Louis Americo Polli (July 9, 1901 – December 19, 2000), nicknamed "Crip", was a professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

relief pitcher 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 (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic ...

. Polli first played in the majors with the

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 ...

in 1932, pitching 6

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is bot ...

with a 5.40

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 ...

. Polli would not play again in the major leagues until 1944, a period of 12 seasons, when he pitched 35 innings for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

, with a 4.54 earned run average. Polli's MLB career ERA was 4.68. One of the greatest pitchers in minor-league history, the lanky righthander was the first major league player born in Italy, being one of only seven Italian-born players in MLB as of 2017. Polli compiled a career minor league lifetime mark of 236–226 through 22 seasons. At the time of his death in 2000, aged 99, Polli was the oldest living former MLB player.

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1901 births 2000 deaths Chattanooga Lookouts players Harrisburg Senators players Italian emigrants to the United States Jacksonville Tars players Knoxville Smokies players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball players from Italy Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players Montreal Royals players Nashua Millionaires players Jersey City Giants players New York Giants (NL) players St. Louis Browns players St. Paul Saints (AA) players {{Europe-baseball-bio-stub