Anthony Richard Conigliaro (January 7, 1945 – February 24, 1990), nicknamed "Tony C" and "Conig", was an American Major League Baseball outfielder and right-handed batter who played for the Boston Red Sox (1964–1967, 1969–1970, 1975) and California Angels (1971). Born in Revere, Massachusetts, he was a 1962 graduate of St. Mary's High School in Lynn, Massachusetts. Conigliaro started his MLB career as a teenager, hitting a home run in his first at-bat during his home field debut in 1964, and reaching 100 career home runs faster than any player in American League history.
During the Red Sox "Impossible Dream" season of 1967, he was hit in the face by a pitch that caused a severe eye injury and derailed his career. He did not play in 1968, but in 1969 he came back and had a good year with 20 home runs and 82 runs batted in. In 1970, Conigliaro had an even better year. He hit 36 home runs and knocked in 116 runs. Then, in 1971, the Red Sox sent him to the California Angels for reasons that were never explained. That 1971 season with the Angels was not a good one for Conigliaro, and following that year he retired. After retirement from baseball, he had a heart attack and suffered brain damage at age 37, leaving him severely impaired until his death in 1990.
Early life
Conigliaro was born in Revere, Massachusetts, on January 7, 1945. He was raised in Orient Heights, East Boston, Swampscott and Nahant, Massachusetts. He was the league's Rookie-of-the-Year and its Most Valuable Player. In the fall of 1963, he played instructional league baseball in Sarasota, and was included on the Red Sox 1964 roster coming into spring training. At 19 years old he made the team going into the 1964 season, without returning to the minor leagues. due to a broken arm from being hit by a pitch On the first pitch of his first at-bat in Fenway Park, in the team's 1964 opening home game, Conigliaro hit a towering home run in the second inning against the White Sox. The proceeds of that game went to the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library, to honor the recently assassinated President, and those in attendance that day included among others Robert F. Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, and Governor Endicott Peabody.) His 24 home runs is the most in a season by a player before they turned 20.
In 1965, Conigliaro led the league in home runs (32), becoming the youngest home run champion in American League history. He batted .269, with 82 RBIs and 82 runs scored, and a .850 OPS. In that season, at age 22, he not only reached a career total of 100 home runs, but attained that milestone at the youngest age for an American League player.
On August 18, 1967, in his 95th game of the season, the Red Sox were playing the California Angels at Fenway Park. Conigliaro, batting against Jack Hamilton, was hit by a pitch on his left cheekbone and was carried off the field on a stretcher. He sustained a linear fracture of the left cheekbone and a dislocated jaw with severe damage to his left retina. He was left with 20–300 vision and stabbing headaches. The batting helmet he was wearing did not have the protective ear-flap that has since become standard partly due to this incident.
He missed the remainder of the 1967 season, and was unable to play at all in the 1968 season because of poor vision. During the World Series, Harrelson hit .077 in 13 at-bats, and Tartabull hit .154 in 13 at-bats. During the regular season, the two combined for only three home runs and 24 RBIs in 327 at-bats.
A year and a half later, in 1969, Conigliaro made a remarkable return, hitting 20 home runs with 82 RBIs in 141 games. That season, he and his brother Billy formed two-thirds of the Red Sox outfield. Shortly after the season ended, on October 11, 1970, the Red Sox traded Conigliaro, Ray Jarvis and Jerry Moses to the California Angels for Ken Tatum, Jarvis Tatum and Doug Griffin. (In 1970, pitcher Ken Tatum had hit the Orioles Paul Blair in the face with a pitch that resulted in multiple fractures and the need for surgery.) There was controversy surrounding the surprising trade involving several members of the Red Sox, with Billy Conigliaro blaming Carl Yastrzemski for having Tony C. traded, seemingly in order to keep the leftfield job instead of being moved to first base. Reggie Smith was also involved in the situation.
Conigliaro's vision deteriorated in 1971, including a lack of depth perception and blind spots in his vision. He went on the disabled list in July, and formally retired from baseball at the end of the season, only 26 years old. He returned to the Red Sox briefly in 1975 as a designated hitter, hitting two home runs in 21 games, but was forced to retire because his eyesight had been permanently damaged.
Final years and death
After his retirement, in the fall of 1975, Conigliaro opened a restaurant in Providence, Rhode Island, managed by his brother Billy. In September of that same year, he was hired by WJAR TV 10 in Providence as a sports anchor. In August 1976, he moved to a similar position at KGO-TV Channel 7 in San Francisco, and won an Emmy award. It is also reported he worked as a sportscaster in Providence.
During 1982, Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, whose wife had come out of a coma three years earlier, visited Conigliaro to try and give him some optimism. In 1983, when insurance funds were running low to cover Conigliaro's medical care, teammates and others stepped in to raise money to help Conigliaro and the family with his care. In one April fundraising event at Boston's Symphony Hall, Frank Sinatra, Dionne Warwick, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio and Willie Mays were among those raising money to support Conigliaro ($230,000).
While the tragedy of his life is well recorded, The seats were removed prior to the start of the 2009 season.
Works cited
See also
- Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame
- List of Major League Baseball annual home run leaders