Robert Louis Ramazzotti (January 16, 1917 – February 15, 2000) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

player who appeared in 346

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), ...

games A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or games) or art (such ...

between and as an

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...

and

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 the

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...

and

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

. He was born in Eleanora, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Altoona. Ramazzotti threw and batted right-handed and was listed as tall and . He was 23 years old when he entered Organized Baseball in the Brooklyn organization in 1940; then, after two

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

seasons and the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

. Attaining the rank of

staff sergeant Staff sergeant is a rank of non-commissioned officer used in the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. History of title In origin, certain senior sergeants were assigned to administrative, supervi ...

, he was stationed in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

as a member of the 71st Infantry Division. Ramazzotti missed four full baseball seasons, 1942 through 1945, due to his wartime service. In 1946, he returned to baseball and spent the entire campaign on the Dodgers'

MLB 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), ...

roster, playing in 62 games as a utility infielder for a Brooklyn team that finished in a dead heat for the

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 ...

pennant before falling to the eventual World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals in a tie-breaker series. Ramazzotti batted .208 in 133

plate appearance In baseball statistics, a player is credited with a plate appearance (denoted by PA) each time he completes a turn batting. Under Rule 5.04(c) of the Official Baseball Rules, a player completes a turn batting when he is put out or becomes a runner ...

s in his

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

season. He spent all of and most of in Triple-A, where he sustained two serious injuries: a fractured skull from a

beanball "Beanball" is a colloquialism used in baseball, for a ball thrown at an opposing player with the intention of striking them such as to cause harm, often connoting a throw at the player's head (or "bean" in old-fashioned slang). A pitcher who thro ...

in 1947 and a badly sprained hand in the latter year. After appearing in a total of nine games for the Dodgers in and , he was traded to the Chicago Cubs for fellow infielder Hank Schenz on May 16, 1949. As a Cub, Ramazzotti experienced his most sustained success in professional baseball, appearing in 275 games over 4 National League seasons, and batting .262, .247 and .284 in the three campaigns spanning to . He had two four-

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 in ...

games, both in 1949, a year in which, ironically, he struggled badly at the plate, batting only .179 with 34 total hits in a Chicago uniform. During his MLB career of all or part of seven seasons and 346 games, Bob Ramazzotti collected 196 safeties, with 22 doubles, nine

triples TripleS (stylized as tripleS; Help:IPA/English, /ˈtɹɪpəl:ɛs/; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by MODHAUS. They aim to be the world's first decentralized K-pop idol group. The members will rotate between the group, sub-unit, and solo ac ...

, four

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 i ...

and 53

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 batted .230 lifetime. Defensively, he started 99 games as a second baseman, 58 as a

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 ...

and 43 at

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 ...

. After baseball, Ramazzotti returned to Altoona, where he worked in manufacturing and later operated a sandwich shop. He died there at age 83 in February 2000.

References

External links

Society of American Baseball Research biography of Bob Ramazzotti
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramazzotti, Bob 1917 births 2000 deaths American expatriate baseball players in Cuba Altoona, Pennsylvania Brooklyn Dodgers players Chicago Cubs players Durham Bulls players Havana Sugar Kings players Johnstown Johnnies players Major League Baseball second basemen Major League Baseball third basemen St. Paul Saints (AA) players United States Army personnel of World War II