William James Antonello (May 19, 1927 – March 4, 1993) 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 ...
player whose 12-season career included 40 games 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 ...
as an
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 ...
,
pinch hitter
In baseball, a pinch hitter (PH) is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, A ...
and
pinch runner for the
Brooklyn Dodgers. The
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
[Baseball Reference](_blank)
/ref>
/ref> native threw and batted right-handed, stood tall and weighed .
Antonello attended Fort Hamilton High School and served in the United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
as a 17-year-old during World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. He signed with the Dodgers in 1946 and spent seven full seasons in their farm system
In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful pl ...
before his promotion to the 1953 edition. In his long big-league campaign, he started nine games, five of them in left field, scored nine runs, and collected seven hits and two bases on balls in 45 plate appearance
In baseball, a player is credited with a plate appearance (denoted by PA) each time he completes a turn batting. Under Rule 5.04(c) of the Official Baseball Rules, a player completes a turn batting when he is put out or becomes a runner. This ha ...
s. Those seven hits included one 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 ( ...
, hit off Ken Raffensberger of the Cincinnati Redlegs at Crosley Field on May 17.[ Retrosheet box score (17 May 1953, Game 2)]
"Brooklyn Dodgers 10, Cincinnati Redlegs 0"
/ref> Antonello batted .163 with four runs batted in
A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...
.
That year, Brooklyn captured 105 regular-season games and the National League pennant, but Antonello did not appear in the 1953 World Series, won by the New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...
in six games. He played professionally through the 1957 minor-league season.
Antonello settled in his wife's hometown of Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ...
, where he had played Triple-A baseball during the early 1950s, and died in Fridley, Minnesota, at age 65 in 1993.
References
External links
1927 births
1993 deaths
Baseball players from Saint Paul, Minnesota
Brooklyn Dodgers players
Charleston Senators players
Daytona Beach Islanders players
Greenville Spinners players
Hollywood Stars players
Major League Baseball outfielders
Mobile Bears players
Newport News Dodgers players
Oklahoma City Indians players
St. Paul Saints (AA) players
Shreveport Sports players
Baseball players from Brooklyn
Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players
Fort Hamilton High School alumni
United States Navy personnel of World War II
Burials at Fort Snelling National Cemetery
20th-century American sportsmen
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