John August Antonelli Johnny attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Rochester, where he excelled at baseball, basketball, and football. Initially a first baseman for the school's baseball team, he was moved to the pitcher position by coach Charley O'Brien for his sophomore year. Antonelli's success on the mound attracted the attention of several major league scouts; Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell found Antonelli one of the most balanced pitchers he had ever seen. Baseball's bonus rule then mandated that "bonus babies" (players receiving a signing bonus in excess of $4,000) be kept on major league rosters and could not be sent to the minor leagues. Thus, Antonelli went from high school to the major league Braves, a veteran team challenging for Boston's first National League pennant since 1914.
On July 4, 1948, Antonelli made his major league debut in the first game of a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Phillies, entering in relief to pitch the eighth inning and allowing one run in a 7–2 loss. While the Braves went on to win the 1948 NL championship, Antonelli was used largely as a batting practice pitcher. He appeared in only four games, all relief assignments in low-leverage situations. His large bonus dwarfed the salaries of veteran Braves like ace starting pitcher Johnny Sain, causing some resentment among his teammates. When the Braves voted to divide their World Series share from their loss to the Cleveland Indians, they voted not to award Antonelli any of their winnings. On June 12, also in the second game of a doubleheader, he pitched a shutout against the Chicago Cubs. He had a 3–2 win–loss record through June 19, but after losing five decisions in a row through August 3, Antonelli worked exclusively out of the bullpen for the remainder of the season. He worked in 22 games (ten starts), notching his first three career complete games and his first shutout. Antonelli won three games, lost seven, posted a 3.56 earned run average (ERA), and struck out 48 hitters in 96 innings pitched. Antonelli made only six starts throughout the season, pitching out of the bullpen in his other 14 appearances. Through July 23, his ERA was 8.44, but it sunk to 5.93 when he threw a shutout against the Cincinnati Reds in the second game of a doubleheader on July 30. In the second game of a doubleheader against the Reds on September 17, he allowed one run in a complete game, 3–1 victory. Antonelli had a 2–3 record in 1950, with a 5.93 ERA, 33 strikeouts, 22 walks, and 81 hits allowed in innings pitched.
His two years of service over, Antonelli rejoined the Braves—now based in Milwaukee—for 1953, where he was finally a regular member of the Braves' starting rotation. He threw another shutout on June 7, allowing five hits in a 6–0 victory over the Phillies. Complete-game, one-run performances July 7 and 12 left him with an 8–4 record and a 2.86 ERA at the All-Star break, though he was not selected to the National League (NL) All-Star team. He suffered from pneumonia in the second half of the season, however, and his record was just 4–8 the rest of the year, though his ERA was 3.67. With Chet Nichols Jr. returning from Korean War service in 1954, however, Braves ace Warren Spahn suggested the team trade Antonelli, as they would have had three left-handed starting pitchers otherwise, which Spahn thought would be too many. "It was the best break of my career," Antonelli said of the transaction. On the strength of an eight-decision winning streak, he was selected to the All-Star team for the first time. He won 11 straight decisions from May 25 through August 1. In 1954, Antonelli went 21–7, led the league in ERA (2.30) and shutouts (six), and pitched the Giants to the pennant. He and fellow Giant Hoyt Wilhelm led the NL in winning percentage, with a .750 mark. Hirsch wrote that Antonelli was "[t]he Giants' best pitcher that year," and Antonelli won The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year Award, as well as finishing third in NL Most Valuable Player (MVP) voting (the Cy Young Award had not been introduced yet). Against the Cleveland Indians in the 1954 World Series, Antonelli started Game 2, pitching in and out of trouble all day but allowing one run and outpitching Hall of Famer Early Wynn to earn the victory in the Giants' 3–1 triumph. "The Good Lord was on my side that game," he later said in an interview. "I don’t think I had my best stuff that day."
thumb|1954 Bowman baseball card of Antonelli with the New York Giants
Although the post-1954 Giants, like the 1949–50 Braves, fell back in the standings, Antonelli had more years of success ahead of him. The Giants were only going to pay him $9,000 (his 1954 salary) in 1955, but teammate Alvin Dark advised him to ask for double or more. Antonelli took his advice and got $28,000. He had a 4–4 record through May 18 but went 3–8 over his next 14 games, posting a 5.61 ERA in that timespan. Starting July 24, he went 7–4 to finish the season, posting a 2.51 ERA.
In the first game of a doubleheader against Cincinnati on August 30, he threw another shutout, allowing five hits in a 5–0 victory over Cincinnati. Against the Philadelphia Phillies on September 3, he was removed from the game by Durocher when the Phillies got two runners to reach in the fifth with one out and the Giants leading 3–2. Pitching coach Freddie Fitzsimmons went to the mound to inform Antonelli he had been removed, and the irate Giants hurler refused to turn the ball over to Fitzsimmons. He stomped around on the mound, walked halfway to second base, then talked to Fitzsimmons for about two minutes before finally heading to the Giants dugout. Durocher said that when he met Antonelli in the dugout, the pitcher cussed and threatened to take the train home to New York; as a result, Durocher suspended Antonelli indefinitely without pay, pending an apology. The suspension was short-lived; back in action four days later, Antonelli threw a complete game, holding the Cardinals to two runs (one earned) and hitting a three-run home run against Larry Jackson as the Giants won 8–2. Antonelli pitched the whole season in 1955 and had a 3.33 ERA but only went 14–16. Mays remembered that Antonelli was bothered by "arm problems" that year. Offensively, Antonelli set career highs in home runs (4) and RBI (15). Pitching for a sixth-place team in 1956, Antonelli only managed to win nine games through August 7, against 12 losses. However, he won 11 of his final 12 starts to finish with 20 wins exactly. In the first game of a doubleheader on May 20, he struck out seven in a five-hit shutout of the Cardinals. On June 19, he again had a five-hit seven-strikeout shutout, this one coming against the Cubs. At midseason, he and Mays were the Giants' only selections to the NL All-Star team. On August 15, he struck out 11 and allowed just two hits in a 1–0 shutout victory over the Dodgers. He only struck out three hitters but gave up just three hits on September 12 in a shutout of the Redlegs. In his last start of the season, Antonelli threw his fifth shutout of the year, a four-hitter in a 2–0 victory over the Phillies. With a 20–13 record, Antonelli ranked among the NL leaders in wins (tied for second with Spahn behind Newcombe's 27), ERA (2.86, third, behind Lew Burdette's 2.70 and Spahn's 2.78), strikeouts (145, sixth), and shutouts (five, tied with Newcome for second behind Burdette's six). He finished 14th in NL MVP voting, and Giant fans from Section Five of the Polo Grounds made him a three-foot tall trophy for being the team MVP; years later, the trophy was one of the few mementos from his career Antonelli displayed at his house. Through May 28, Antonelli was 3–6 with a 4.66 ERA. After he gave up four runs without recording an out against Philadelphia that day, he worked exclusively in relief for two weeks. By June 18, his ERA was 4.95. Demonstrating improvement before the All-Star break, he was selected to the NL All-Star Team by Walt Alston, who managed the Giants' archrivals, the Dodgers. Against the Cardinals on July 11, he threw another shutout in a 1–0 victory. He improved his record to 11–11 with a win on August 3 but went 1–7 for the rest of the season. In 40 games (30 starts), he had a 12–18 record, a 3.77 ERA, and 114 strikeouts in innings pitched.
San Francisco (1958–60)
On May 5, 1958, with the Giants trailing the Pirates 11–4 in the ninth inning, Antonelli pinch-hit for Pete Burnside and had an RBI double against Vern Law, eventually scoring himself as the Giants rallied, though San Francisco still lost 11–10. Entering a tie game in the ninth inning on June 8, he threw six shutout innings as the Giants defeated the Phillies 5–4 in 14 innings. For the third year in a row, he was a part of the NL All-Star team. He worked 10 innings on August 19, striking out eight in a 4–3 victory over the Redlegs. On September 28, he came within one out of a complete game, allowing three runs (two earned) in a 4–3 victory over St. Louis. In 41 games (13 starts), he had a 16–13 record.
On May 11, 1959, Antonelli pitched 11 innings against the Dodgers, allowing just one earned run but getting a no decision in a 13-inning, 2–1 defeat. Against the Cubs on May 31, he struck out a season-high 11 batters in a 6–3 victory. He threw back-to-back shutouts against the Phillies and Cubs in victories on June 28 and July 3. MLB held two All-Star Games in 1959, and Antonelli was selected to both of them. Although he only pitched one-third of an inning, he was the winning pitcher in relief in the first All-Star Game on July 7, when the NL rallied from a 4–3 deficit in the eighth inning to prevail over the American League, 5–4, at Forbes Field. He pitched two other shutouts against the Phillies on July 16 and August 21, the first coming in a 1–0 victory where Antonelli gave up just three hits. This impaired his relation with the San Francisco fans, several of whom took to booing him during games, though Antonelli denied criticizing the city itself. He batted .158 but had 10 RBI, as a hitter. On May 15, he threw a shutout in a 2–0 victory over the Dodgers. Antonelli lost four games in a row from May 27 through June 11, however, and spent most of the rest of the season in the bullpen, only making two more starts all season. Used often at the end of games, Antonelli converted 11 saves in 14 tries, tying with Turk Farrell for fifth in the NL in that category. In 41 games (10 starts), he had a 6–7 record, a 3.77 ERA, 57 strikeouts, and 106 hits allowed in innings. He walked 47 hitters, but ten of those were intentional. After a no-decision in his first start of 1961, he lost his next four attempts, with his ERA ballooning to 6.04, before he was moved to the bullpen. In 20 games (seven starts) between Cleveland and Milwaukee, Antonelli had a 1–4 record, a 6.75 ERA, 31 strikeouts, 21 walks, and 84 hits allowed in innings pitched.
As a hitter, Antonelli posted a .178 batting average (121-for-679) with 56 runs, 15 home runs, 59 RBI and 26 bases on balls. From 1956 through the end of his career, he served as a pinch hitter or pinch runner in at least one game each season. He was good to his word, opening up a chain of Firestone Tire stores in the city. "I started the business with my World Series money," he told the Democrat and Chronicle in 2014. His first location opened in 1955 at the intersection of Keeler Street and North Clinton Avenue. Over time, the business expanded to 28 locations in Monroe County as well as other parts of New York state, as Antonelli was the exclusive Firestone dealer for the area. While the Rochester Red Wings still played at Silver Stadium, the tire company sponsored an annual "Johnny Antonelli Night," giving away tires and televisions. Antonelli's stores also sponsored "Captain Friendly," a program in which store managers would drive around Rochester looking for people with car trouble, then help them free of charge. Antonelli ran the businesses until 1994, retiring over frustrations with Bridgestone, which had purchased Firestone in the meantime. "We were just spinning our wheels," he said.
See also
- List of Major League Baseball annual ERA leaders