Samuel Esposito (December 15, 1931 – July 9, 2018) 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 ...

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

and

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

. 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 10 seasons on the

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 ...

(1952, 1955–1963) and

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 ...

(1963). In 1959, he helped the White Sox win the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

pennant. He was the head baseball coach at North Carolina State University from 1967 to 1987. He was also an assistant coach on the North Carolina State basketball team that won the 1974 NCAA Championship. He graduated from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Christian Fenger High School Fenger Academy High School is a public 4–year high school located in the Roseland neighborhood on the far south side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Fenger is a part of the Chicago Public Schools district. The school is named for Danish su ...

and attended briefly Indiana University. Esposito threw and batted right-handed, stood tall and weighed . In ten MLB seasons, he played in 560 games and had 792 at bats, 130 runs, 164 hits, 27 doubles, 2 triples, 8 home runs, 73 RBI, 7 stolen bases, 145 walks, a .207 batting average, .330 on-base percentage, .277 slugging percentage, 219 total bases, 21 sacrifice hits, 8 sacrifice flies and 4 intentional walks. Esposito replaced starting third baseman

Billy Goodman William Dale Goodman (March 22, 1926 – October 1, 1984) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) infielder who played 16 seasons for the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, and Houston Colt .45s, from 1947 through 1962. Go ...

and batted twice in Game 1 of the 1959 World Series against the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

, going 0-for-2.

External links

* 1931 births 2018 deaths Baseball players from Chicago Basketball coaches from Illinois Basketball players from Chicago Chicago White Sox players Indiana Hoosiers baseball players Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball players Kansas City Athletics players Major League Baseball shortstops Major League Baseball third basemen Memphis Chickasaws players NC State Wolfpack baseball coaches NC State Wolfpack men's basketball coaches Waterloo White Hawks players American men's basketball players {{US-baseball-infielder-stub