Aaron Albert Silvera (August 26, 1935 – July 24, 2002) was an American professional baseball player, an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

who played parts of two seasons for the

Cincinnati Redlegs Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

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), ...

in –.

Early and personal life

Silvera was born in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, to Albert and Victoria Silvera.Peter S. Horvitz, Joachim Horvitz (2001)
''The Big Book of Jewish Baseball''
/ref> He was

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, and of Jewish and Italian descent on his paternal side and of

Syrian Jewish Syrian Jews ( he, יהודי סוריה ''Yehudey Surya'', ar, الْيَهُود السُّورِيُّون ''al-Yahūd as-Sūriyyūn'', colloquially called SYs in the United States) are Jews who lived in the region of the modern state of Syri ...

descent on his maternal side. He was the nephew of former Major League

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

"Subway Sam" Nahem. He threw and batted

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

, stood tall and weighed . A resident of

Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. B ...

, Silvera died in Los Angeles at age 66. He was buried at the

Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery The Hillside Memorial Park and Mortuary is a Jewish cemetery located at 6001 West Centinela Avenue, in Culver City, California. Many Jews from the entertainment industry are buried here. The cemetery is known for Al Jolson's elaborate tomb (design ...

in nearby

Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most d ...

High school and college

Silvera attended Fairfax High School in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. In 1952, as a sophomore outfielder he was named to the All-Western League First Team. In 1953, he batted .500 and received All City honors, was named the Western League Player of the Year, and was named to the All-Western League First Team. In 1954, he batted .367 and received dual All-City and All-Western League Player of the Year honors. He next attended the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

, where Silvera played for the USC Trojans baseball team and batted .405.

Baseball career

Silvera signed a $20,000 ($ in current dollar terms)

bonus Bonus commonly means: * Bonus, a Commonwealth term for a distribution of profits to a with-profits insurance policy * Bonus payment, an extra payment received as a reward for doing one's job well or as an incentive Bonus may also refer to: Plac ...

contract with the

as a 19-year-old in 1955, and was placed on Cincinnati's Major League roster per the bonus rule of the time. He made his MLB debut as a defensive replacement for

leftfielder In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...

Ray Jablonski Raymond Leo Jablonski (December 17, 1926 – November 25, 1985) was an American third baseman in Major League Baseball who played for all or parts of eight MLB seasons between 1953 and 1960. A National League All-Star, Jablonski appeared in 812 ...

in a 12–8 road loss to the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

on June 12. After

pinch running In baseball, a pinch runner is a player substituted for the specific purpose of replacing another player on base. The pinch runner may be faster or otherwise more skilled at base-running than the player for whom the pinch runner has been sub ...

in his second MLB game (for slow-footed catcher

Smoky Burgess Forrest Harrill "Smoky" Burgess (February 6, 1927 – September 15, 1991) was an American professional baseball catcher, pinch hitter, coach, and scout, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from to . A nine-time All-Star, Burgess became kno ...

), Silvera finally had his first

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

at bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

as a

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter is a substitute Batting (baseball), batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the dead ball (baseball), ball is dead (not in active play); the manager (baseball), manager may use any player who has not yet ...

for

Roy McMillan Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin. In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise t ...

in a 16–5 rout of the Phillies at

Crosley Field Crosley Field was a Major League Baseball park in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was the home field of the National League's Cincinnati Reds from 1912 through June 24, 1970, and the original Cincinnati Bengals football team, members of the second (1937) an ...

June 26. His

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

right field A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...

scored

Rocky Bridges Everett Lamar "Rocky" Bridges (August 7, 1927 – January 27, 2015) was a middle infielder and third baseman with an 11-year career in Major League Baseball from 1951 to 1961. Bridges played for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Cincinnati Redlegs and St. L ...

and Burgess. It would be his only MLB

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

, driving home his two career

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

. He was injured shortly thereafter, and his baseball career was cut short. Silvera appeared in ten more Cincinnati games in 1955, and one in 1956 (as a pinch runner). In addition to his one hit in seven at bats and two RBIs, he scored three runs. The Redlegs released him in May 1956, and he played minor league baseball through 1958 before leaving the game. He played for the 1956

Port Arthur Sea Hawks The Port Arthur Sea Hawks were a Gulf Coast League (1950–1953), Evangeline League (1940–1942, 1954) and Big State League (1955–1956) baseball team based in Port Arthur, Texas, United States. In 1953, they were affiliated with the Dallas Eagle ...

and the 1956

Abilene Blue Sox The Abilene Blue Sox were a minor league baseball team that operated in the West Texas–New Mexico League from 1946 to 1955 and the Big State League from 1956 to 1957. They were an affiliate of the Brooklyn Dodgers (1946–48) and the Kansas City ...

in the

Big State League The Big State League was a mid-level, Class B level circuit in American minor league baseball that played for 11 seasons, from 1947 through 1957. Its member clubs were exclusively based in Texas. The Corpus Christi Clippers (1955-1956), Texark ...

, the 1957

Columbia Gems The Columbia Senators was the first name of an American minor league baseball franchise representing Columbia, South Carolina, in the original South Atlantic League. Currently, Columbia is home of the Columbia Fireflies in the South Atlantic Leag ...

in the

South Atlantic League The South Atlantic League, often informally called the Sally League, is a Minor League Baseball league with teams predominantly in states along the Atlantic coast of the United States from New York to Georgia. A Class A league for most of its ...

and the 1957

Crowley Millers The Crowley Millers were a Minor League Baseball team based in Crowley, Louisiana, that played in the Gulf Coast League in 1950 and the Evangeline League from 1951 to 1957. They were affiliated with the Kansas City Athletics in 1956 and 1957. Th ...

in the

Evangeline League The Evangeline League began in 1934 in baseball, 1934 as a six–team Class D (baseball), Class D level minor league baseball, minor league with teams based in Louisiana, United States, later adding Mississippi and Texas based franchises. In 1935, ...

, and the 1958

Albany Senators The Albany Senators was a name used by multiple minor league baseball teams representing Albany, New York, that existed between 1885 and 1959. The mid-20th century club played at Hawkins Stadium (Albany), Hawkins Stadium. The various editions of t ...

in the Eastern League. In 2003 he was inducted into the

Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, in Beverly Hills, California, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring American Jewish athletes, other sports personalities, and teams from Southern California who have distinguished themselves ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Silvera, al 1935 births 2002 deaths Abilene Blue Sox players Albany Senators players American sportspeople of Haitian descent American people of Italian descent Baseball players from Los Angeles Burials at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery Cincinnati Redlegs players Crowley Millers players Columbia Gems players Jewish American baseball players Jewish Major League Baseball players Major League Baseball outfielders Port Arthur Sea Hawks players Sportspeople from Beverly Hills, California Baseball players from San Diego USC Trojans baseball players 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews Fairfax High School (Los Angeles) alumni

Early and personal life

High school and college

Baseball career

See also

References

External links