Ricky Paul Bottalico (; born August 26, 1969) is an American former 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 ...

right-handed

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who pitches in the game after the starting pitcher or another relief pitcher has been removed from the game due to fatigue (medical), fatigue, injury, ineffectiveness, ejection ...

, who 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

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 ...

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

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team ...

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

, and

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 ...

. He compiled a career 3.99

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

(ERA), with 116 saves.

Early life

Bottalico played for South Catholic High School in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

under coach Tom DiFiore. Bottalico went on to attend

Florida Southern College Florida Southern College (Florida Southern, Southern or FSC) is a private college in Lakeland, Florida. In 2019, the student population at FSC consisted of 3,073 students along with 130 full-time faculty members. It offers undergraduate, gradua ...

before transferring to Central Connecticut State as a catcher. He was made a pitcher and eventually became the team's top reliever. Bottalico received little attention from scouts, went undrafted in the

1991 Major League Baseball draft The 1991 Major League Baseball draft began 3 June 1991 to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 1990 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks will be distributed for players who did ...

, and played that summer for an insurance company in an amateur men's league in Connecticut. A Phillies scout saw him throwing and signed him for $2,000.

Professional career

He made his Major League debut with the Phillies on July 29, 1994, against the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, often referred to as Fulton County Stadium and originally named Atlanta Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium located in Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia. The stadium was home of the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseb ...

. He pitched a scoreless inning in the

1996 Major League Baseball All-Star Game The 1996 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 67th playing of the midsummer classic between the all-stars of the American League (AL) and National League (NL), the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 9 ...

. On August 2, 1998, while pitching for the Phillies in a game against the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

, Bottalico hit

Barry Bonds Barry Lamar Bonds (born July 24, 1964) is an American former professional baseball left fielder who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Bonds was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1986 to 1992 and the San Francisco Giants f ...

with a pitch, after which Bonds charged the mound in pursuit of Bottalico, igniting a bench-clearing brawl. The incident resulted in the ejection from the game of both players by

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Jeff Nelson. After suffering an elbow injury and clashing with manager

Terry Francona Terrence Jon Francona (born April 22, 1959), nicknamed "Tito", is an American professional baseball manager and former player who is the manager of the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously managed the Cleveland Indians/G ...

, Bottalico was traded to the

along with

Garrett Stephenson Garrett Charles Stephenson (born January 2, 1972), is a retired Major League Baseball pitcher. He played eight seasons in the majors, from 1996–2003. Stephenson's father, Rich, pitched briefly in the Pittsburgh Pirates system and the famil ...

in 1998. After having spent the majority of his early career as a closer, Bottalico's saves dwindled to a total of five in his last five seasons. As his playing career wound down, the Brewers released him in July 2005. Following a brief August trial with the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

’

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team, he was released again, later that month. In 2006, Bottalico was signed by the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

to a

minor-league 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 ...

contract and invited to

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; however, he failed to make the team, and was released. Throughout his career, Bottalico had many more

games finished In baseball statistics, a relief pitcher is credited with a game finished (denoted by GF) if he is the last pitcher to pitch for his team in a game. A starting pitcher is not credited with a GF for pitching a complete game. Mariano Rivera is the ...

(301) than save opportunities (160).

Broadcasting

Bottalico is a commentator for Phillies Pregame Live and Phillies Postgame Live, appearing before and after Phillies broadcasts on

NBC Sports Philadelphia NBC Sports Philadelphia is an American regional sports network owned by the NBC Sports Group unit of NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by locally based cable television provider Comcast (and owns a controlling 75% interest), and the Phila ...

. He also occasionally substitutes as the play-by-play commentator. Since August 1, 2022, he appears on "The Best Show Ever?" on 97.5 The Fanatic and NBC Sports Philadelphia.

References

External links

1969 births Living people Arizona Diamondbacks players Central Connecticut Blue Devils baseball players Clearwater Phillies players Kansas City Royals players Major League Baseball pitchers Martinsville Phillies players Milwaukee Brewers players National League All-Stars New York Mets players Norfolk Tides players Pawtucket Red Sox players Philadelphia Phillies players Reading Phillies players Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons players Spartanburg Phillies players Baseball players from New Britain, Connecticut St. Louis Cardinals players Tucson Sidewinders players Philadelphia Phillies announcers 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-baseball-pitcher-1960s-stub