Andrea Ettore Spognardi (October 18, 1908 – January 1, 2000) was a
Major League Baseball infielder
An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field.
Standard arrangement of positions
In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...
who played for the
Boston Red Sox during the last month of the
1932 season, in which the Red Sox finished in last place, 54 games behind the league champion
New York Yankees. The
Boston College
Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...
athlete had never played in the minor leagues before his first Red Sox appearance, when he substituted in a game they were losing 15-0 in Philadelphia. The 23-year-old
rookie was tall and weighed 160 lbs.
In 17 games as a
second baseman,
shortstop and
third baseman he handled 52 of 53
chances
Chances may refer to:
* ''Chances'' (TV series), an Australian soap opera
* ''Chances'' (Philippine TV series), a prime-time soap opera
* '' Chances: The Women of Magdalene'', a 2006 documentary film
* ''Chances'' (novel), a 1981 novel by Jac ...
successfully for a
fielding percentage
In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...
of .981. He hit .294 (10-for-34), and 6
bases on balls
A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...
raised his
on-base percentage
In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...
up to .400. He scored 9
runs and had 1
run batted in.
Spognardi died in his hometown of
Boston, Massachusetts, at the age of 91.
External links
Major League Baseball infielders
Baseball players from Boston
Boston Red Sox players
1908 births
2000 deaths
Major League Baseball second basemen
Watertown Townies players
Jersey City Skeeters players
Reading Red Sox players
Syracuse Chiefs players
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