Ernest Joseph Fazio (January 25, 1942 – December 1, 2017) 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 ...

second baseman. He 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

Houston Colt .45s 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 s ...

(1962–63) and Kansas City Athletics (1966). Fazio attended

Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university's campus surrounds the historic Mis ...

, threw and batted right-handed, stood tall and weighed . Fazio signed with the Colt .45s and split his first professional season, , between Houston's first-ever

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 ...

team and its Triple-A affiliate, the Oklahoma City 89ers. In , he was able to play in 102 games for Houston by filling in at second base, third base and shortstop. He hit both of his major league home runs in that year, off lefthanders

Denny Lemaster Denver Clayton Lemaster (born February 25, 1939) is a retired American professional baseball baseball player and left-handed pitcher who appeared in 357 games pitched, games over 11 seasons (1962–1972) for the Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee / Atlanta ...

and

Hall of Famer A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

Warren Spahn of the

Milwaukee Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bost ...

. After the season, he was the "player to be named later" in an earlier trade that sent Houston

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 ...

Jesse Hickman Jesse Owens Hickman (February 18, 1939 – March 26, 2022) was an American professional baseball pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Athletics (–). The , right-hander attended Louisiana Christian University. ...

to the Athletics for slugger

Jim Gentile James Edward Gentile (born June 3, 1934), also nicknamed "Diamond Jim", is an American former professional baseball first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers, Baltimore Orioles, Kansas City At ...

. Despite his small stature, Fazio had shown power that year by hitting 23 home runs for Oklahoma City. He played in 27 games for the Athletics as a backup infielder during the season. Fazio's brother- John Richina started and coached Oakland Dynamites Pop Warner, Oakland, CA & managed Babe Ruth Baseball All told, Fazio appeared in 141 MLB games, and garnered 50

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

in 274 at bats.

References

External links

Baseball-Reference.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fazio, Ernie 1942 births 2017 deaths All-American college baseball players Baseball players from Oakland, California Hawaii Islanders players Houston Colt .45s players Iowa Oaks players Kansas City Athletics players Major League Baseball second basemen Major League Baseball shortstops Major League Baseball third basemen Oklahoma City 89ers players Santa Clara Broncos baseball players Vancouver Mounties players