Aloysius Francis Naples (August 29, 1926 – February 26, 2021) was an American

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

who played for the

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they ...

in . He is one of about 200 players in major league history to be credited with exactly one base hit. Naples was born in

Staten Island, New York Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

and attended

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

, where he majored in Latin, from 1946 to 1949. He signed a professional contract with the St. Louis Browns in 1949 and made his major league debut, starting against the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

on June 26, 1949. Naples had one hit, a double to right field, against Boston ace

Mel Parnell Melvin Lloyd Parnell (June 13, 1922 – March 20, 2012) was an American professional baseball pitcher who spent his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the Boston Red Sox. Listed at and , he threw and batted left-handed. Playing ca ...

(who won 25 games that year, including Naples' debut). Naples sat on the bench for a month (the Browns already had Eddie Pellagrini and John Sullivan to play shortstop), then started one more game and was sent down to the Class B

Springfield Browns The Springfield Browns was a primary moniker of the minor league baseball teams based in Springfield, Illinois between 1931 and 1950. Springfield teams played as members of the Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League (1931–1932), Mississippi Valley Le ...

of the Three-I League. That year, Naples hit .232 with no home runs in 56 games for Springfield, who finished last and folded after the season. On October 21, 1949, Naples was released unconditionally by the Browns. He signed with the Browns' other Class B affiliate, the

Wichita Falls Spudders The Wichita Falls Spudders were a minor league baseball team that formed in 1920 and played its last game in 1957. They were based in Wichita Falls, Texas. The first Spudders team ran from 1920–1932 and played in the Texas League as an affiliat ...

of the

Big State League The Big State League was a mid-level, Class B (baseball), Class B level circuit in American minor league baseball that played for 11 seasons, from 1947 through 1957. Its member clubs were exclusively based in Texas. The Corpus Christi Clippers (19 ...

for the 1950 season but did not play for the Spudders that year or for any other professional team afterwards; at age 23, his professional baseball career was over. Naples died on February 26, 2021, at the age of 94.

References

External links

Al Naples
at the Baseball Almanac {{DEFAULTSORT:Naples, Al 1926 births 2021 deaths Major League Baseball shortstops Baseball players from Staten Island St. Louis Browns players 20th-century American sportsmen