Steven Richard Nicosia (born August 6, 1955) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

player. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

as a

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

from through for the Pittsburgh Pirates,

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...

and

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

. The 1973 first round draft pick was a member of the

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Pittsburgh Pirates team. Listed at 5' 10" and weighing 185 lb., Nicosia batted and threw right-handed.

Major League Baseball career

Nicosia was born in Paterson, New Jersey. He was a first-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates out of

North Miami Beach High School North Miami Beach Senior High School (NMB High School) is a secondary school located at 1247 NE 167 Street in North Miami Beach, Florida, United States. Its current principal is Randy Milliken. NMB High School was built in 1971 as an overcrowding ...

in 1973. At the age of only twenty-two, Nicosia made his major league debut for the Pirates on July 8, 1978. In the following season, Nicosia was primarily a platoon catcher (he started 52 out of 58 regular-season games against left-handed starting pitchers, but only 3 games against right-handed starters) and he was called on to start at catcher for four of the seven games in the

1979 World Series The 1979 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1979 season. The 76th edition of the World Series was a best-of-seven playoff played between the National League (NL) champion Pittsburgh Pirates (98–64) and ...

against the lefty-heavy starting rotation of the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

. Nicosia was behind the plate for the Pirates' World Series-winning Game Seven victory over the Orioles. During highlights of Game Seven of the

, Nicosia can be seen delivering several punches to a fan who tried to take his catcher's mask following the conclusion of the game. The fan was one of hundreds who had invaded the playing surface of

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

's Memorial Stadium trying to secure souvenirs of the victory.

References

External links

Pura Pelota (Venezuelan Winter League)
1955 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball players from Paterson, New Jersey Charleston Charlies players Charleston Pirates players Columbus Clippers players Major League Baseball catchers Montreal Expos players Navegantes del Magallanes players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela People from North Miami Beach, Florida Baseball players from Miami-Dade County, Florida Pittsburgh Pirates players Salem Pirates players San Francisco Giants players Sherbrooke Pirates players Shreveport Captains players Toronto Blue Jays players {{US-baseball-catcher-1950s-stub