Former Italian / American Player of the Day: Pete Incaviglia (1986-1998)

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Peter Joseph Incaviglia, known as “Inky” was born on April 2, 1964 in Pebble Beach, California. His dad played for the Brooklyn Dodgers system in the 1950's & his brother played minor league baseball as well.

Inky attended Oklahoma State University & was one of college baseballs all time biggest HRs hitters. He blasted 100 HRs in 213 games with a careeer slugging % of .915%. In 1985, his junior year, he setting a record that still stands today hitting 48 HRs, & 143 RBIs, all in just  75 games.

Inky led his team to three straight, College World Series, getting elected to the College Baseball Hall of Fame.

Also in 1985, the  Montreal Exposselected him as a first round draft pick, (#8 pick overall). He insisted to go right to big leagues without playing minor league ball, but the Expos had other ideas. He was soon traded to the Texas Rangers for Jim Anderson & Bob Sebra. In Texas he did go right to the majors, arriving at Arlington to be the Rangers main right fielder for 1986. The power hitter would hit a bunch of HRs but also would strike out quite often.

He made the Topps All Star Rookie team, setting personal career highs with 30 HRs (10th in the league) & 88 RBIs while batting .250. He also led the league in strikeouts with 185, striking out more than 135 times for the first of five straight seasons. In 1988 he once again led the league in strike outs (153). He also hit 20 plus HRs in each season in that time period, accomplishing that feat six times overall. In his career he had six 80 plus RBI seasons and five 20 plus doubles seasons.

Although he had big power numbers he was released by Texas in 1991 & then spent two uneventful seasons with the Detroit Tigers (1991) & Houston Astros (1992). In 1993 he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies & revived his career. He hit 24 HRs with 16 doubles & drove in 89 runs batting a career best .274 helping the Phillies get to the World Series.

Post Season: In Game #1 of the NLCS against the Atlanta Braves, he hit 6th inning HR off  Steve Avery, breaking a 2-2 tie. The Phils went on to a 4-3 win. He had two hits in that game & just one more over the next two. Inthe World Series he went 1-7 (.143) playing in three of the six games, in a loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.

The next season he was involved in some drama as he argued with Philly fans & walked out of an autograph session at a shopping mall. He was played  80 games hitting 13 HRs while batting just .230 in the strike shortened 94 season. In 1995 he went to play in Japan for one season.

The next year he returned with the Phillies, but was traded to the Baltimore Orioles with Todd Zeile that August in exchange for Garrett Stephenson & Calvin Maduro. He was a reserve player for 48 games batting .246.

Inky would bounce around with the AL New York team (1997-five games) & again with the Tigers & Astros in 1998 (20 games). Physically he suffered from weight issues  retiring at the end of that season.

In 12 seasons he hit 206 HRs with 1043 hits 194 doubles 655 RBIs batting .246 with 1277 strike outs in 4233 at bats.

Retirement: After his playing days he has coached for the AA ball Erie Seawolves from 2003-2006. Since then he coached in the Independent League at Durham, North Carolina & currentlt for the Laredo Lemurs in Louisiana.

Trivia: The Pete Incaviglia Rule was put into effect by MLB as a rule whereby a team cannot trade a drafted player until he has been under contract to the club for at least one year.

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