Nicholas Testa (June 29, 1928 – November 16, 2018) was a professional baseball
catcher
Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...
and
coach
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Co ...
. He played briefly in both
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), ...
and
Nippon Professional Baseball
or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''.
Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of the league can be traced back to the formation ...
.
Biography
Testa was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
to Italian immigrants, and was raised in the
Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
. He began his professional career in at the age of 17 with the Newburgh Hummingbirds. He threw and batted right-handed, stood tall and weighed .
Testa had one of the briefest major league careers ever. He played just one inning of one game for the
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...
in , never coming to bat in the major leagues. In his one chance on defense, he committed an error. Later that season, Testa was named the team's bullpen coach.
Testa played for several more seasons in 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 Nor ...
, eventually making his way to Japan in . That year, he played in 57 games for the Daimai Orions, batting .136 with five RBI.Japanese batting stats /ref> Testa later served as a coach for the
St. Lucie Legends
The St. Lucie Legends was one of the eight original baseball franchises that played in the Senior Professional Baseball Association in 1989.Senior Professional Baseball Association during their lone year of existence in . He also coached baseball at
Lehman College
Lehman College is a public college in the Bronx borough of New York City. Founded in 1931 as the Bronx campus of Hunter College, the school became an independent college within CUNY in September 1967. The college is named after Herbert H. Lehma ...
.
After retiring from Lehman, Testa joined the New York Yankees as their batting practice coach, serving on five World Championship Teams. Testa died in 2018 at his home in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, at the age of 90.Obituary ''USobit.com''. Retrieved on November 22, 2018.
See also
*
List of Florida Gators baseball players
This list of Florida Gators baseball players includes former members of the Florida Gators baseball team that represents the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, who have played in one or more regular season Major League Baseball (MLB) ga ...