Lewis Albert Fonseca (January 21, 1899 – November 26, 1989) 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 ...

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

second baseman In baseball and softball, second baseman, abbreviated 2B, is a fielding position in the Infielder, infield, between Baseball field#Second base, second and Baseball field#First base, first base. The second baseman often possesses quick hands and f ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

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 ...

for 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 ...

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...

, and

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

. While not a power hitter, he hit for

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

and was a good contact hitter for most of his career. He topped the .300 mark six times, with his best season coming in with the Indians, when he hit .369 to win the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

batting title, after coming off a season in which he broke his leg. His success was short-lived, however, as he broke his arm in , and a torn ligament in his leg prematurely ended his playing career. In a 12-year major league career, Fonseca posted a .316

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

(1075-3404), scoring 518 runs, hitting 31

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, and compiling 485 RBI in 937

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Associat ...

. His

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batting (baseball), batter reaches base (baseball), base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA ...

was .355 and

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, an ...

was .432. His career

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...

was .983. Fonseca was one of the first to use film in analyzing baseball games and finding flaws in players. It is said that his interest with cameras began while shooting ''

Slide, Kelly, Slide ''Slide, Kelly, Slide'' is a 1927 American comedy film, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by Edward Sedgwick, and starring William Haines, Sally O'Neil, and Harry Carey. Cast * William Haines as Jim Kelly (fictionalized version of ...

'' in

1927 Events January * January 1 – The British Broadcasting ''Company'' becomes the BBC, British Broadcasting ''Corporation'', when its Royal Charter of incorporation takes effect. John Reith, 1st Baron Reith, John Reith becomes the first ...

. As

of the Chicago White Sox, he used film extensively. After retiring from playing the game, Fonseca teamed with Charley Grimm to call Chicago White Sox and

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

radio broadcasts on station WJJD in 1939 in 1940, then was employed as director of promotions for both major leagues. Fonseca worked on

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

highlight films from their inception in 1943 through 1969, as an editor and director, and narrated the World Series films from 1949-53 and 1955-58 (

Jack Brickhouse John Beasley Brickhouse (January 24, 1916 – August 6, 1998) was an American sportscaster. Known primarily for his play-by-play coverage of Chicago Cubs games on WGN-TV from 1948 to 1981, he received the Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball H ...

narrated the

1954 World Series The 1954 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1954 season. The 51st edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the National League champion New York Giants against the America ...

film). Television sportscaster

Bob Costas Robert Quinlan Costas (born March 22, 1952) is an American sportscaster who is known for his long tenure with NBC Sports, from 1980 through 2019. He has received 28 Emmy awards for his work and was the prime-time host of 12 Olympic Games from ...

wrote of Fonseca's narration: " isvocal stylings were somewhat less than mellifluous, but still endlessly entertaining." Fonseca was batting coach for the

for many years, until quite late in life. His daughter Carolynn was a talented actress who worked mostly out of Rome, Italy. Fonseca died in

Ely, Iowa Ely is a city in Linn County, Iowa, Linn County, Iowa. The population was 2,328 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Cedar Rapids metropolitan area, Iowa, Cedar Rapids metropolitan area. History Ely was ...

at age 90.

Managerial record

References

External links

*Interview with Lew Fonseca conducted by Eugene Murdock on June 26, 1976, in Chicago
Part 12
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fonseca, Lew 1899 births 1989 deaths American League batting champions American people of Portuguese descent Sportspeople of Portuguese descent Baseball players from Oakland, California Chicago Cubs announcers Chicago White Sox announcers Chicago White Sox managers Chicago White Sox players Cincinnati Reds players Cleveland Indians players Major League Baseball broadcasters Major League Baseball first basemen Major League Baseball player-managers Major League Baseball second basemen Philadelphia Phillies players Saint Mary's Gaels baseball players San Francisco Seals (baseball) players Newark Bears (International League) players

Managerial record

See also

References

External links