Henry Paul Riconda (March 17, 1897 – November 15, 1958) was a professional baseball player who played

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

from 1923 to 1930.

Baseball career

Prior to the 1923 Major League Baseball season, Riconda was purchased by the

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 ...

from the

New Haven Profs The New Haven Profs was one of the longest lasting names of a minor league baseball team that was located in New Haven, Connecticut, and played primarily in the Eastern League (1916–1932), Eastern League and Connecticut League from 1878 to 1932 ...

for $5,000. On November 17, 1924, Riconda was traded with Chuck Rowland, Dennis Burns, Bob Hasty, Ed Sherling and $35,000 to the Portland Beavers of the

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 ...

for

Mickey Cochrane Gordon Stanley "Mickey" Cochrane (April 6, 1903 – June 28, 1962), nicknamed "Black Mike", was an American professional baseball player, manager and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Philadelphia Athletics and De ...

. In October 1925, he was drafted by the

Boston Braves The Boston Braves were a Major League Baseball club that originated in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, and played from 1871 to 1952. Afterwards they moved to History of the Atlanta Braves#Milwaukee, Milwaukee (and became the Milwaukee Braves). ...

in the 1925

Rule 5 draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

. Riconda was traded with Frank Wilson to the

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

of the American Association as part of a trade completed earlier for Lance Richbourg. In September 1927, Milwaukee traded Riconda to the Brooklyn Robins for Johnny Butler. In December 1928, Brooklyn traded Riconda along with Jesse Petty to 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 ...

for

Glenn Wright Forest Glenn Wright (February 6, 1901 – April 6, 1984) was an American professional baseball shortstop. He played in Major League Baseball from 1924 through 1935 for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Brooklyn Dodgers, Brooklyn Robins / Dodgers, and Chic ...

. The Kansas City Monarchs of the American Association purchased his contract in June 1929. He was drafted in the Rule 5 Draft in 1929 by the

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

Basketball career

Riconda began playing

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

while 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 ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

because the basketball team was allowed to leave the station in

Tompkinsville, Staten Island Tompkinsville is a List of Staten Island neighborhoods, neighborhood in northeastern Staten Island in New York City. Named for Daniel D. Tompkins, sixth Vice President of the United States (1817–1825), the neighborhood sits on the island's ea ...

every week to travel for games. After the war, a former teammate invited him to play professionally in Albany for a team that included Barney Sedran and

Marty Friedman (born December 8, 1962) is an American guitarist, best known for his tenure as the lead guitarist of thrash metal band Megadeth from 1990 to 2000. He is also known for playing alongside Jason Becker in Cacophony from 1986 until 1989, as well ...

. Riconda spent the next several wintes playing professionally for teams in Kingston, Paterson and

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. In 1929, he played for the

Original Celtics The Original Celtics were a barnstorming professional American basketball team. At various times in their existence, the team played in the American Basketball League, the Eastern Basketball League and the Metropolitan Basketball League. The te ...

of the American Basketball League.

Personal life and death

Riconda attended P.S. 15 in

Corona, Queens Corona is a neighborhood in the Borough (New York City), borough of Queens in New York City. It borders Flushing, Queens, Flushing and Flushing Meadows–Corona Park to the east, Jackson Heights, Queens, Jackson Heights to the west, Forest Hill ...

and Newtown High School. Riconda survived a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

in 1945. Thirteen years later, he suffered a fatal heart attack at his summer home in Mahopac, New York.

References

External links

1897 births 1958 deaths Major League Baseball third basemen Brooklyn Robins players Cincinnati Reds players Philadelphia Athletics players 20th-century American sportsmen Pittsburgh Pirates players Boston Braves players Baseball players from Queens, New York Springfield Ponies players Springfield Green Sox players New Haven Murlins players New Haven Indians players Portland Beavers players Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players Nashville Vols players Montreal Royals players Burials at Gate of Heaven Cemetery (Hawthorne, New York) Original Celtics players Newtown High School (Queens) alumni United States Navy personnel of World War I Basketball players from Queens, New York {{Baseball-third-baseman-stub