Benjamin John Guintini (January 13, 1919 – December 2, 1998) was an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

. He briefly played in

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 ...

(MLB) for the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

(1946) and

Philadelphia Athletics The Philadelphia Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, when they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and became the Kansas City Athletics. Following another move in 1967, they became the Oakland ...

(1950). He went hitless in seven total MLB

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, ...

s. The native of

Los Banos, California Los Banos ( ), alternatively Los Baños ( ), is a city in Merced County, California, Merced County, California, United States. It is located in the San Joaquin Valley in Central California, near the junction of California State Route 152, Stat ...

threw and batted right-handed; he stood tall and weighed . A World War II veteran of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

, he played more than 1,000 games in the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

during his ten-season career (1940–1941; 1944–1951), and was named to the 1949

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

all-star team,Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, eds., ''The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition.'' Durham, North Carolina:

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' (BA) is a sports publication company that covers baseball at every level, including Major League Baseball (MLB), with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in Minor League Baseball (MiLB) college, high school, and inte ...

, 2007, p. 428 a season during which Guintini reached a career high with 32

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s.Minor league statistics
from

Baseball Reference Baseball Reference is a baseball statistics database maintained by Sports Reference. The site provides career statistics for Major League Baseball (MLB) players and teams as well as records, MLB draft history, and sabermetrics. History Founder ...

All told, Guintini hit 99 homers as a minor leaguer and played for five

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

teams.

References

External links

1919 births 1998 deaths Baltimore Orioles (International League) players Dallas Eagles players Fort Worth Cats players Hollywood Stars players Indianapolis Indians players Los Banos, California Major League Baseball outfielders Oakland Oaks (baseball) players People from Los Banos, California Baseball players from Merced County, California Philadelphia Athletics players 20th-century American sportsmen Pittsburgh Pirates players Salt Lake City Bees players San Diego Padres (minor league) players San Francisco Seals (baseball) players United States Army personnel of World War II {{US-baseball-outfielder-1910s-stub