 171 RBIs 60 doubles in 612 games.

He played briefly in Japan in 1964 then returned to Windsor, Ontario and became a Catholic School teacher for 30 years. He was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988. In May of 2009 he & his wife saw their first professional Italian baseball game at Europeo-Nino Cavalli Stadium, in Parma, Italy.