1938
Born May 3, 1938
Oakland, CA, USA
Chris Cannizzaro Marquee
b. May 3, 1938 · St. Louis Cardinals 1960–1961, New York Mets 1962–1965, Pittsburgh Pirates 1968, San Diego Padres 1969–1971, 1974, Chicago Cubs 1971, Los Angeles Dodgers 1972–1973
Cannizzaro became San Diego's regular catcher in the expansion club's first season and made the 1969 National League All-Star team. He played a career-high 134 games that year. In 1970 he improved to a career-best .279 with 95 hits, five home runs and 42 runs batted in.
Thirteen seasons gave him 458 hits, 66 doubles, 18 home runs, 169 runs batted in and a .235 average across 740 games. He caught 714 games and made only one other fielding appearance, in the outfield.
St. Louis brought Cannizzaro up in 1960, followed by four seasons with the Mets and one with Pittsburgh. He joined San Diego in 1969, later spent time with the Cubs and Dodgers, then returned to the Padres for 18 final games in 1974. The 1980 Hall of Fame ballot gave him no votes. He died in 2016, at seventy-eight.
Honors
| Award | Times | Years |
|---|---|---|
| All-Star selection | 1 | 1969 |
Batting, season by season
| Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | STL | 7 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | .222 |
| 1961 | STL | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .500 |
| 1962 | NYM | 59 | 133 | 9 | 32 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 19 | 26 | 1 | .241 |
| 1963 | NYM | 16 | 33 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 0 | .242 |
| 1964 | NYM | 60 | 164 | 11 | 51 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 14 | 28 | 0 | .311 |
| 1965 | NYM | 114 | 251 | 17 | 46 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 28 | 60 | 0 | .183 |
| 1968 | PIT | 25 | 58 | 5 | 14 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 9 | 13 | 0 | .241 |
| 1969 | SDP | 134 | 418 | 23 | 92 | 14 | 3 | 4 | 33 | 42 | 81 | 0 | .220 |
| 1970 | SDP | 111 | 341 | 27 | 95 | 13 | 3 | 5 | 42 | 48 | 49 | 2 | .279 |
| 1971 | CHC/SDP | 92 | 260 | 20 | 54 | 9 | 1 | 6 | 31 | 39 | 34 | 0 | .208 |
| 1972 | LAD | 73 | 200 | 14 | 48 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 31 | 38 | 0 | .240 |
| 1973 | LAD | 17 | 21 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | .190 |
| 1974 | SDP | 26 | 60 | 2 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 11 | 0 | .183 |
| Career | — | 740 | 1950 | 132 | 458 | 66 | 12 | 18 | 169 | 241 | 354 | 3 | .235 |
On this day & linked events
2016
Died December 29, 2016
1960
Major-league debut: Chris Cannizzaro
Chris Cannizzaro made a major-league debut on April 17, 1960.
1974
Final major-league game: Chris Cannizzaro
Chris Cannizzaro played a final major-league game on September 28, 1974.
Image: Atlanta Braves, public domain