James Peter Pisoni (August 14, 1929 – February 4, 2007) 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 leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

player, a backup

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 c ...

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), ...

. Pisoni played mainly as a center fielder for four teams between 1953 and 1960. Listed at , , he batted and threw right-handed, and was born in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. Pisoni will forever be known among baseball fans and historians as the last player to debut in a

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they p ...

uniform. He was signed by the Browns before the 1949 season, but he spent two years in the military during the

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 ...

before joining St. Louis on September 25, 1953, becoming the last

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 ...

to debut with the Browns before they moved to

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

and became the Orioles. He appeared in all three remaining games, including playing in the Browns closer on September 29. However, Pisoni never played for Baltimore. He went back to the

minor leagues 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 No ...

and three years later the Orioles traded him to the

Kansas City Athletics The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 sea ...

. He played for them from 1956 to 1957, before joining the Milwaukee Braves (1959) and

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

(1959–60). In a five-season career, Pisoni hit .212 (40-for-189) with six

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 ...

s and 20 RBI in 103 games, including 26 runs, three doubles and three triples. Following his baseball retirement, he worked as an electrical contractor. Pisoni died in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

, at the age of 77.

References

Baseball FeverBilly Martin
- Baseballbiography.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pisoni, Jim 1929 births 2007 deaths American military personnel of the Korean War American people of Italian descent Anderson Rebels players Baseball players from St. Louis Denver Bears players Kansas City Athletics players Major League Baseball center fielders Mayfield Clothiers players Milwaukee Braves players New York Yankees players Pittsburg Browns players Richmond Virginians (minor league) players St. Louis Browns players San Antonio Missions players San Diego Padres (minor league) players Vancouver Mounties players Wichita Indians players York White Roses players