Albert Brancato (May 29, 1919 – June 14, 2012) was a

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

and

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

who played 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, the team became the Oaklan ...

from 1939 to 1941 and in 1945. His career in the majors was interrupted by military service in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

during World War II. Brancato served in the

Pacific theater The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

and played on the Navy's all-star baseball team, composed of Major League players in military service. While entertaining the troops at the all-star games, Brancato appeared alongside

Joe DiMaggio Joseph Paul DiMaggio (November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999), nicknamed "Joltin' Joe", "The Yankee Clipper" and "Joe D.", was an American baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career in Major League Baseball for the New York Yank ...

Phil Rizzuto Philip Francis Rizzuto (September 25, 1917 – August 13, 2007), nicknamed "The Scooter", was an American Major League Baseball shortstop. He spent his entire 13-year baseball career with the New York Yankees (1941–1956), and was elected to th ...

Bill Dickey William Malcolm Dickey (June 6, 1907 – November 12, 1993) was an American professional baseball catcher and manager. He played in Major League Baseball with the New York Yankees for 19 seasons. Dickey managed the Yankees as a player-manager in ...

Tom Ferrick Tom Ferrick, Jr. (1949) is an editor, reporter and columnist long active in print and web journalism in Philadelphia. Until 2013, he was senior editor of Metropolis, a local news and information Web site based in Philadelphia that he founded in 20 ...

Bob Feller Robert William Andrew Feller (November 3, 1918 – December 15, 2010), nicknamed "the Heater from Van Meter", "Bullet Bob", and "Rapid Robert", was an American baseball pitcher who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Clevel ...

, and

Eddie Collins, Jr. Edward Trowbridge Collins Jr. (November 23, 1916 – November 2, 2000) was an American professional baseball outfielder in the Major Leagues for parts of three seasons between and for the Philadelphia Athletics. Career in baseball Collins' fa ...

He was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, one of seven children of Italian immigrant parents. Brancato died on June 14, 2012, at age 93 at Sunrise at Granite Run, an assisted living facility in

Delaware County, Pennsylvania Delaware County, colloquially referred to as Delco, is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. With a population of 576,830 as of the 2020 census, it is the List of counties in Pennsylvan ...

. He had recently moved to the facility in failing health and had broken his hip several months before his death. He was a long-time resident of

Upper Darby Upper Darby Township, often shortened to Upper Darby, is a home rule township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The township borders Philadelphia, the nation's sixth most populous city as of 2020 with 1.6 million residents. As of the 2020 cen ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

with his wife, Isabel, to whom he was married for 69 years. His children included Sister Helen Brancato, Albert Jr., and David Brancato.

References

External links

Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society
1919 births 2012 deaths South Philadelphia High School alumni American expatriate baseball players in Canada United States Navy personnel of World War II Baseball players from Philadelphia Elmira Pioneers players Fort Worth Cats players Greenville Spinners players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Major League Baseball shortstops Minor league baseball managers Philadelphia Athletics players Saint Joseph's Hawks baseball coaches St. Paul Saints (AA) players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players United States Navy sailors Williamsport Grays players {{US-baseball-shortstop-stub