Donald Hugh Ferrarese (born June 19, 1929), is an American former
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 leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world.
Modern professional ...
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 ...
, who played in
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), ...
(MLB) for the
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...
,
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...
,
Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...
,
Philadelphia Phillies and
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...
from to . A left-handed thrower, he batted right-handed. Ferrarese was fairly small, standing at , and weighing , during his playing days. The native of
Oakland graduated from
Acalanes High School in
Lafayette, California
Lafayette (formerly La Fayette) is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. As of 2020, the city's population was 25,391. It was named after the Marquis de Lafayette, a French military officer of the American Revolutionary War.
...
, and attended
Saint Mary's College. His
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 leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world.
Modern professional ...
career started in 1948 in the Phillies' organization at Class C
Stockton of the
California League. He was a member of his hometown
Oakland Oaks of the top-level
Pacific Coast League for all or parts of four seasons between 1949 and 1955, and won 18 games for them in 1954. Ferrarese also missed the 1951 and 1952 campaigns while performing
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
military service.
Major League Baseball career
Ferrarese was used both as a
starter and
reliever
In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weather ...
, throughout most of his MLB career. He began his career, as a reliever, on April 11, 1955, at the age of 26; in the first big league season, Ferrarese posted a 3.00
earned run average
In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...
(ERA) in 6
games (9
innings of work).
In 1959 he went 5 and 3, with a 3.20 ERA, in 76 innings of work. Although Ferrarese
walked 51 and
struck out
In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is denote ...
only 45, he still gave up only 58
hits, that season.
In 1962 while spending time with the Phillies and Cardinals, he posted a combined 3.27 ERA (2.70 as a Cardinal) in 63+ innings of work. Although Ferrarese went 1 and 5, his ERA was considerably lower than the league average (4.21).
Ferrarese played his final big-league game on September 22, 1962. Overall, he was 19 and 36, with a 4.00 ERA, in just over 506 innings of work. Ferrarese struck out 350 and walked 295 batters.
Ferrarese's career batting average was .156 (20 for 128).
The highlights of his hitting career came on May 26, 1959, and June 22, 1962, respectively. On May 26, 1959, Ferrarese collected three hits in three at-bats, all of them,
doubles. He drove in two of the three runs the Indians scored, to help his team beat the White Sox, 3 to 0. The pitchers that Ferrarese faced in that game were
Dick Donovan
Richard Edward Donovan (December 7, 1927 – January 6, 1997) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher who played for the Boston Braves (1950–1952), Detroit Tigers (1954), Chicago White Sox (1955–1960), Washington Senators (1961) and C ...
and
Gerry Staley
Gerald Lee Staley (August 21, 1920 – January 2, 2008) was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. He was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1942 Minor League draft. He pitched regularly from 1947 on, then was traded to ...
. On June 22, 1962, facing pitcher
Jim Owens
James Donald Owens (March 6, 1927 – June 6, 2009) was an American football player and coach. He was the head coach at the University of Washington from 1957 to 1974, compiling a record of in 18 seasons.
Owens played college football at the U ...
, Ferrarese hit a two-run
home run
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 ...
, in the third inning. That was not enough though, as the Phillies — his former team — beat the Cardinals, 11 to 3. In Ferrarese‘s entire season, he collected one hit in 28 at-bats that year, for a .036 average. Ferrarese struck out in 20.3% of his at-bats.
As a fielder, Ferrarese posted a .952
fielding percentage. Overall, his career statistics are most similar to those of
Bryan Clark
Bryan Emmett Clark (born March 14, 1964) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation and All Japan Pro Wrestling under the ring names The ...
.
Major transactions
Ferrarese was involved in multiple trades in his career, even after his big league career was over:
*December 6, 1954: Traded by the Chicago White Sox with
Matt Batts,
Don Johnson
Donnie Wayne Johnson (born December 15, 1949) is an American actor, producer and singer. He played the role of James "Sonny" Crockett in the 1980s television series ''Miami Vice'', for which he won a Golden Globe, and received a Primetime Emm ...
, and
Fred Marsh to the
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...
for
Jim Brideweser,
Bob Chakales
Robert Edwards Chakales ha-kuh'-les(August 10, 1927 – February 18, 2010) was a pitcher in Major League Baseball who played with four clubs between the 1951 in baseball, 1951 and 1957 in baseball, 1957 seasons. Listed at 6'1", 185 lb., C ...
, and
Clint Courtney
Clinton Dawson Courtney (March 16, 1927 – June 16, 1975), nicknamed Scrap Iron, was an American professional baseball catcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1951), St. Louis Browns / Baltimore Orioles (1952 ...
.
*April 1, 1958: Traded by the Baltimore Orioles with
Larry Doby
Lawrence Eugene Doby (December 13, 1923 – June 18, 2003) was an American professional baseball player in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball (MLB) who was the second black player to break baseball's color barrier and the first black pl ...
to the Cleveland Indians for
Gene Woodling
Eugene Richard Woodling (August 16, 1922 – June 2, 2001) was an American professional baseball player, coach and scout. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder between and , most prominently as a member of the New York Yankees dynas ...
,
Dick Williams, and
Bud Daley
Leavitt Leo "Bud" Daley (born October 7, 1932), is a former professional baseball player who pitched in the Major Leagues from 1955 to 1964.
Leavitt was his father's name. Leo was for St. Leo from his mother's Catholicism. He was called Bud beca ...
.
*December 6, 1959: Traded by the Cleveland Indians with
Dick Brown,
Minnie Miñoso
Orestes "Minnie" Miñoso (, ; born Saturnino Orestes Armas Miñoso Arrieta; November 29, 1923 – March 1, 2015), nicknamed "The Cuban Comet" and "Mr. White Sox", was a Cuban professional baseball player. He began his baseball career in the Neg ...
, and
Jake Striker to the Chicago White Sox for
Johnny Romano
John Anthony Romano Jr. (August 23, 1934 – February 24, 2019) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Chicago White Sox (1958–1959, 1965–1966), Cleveland Indians (1960–1964 ...
,
Bubba Phillips
John Melvin "Bubba" Phillips (February 24, 1928 – June 22, 1993) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) third baseman from Macon, Mississippi. He played for ten seasons on the Detroit Tigers, Chicago White Sox, and Cleveland Indians, fro ...
, and
Norm Cash.
*April 28, 1962: Traded by the Philadelphia Phillies to the St. Louis Cardinals for
Bobby Locke
Arthur D'Arcy "Bobby" Locke (20 November 1917 – 9 March 1987) was a South African professional golfer. He is generally regarded as one of the greatest golfers of all time. He won The Open Championship four times and 15 PGA Tour events in total ...
and
cash
In economics, cash is money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins.
In bookkeeping and financial accounting, cash is current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-im ...
.
*February, 1963: Traded by the St. Louis Cardinals to the
Houston Colt .45's
The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...
for
Bobby Tiefenauer.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrarese, Don
1929 births
Living people
Albuquerque Dukes players
Baltimore Orioles players
Baseball players from Oakland, California
Chicago White Sox players
Cleveland Indians players
Klamath Falls Gems players
Major League Baseball pitchers
Oakland Oaks (baseball) players
Philadelphia Phillies players
St. Louis Cardinals players
Saint Mary's Gaels baseball players
San Antonio Missions players
San Diego Padres (minor league) players
Stockton Ports players
Vancouver Mounties players
Wenatchee Chiefs players
American expatriate baseball players in Canada