Former MLB Italian / American Brothers: Bob & Ken Aspromonte

Robert Thomas Aspromonte was born to a Italian American family, on June 19, 1938 in Brooklyn, New York. He would go to Lafayette High School, the same school that produced Sandy Koufax & his older brother Ken & 21 other major leaguers. Bob would play all infield and outfield positions at some point in his career.

He was signed by his hometown Brooklyn Dodgers and played only one game there in 1956; then he resurfaced in Los Angeles in 1960 and hit .180 in 55 at bats. He was selected by the Houston Colt 45s in the 1961 expansion draft and would become their regular third baseman for the next seven seasons, playing in at least 125 games every year.

He enjoyed a .280 average in 1964, and had his best year in 1967, batting .294 hitting 24 doubles, 6 HRs 5 triples & 58 RBIs. Defensively Aspromonte was a fine third baseman, leading all NL third baseman in fielding percentage in 1964, & coming in the top five in put outs & assists from 1962 through 1966.


In an amazing true story Bob became a hero to an Arkansas child that was blinded after being struck by lightning. Aspromonte visited the child while in a Houston hospital, promising to hit him a HR. Sure enough he did, a grand slam & after another hospital visit he hit another grand slam, with the boy at the Astrodome in attendance. Aspromonte only hit 60 lifetime HRs in 4369 at bats in 1324 games.

By 1969 he was traded to Atlanta, and hit .253. In the 1969 NLCS he appeared in 3 games going 0-3 against the Mets. In the 1970 off season he was traded to the Mets for pitcher Ron Herbel who went 2-2, with a 1.38 ERA in 1970.

Aspromonte was once again another player they hoped to be the answer at third base. In 1971 he would be the Mets main third baseman appearing in 104 games and led all NL third baseman in fielding percentage (.965). He didn’t hit much, only batting .225, with 5 HRs, 9 doubles & 33 RBIs.

He hit two of those HRs against his old team mates, in Atlanta on May 18th. During a batting slump he said "I heard of guys going 0-15 but I was 0 for July". He was released at the end of the season when the Mets acquired Jim Fregosi, who was suppose to be the third base answer, but was a complete bust.

Aspromonte chose to retire at the age of 33 with a .252 career average 60 HRs 135 doubles 457 RBIs and a .960 fielding percentage. For the record, he was the last active Brooklyn Dodger player to retire from baseball. His older brother Ken Aspromonte would play for six teams over seven seasons in the late fifties/early sixties. He posted a .969 fielding percentage as a middle infielder batting .249, lifetime. He then managed the Cleveland Indians for 1972-1973.

Retirement: Bob Aspro. lost vision in one of his eyes, during a freak accident while he was helping a friend jump start his car. He has operated a Coors Beer distributorship for years in Houston & still resides in the area. In 2006 he was voted to the Texas baseball Hall of Fame committee.

Kenneth Joseph Aspromonte was Born on September 22, 1931 in Brooklyn, New York. Ken is the older brother of former Met of the Day Bob Aspromonte. Ken was signed by the Boston Red Sox after attending Lafayette High School in Brooklyn in 1950. He did two years service in the military serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War doing radio broadcasting at SHAPE headquarters in Paris, France.

He got back to playing baseball, in the Pacific Coast League for much of the rest of the mid fifties. He was the league’s 1957 batting champion & took the San Francisco Seals to the pennant, the last season before the Giants came to town.

Ken made it to the big leagues in 1957 with the Boston Red Sox. He would go on to have a seven season playing career as a reserve infielder with Boston, Washington, Cleveland, Los Angeles (A.L.), Milwaukee (N.L.) & Chicago (N.L.). His best season was 1960 with the Indians playing in a career high 117 games batting .290 with 10 HRs 20 doubles & 48 RBIs. In 1963 he left the majors and went to play three seasons in Japan with the Chunichi Dragons batting a career total of .273.

He came back to America & managed in the minor leagues for the Cleveland Indians from 1968-1971. He was promoted to their big league squad to manage for three seasons (1972-1974) finishing at best in fourth place.

Aspromonte was the Indians manager for the classic “10 cent beer night” disaster in 1974. After throwing objects on to the playing field, the Drunken fans began to jump out of the stands & run onto the field. The two teams had had a bench clearing brawl toward the end of the 1973 season, and the Cleveland fans didn’t forget it. During the 10 cent beer night disaster Aspromonte encouraged his team to grab bats & help the Texas players exit the field if needed.

Aspro was succeeded by Frank Robinson in 1975. In his playing career in America he batted .249 with 369 hits 19 HRs 69 doubles & 124 RBIs.

Retirement: After his playing days he moved to Houston, Texas (as his brother Bob did) & has a distributorship there with Coors Beer.