Valentine John Picinich (September 8, 1896 – December 5, 1942) 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 ...

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 ...

. He 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) from 1916 to 1933 for 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 ...

, Washington Senators,

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 ...

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 ...

, Brooklyn Robins / Dodgers, and

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 ...

."Val Picinich Statistics and History"
Baseball-reference.com. Retrieved May 21, 2017. In 18 seasons, Picinich played in 1,037 games and hit .258 with 26

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run ...

and 298 RBI. He caught three no-hitters in his first eight major league seasons and he was the personal catcher for

Walter Johnson Walter Perry Johnson (November 6, 1887 – December 10, 1946), nicknamed "Barney" and "the Big Train", was an American professional baseball player and Manager (baseball), manager. He played his entire 21-year baseball career in Major League Ba ...

for four seasons. Picinich was a minor league manager after his playing career ended. He died of pneumonia in 1942.

Career

After spending one year at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, Picinich left school to pursue a professional baseball career with the Philadelphia Athletics. He debuted with the Athletics in 1916 and played with the team through 1917. From 1918 to 1922, Picinich played for the Washington Senators and was the personal catcher for

; he only sat out two of Johnson's games during that time. Picinich caught three no-hitters, all early in his career (one by

Bullet Joe Bush Leslie Ambrose "Bullet Joe" Bush (November 27, 1892 – November 1, 1974) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher with the Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, St. Louis Browns, Washington Senators, Pittsburgh Pirate ...

, 1916; one by Johnson, 1920; and one by

Howard Ehmke Howard John Ehmke (April 24, 1894 – March 17, 1959) was an American baseball pitcher. He played professional baseball for 16 years from 1914 to 1930, including 15 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Buffalo Blues (1915), Detroit Tigers (19 ...

, 1923). Picinich may have had his best season for the Cincinnati Reds in 1928. He played in a major league career-high 96 games that year and hit .302. The next year, Picinich appeared in 93 games, but his batting average dropped to .260. He seemed to struggle defensively that year, leading the league in two dubious categories: passed balls (9) and stolen bases allowed (75). After 1929, Picinich never played in more than 41 major league games in any season. He last appeared in the major leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1933. In 1934, he wrote to

Ford Frick Ford Christopher Frick (December 19, 1894 – April 8, 1978) was an American sportswriter and baseball executive. After working as a teacher and as a sportswriter for the ''New York Journal-American, New York American'', he served as public rela ...

to say that he was creating a baseball school in Brooklyn. Picinich then spent four seasons managing in the minor leagues.

Later life

After leaving baseball, Picinich bought a chicken farm in Maine. He then worked as the personnel service and morale director for

Bath Iron Works Bath Iron Works (BIW) is a major United States shipyard located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, founded in 1884 as Bath Iron Works, Limited. Since 1995, Bath Iron Works has been a subsidiary of General Dynamics, one of the world's largest ...

. In 1942, Picinich contracted bronchial influenza and was diagnosed with pneumonia a few days later. He died in

Nobleboro, Maine Nobleboro, founded in 1788, is a town in Lincoln County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,791 at the 2020 census. Nobleboro is named for Arthur Noble's son Arthur II. Part of Nobleboro was part of Shem Drowne's claim in the 1730s. H ...

, at the age of 46. He was survived by his parents, a wife, and a daughter, Barbara. His daughter was married to

Roland L. Bragg Roland Leon Bragg (June 11, 1923 – January 12, 1999) was an American United States Army, Army paratrooper during World War II. Bragg was awarded the Silver Star, the United States Army's third-highest military decoration for valor in comba ...

, U.S. Army paratrooper and the namesake of

Fort Bragg Fort Bragg (formerly Fort Liberty from 2023–2025) is a United States Army, U.S. Army Military base, military installation located in North Carolina. It ranks among the largest military bases in the world by population, with more than 52,000 m ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Picinich, Val 1896 births 1942 deaths Atlanta Crackers players Baltimore Orioles (International League) players Baseball players from New York City Boston Red Sox players Brooklyn Dodgers players Brooklyn Robins players Charleston Senators players Cincinnati Reds coaches Cincinnati Reds players Jersey City Skeeters players Major League Baseball catchers Minor league baseball managers New York Giants (baseball) scouts Philadelphia Athletics players 20th-century American sportsmen Pittsburgh Pirates players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Washington Senators (1901–1960) players People from Nobleboro, Maine Deaths from influenza in the United States Deaths from pneumonia in Maine