Steven James Lomasney (born August 29, 1977) 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 ...

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

who played in a single

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) game. In the late 1990s, he was a highly regarded prospect for 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 ...

. During his career, he batted and threw right-handed, stood tall, and weighed .

Early years

Lomasney grew up in

Peabody, Massachusetts Peabody () is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 54,481 at the time of the 2020 United States census. Peabody is located in the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore region of Massachusetts, and is known ...

, where he played both baseball and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

. He became a local hero when he caught for the Peabody High School baseball team that won the Greater Boston League Championship and played

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

and

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

for two Massachusetts Super Bowl teams. Lomasney was named the

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

of the Greater Boston League, Player of the Year, and a member of All-Scholastic teams in football and baseball.

Playing career

After being selected by Boston in the fifth round of the

1995 MLB draft The 1995 Major League Baseball draft began June 1995 to assign amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order is the reverse order of the 1994 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks were distributed for players who did not s ...

, Lomasney signed with the Red Sox on June 29, 1995. He became a rising star in the system, and given his roots, a much-hoped-for future

Fenway Park Fenway Park is a ballpark located in Boston, Massachusetts, less than one mile from Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home field of Major League Baseball's (MLB) Boston Red Sox. While the stadium was built in 1912, it was substantia ...

favorite. In 1999, Lomasney split time between the

Class A-Advanced High-A, officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing, is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A and D ...

Sarasota Red Sox Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers and Punta Gorda. Its official limits include Sarasota Ba ...

and Double-A

Trenton Thunder The Trenton Thunder are a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. They are located in Trenton, New Jersey, and play their home games at Trenton Thunder Ballpark. From 1994 to 2020, it was a Minor League Baseball team of the D ...

; overall he batted .259 with 20

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 59 RBIs and was named Minor League Player of the Year for Sarasota. Lomasney's major league career consisted of a single game played at

Camden Yards Oriole Park at Camden Yards, commonly known as Camden Yards, is a ballpark in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the home of Major League Baseball (MLB)'s Baltimore Orioles, and the first of the Baseball park#Retro-classic ballparks, "retro" major le ...

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

on October 3, 1999, the final regular season game for the 1999 Red Sox. He came into the game as a defensive replacement for

Jason Varitek Jason Andrew Varitek (; born April 11, 1972), nicknamed "Tek", is an American professional baseball coach and former catcher. He is the game planning coordinator, a uniformed coaching position, for the Boston Red Sox. After being traded as a min ...

in the bottom of the fifth inning. Offensively, Lomasney batted twice, striking out both times, while defensively he threw out two runners who tried to

steal Steal, Stealer or Stealing may refer to: * Theft, the illegal act of taking another person's property without that person's freely-given consent * The gaining of a stolen base in baseball ** the 2004 ALCS stolen base in Game Four, see Dave Roberts ...

second base. Scott Hatteberg replaced Lomasney in the bottom of the 10th inning as

Tim Wakefield Timothy Stephen Wakefield (August 2, 1966 – October 1, 2023) was an American professional baseball knuckleball pitcher. Wakefield began his Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but is most remembered for his 17-year ...

retired the side to save a 1–0 Boston victory. Lomasney suffered a serious eye injury with the Triple-A

Pawtucket Red Sox The Pawtucket Red Sox, known colloquially as the PawSox, were a professional minor league baseball club based in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. From 1973 to 2020, the team was a member of the International League and served as the Triple-A affiliate ...

in August 2001, when he was hit in the face with a batted ball during

batting practice This is an alphabetical list of selected unofficial and specialized terms, phrases, and other jargon used in baseball, along with their definitions, including illustrative examples for many entries. 0–9 0 :"Oh and ..." See #count, coun ...

; his eyesight never fully recovered. He remained in the Red Sox organization until 2002, when he was granted free agency. He moved through the

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 ...

s of 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 ...

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 ...

, and

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

, before being released by the Twins on August 3, 2006. Overall, in 12 seasons of

Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

, Lomasney batted .229 with 93 home runs and 395 RBIs in 918 games played.

References

External links

* , o
Retrosheet

at Red Sox Dugout {{DEFAULTSORT:Lomasney, Steve 1977 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Boston Red Sox players Gulf Coast Red Sox players Louisville Bats players Lowell Spinners players Major League Baseball catchers Michigan Battle Cats players New Britain Rock Cats players Ottawa Lynx players Pawtucket Red Sox players Sportspeople from Peabody, Massachusetts Rochester Red Wings players Sarasota Red Sox players Baseball players from Essex County, Massachusetts Trenton Thunder players Sportspeople from Melrose, Massachusetts Baseball players from Middlesex County, Massachusetts

Early years

Playing career

References

Further reading

External links