Reno Peter Bertoia (January 8, 1935 – April 15, 2011) was an

Italian Canadian Italian Canadians or Italo-Canadians (; ) are Canadian-born citizens who are fully or partially of Italian descent, whose ancestors were Italians who migrated to Canada as part of the Italian diaspora, or Italian-born people in Canada. Accordin ...

professional baseball player.

Career

Born Pierino, Bertoia moved with his family to Canada from Italy at the age of two and a half and grew up in

Windsor, Ontario Windsor ( ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is situated on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from the U.S city of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Esse ...

. His next-door neighbour and role model was Hank Biasatti. Bertoia attended and graduated from

Assumption College High School Assumption College Catholic High School is a Catholic school, Catholic secondary school in Windsor, Ontario. The school was originally established as a private preparatory school by Assumption College, now Assumption University (Windsor, Ontario), ...

in Windsor. Signed by the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

in 1953, Bertoia continued his education by attending Assumption University from which he graduated in June 1958 while a member of the Tigers. Bertoia also became close friends with Hall of Fame outfielder

Al Kaline Albert William Kaline ( ; December 19, 1934 – April 6, 2020), nicknamed "Mr. Tiger", was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers. For most of his career, Kali ...

while with Detroit, and was an important part of Kaline's early years with the Tigers. In 10 major league seasons he played in 612 games and had 1,745 at bats, 204 runs, 425 hits, 60 doubles, 10 triples, 27 home runs, 171

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 ...

(RBIs), 16 stolen bases, 142 walks, .244 batting average, .303 on-base percentage, .336 slugging percentage, 586 total bases and 31 sacrifice hits. On May 7, 1958, Bertoia hit a grand slam against the Washington Senators at

Griffith Stadium Griffith Stadium stood in Washington, D.C., from 1911 to 1965, between Georgia Avenue and 5th Street (left field), and between W Street and Florida Avenue NW. The site was once home to a wooden baseball park. Built in 1891, it was called Bounda ...

, making him the first Italian-born MLB player to do so. ITALIAN BORN RENO BERTOIA HITS GRANDSLAM – THE FIRST IN HISTORY
Retrieved January 27, 2023 In January 1964, Bertoia signed to play in the Japanese

Central League The or , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League i ...

with the

Hanshin Tigers The are a Nippon Professional Baseball team playing in the Central League. The team is based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, next to their main stadium, Hanshin Koshien Stadium. The Tigers are owned by Hanshin Electric Railway Co., ...

. He asked for his release a few months into the season because his wife was pregnant and had been ill during most of the family's stay in Japan. After his retirement as a player, Bertoia received his full high school teaching credentials and returned to Windsor, where he worked as a teacher for 30 years with the Windsor Catholic School Board. He was inducted into the Windsor/Essex County Sports Hall of Fame in 1982, the

Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum () is a museum located in St. Marys, Ontario, Canada. The museum commemorates the great players, teams, and events from Canadian baseball history. History The museum was founded in November 1982 in ...

in 1988 and the

University of Windsor The University of Windsor (UWindsor, U of W, or UWin) is a public university, public research university in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's southernmost university. It has approximately 17,500 students. The university was incorporated by ...

Alumni Sports Hall of Fame in 1988. Bertoia died on April 15, 2011, of

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). The name typically refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph node ...

in Windsor.

References

External links

SABR bioPrince George Newspapers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bertoia, Reno 1935 births 2011 deaths Baseball infielders Baseball players from Windsor, Ontario Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame inductees Canadian expatriate baseball players in Japan Canadian expatriate baseball players in the United States Charleston Senators players Deaths from cancer in Ontario Deaths from lymphoma Denver Bears players Detroit Tigers players Detroit Tigers scouts Hanshin Tigers players Italian emigrants to Canada Kansas City Athletics players Major League Baseball players from Italy Major League Baseball second basemen Major League Baseball third basemen Minnesota Twins players Naturalized citizens of Canada Syracuse Chiefs players Toronto Blue Jays scouts Washington Senators (1901–1960) players