The rules at the time had him on the Giants big league squad for the 1954 & 1955 seasons. He appeared in nine games in the Giants 1954 Championship season going 0-5. He made also made six appearances as a defensive replacement. The next year he was used mostly as a pinch hitter batting .227 (5-22) with two extra base hits & an RBI.

In 1961 he was the team’s main second baseman batting .255 with 2 HRs 11 doubles & 23 RBIs. He walked 44 times & posted a .331 on base %.

Amalfitano would play out his career with the Chicago Cubs as a utility infielder from 1964 through 1967. After serving as the teams main second baseman in 1964 he played behind the All Star Glenn Beckertt until 1967. In his ten year career he batted .244 with 9 HRs 67 doubles 19 triples 123 RBIs & a .320 on base % in 643 games.

Coaching: After his playing days he became a long time major league coach for thirty one seasons. He first coached with the Chicago Cubs under his first manager back in his New York Giants playing days; Leo Durocher.
Amalfitano was a member of the 1969 Cubs coaching staff that saw their NL East lead be taken over by the eventual World Champion New York Mets.
Amalfitano went back to San Francisco as a coach with the Giants (1972-1975) then to the San Diego Padres (1976-1977). He then went back to the Cubs under Herman Franks (1978-1979), even taking over as interim manager when Franks was fired.

In 1983 he began a long 16 year run as Tommy Lasorda’s third base coach with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He would win a World Series title there in 1988.
Trivia: It was Amalfitano who greeted Kirk Gibson as he rounded third base into the coaching box on his way to home plate, after hitting his famous 1988 World Series Game #1 walk off HR.
In 2002 he was named Dodgers senior advisor to baseball operations (2002-2004). He went back to the Giants front office in 2005 & worked as a special assistant since 2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment