Former Italian/ American Player: Tony Conigliaro (1964-1971/ 1975)

Anthony Richard Conigliaro, was born on January 7, 1945 in Revere, Massachusetts. He was signed out of St. Mary’s High School in Lynn, Massachusetts by the home town Boston Red Sox in 1962. The highly touted prospect came up in 1964 at age 19 & got the starting left field job. He played Fenway Parks Green Monster alongside Carl Yastremski.

In his first Fenway at bat he hit a HR and would hit 24 of them in his rookie season. He still holds the MLB record for most HRs by a teenager. He batted .290 with 21 doubles & 52 RBIs, then broke his arm cutting his season short. The Twins, Tony Oliva won the batting title beating out Tony C. for the Rookie of the Year.

In 1965 he became the youngest AL player to ever lead the league in HRs with 32. Driving in & scoring 82 runs, both eighth best in the AL. He also struck out 116 times and would K over 100 times three different seasons. By 1966 he was considered one of leagues better players hitting 28 HRs with 93 RBIs, and for the second straight year got many votes for the MVP award.

In 1967 the Red Sox went to the World Series in their “Impossible Dream” season. Tony C played in the shadows of Triple Crown MVP winner Carl Yastrzemski. Conigliaro made his first All Star team and became the youngest player to reach the 100 HR mark.

Tragedy struck him on August 18, 1967, as the Red Sox played the Angels at Fenway Park. Former Met pitcher Jack Hamilton, hit Conigliaro with a pitch on the left cheekbone. He was carried off the field on a stretcher, suffering a linear fracture of the left cheekbone, a dislocated jaw and severe damage to his left retina. It was one of the worst hit by pitch incidents in baseball history. Tony would miss the rest of the season and a chance to play in the World Series. More importantly he was never the same player again and almost lost his eye sight permanently. The pitch was not intentional & Hamilton was never the same as well.

After a long year and a half absence, he returned to baseball in 1969, playing in over 140 games. He won the Comeback Player of the Year Award, hitting .255 with 20 HRs & 82 RBIs. 1970 was even a better year, as he had career highs with 36 HRs & 116 RBIs while batting .266. That year he go to play alongside his brother Billy in the Red Sox outfield. That October he got traded with Ray Jarvis and Jerry Moses to the Angels for Doug Griffin, Jarvis Tatum and Ken Tatum. He suffered vision problems & severe headaches and only appeared in 74 games.

He was out of baseball for the next three seasons, and appeared in 21 brief games for the 1975 AL Champion Red Sox hitting .123. It was a sad finish to what should have been a spectacular career.

In 1982 he suffered a heart attack then a stroke, and remained in a coma for the final eight years of his life. He passed on at the young age of 45, in Salem, Massachusetts in 1990. The Red Sox wore black arm bands in his honor. In his career he hit 264 HRs with 516 RBIs & a .266 average.