Anthony John Brizzolara (born January 14, 1957) is an American former

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 ...

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 ...

. 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), ...

for the

Atlanta 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 Bos ...

between 1979 and 1984.

Amateur career

Brizzolara graduated from

Beloit Memorial High School Beloit Memorial High School is a public, four-year comprehensive high school in Beloit, Wisconsin. Academics Beloit Memorial has an enrollment of approximately 1,700 students, with 120 full-time certified staff and an average class size of 28 s ...

Beloit, Wisconsin Beloit is a city in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 36,657 people. History Twelve men in Colebrook, New Hampshire, created the "New England Emigrating Company" in October 1836 and sen ...

, and played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional p ...

at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,07 ...

. In 1975, he played collegiate summer baseball in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Yarmouth Red Sox. He was selected by the Braves in the second round of the

1977 Major League Baseball Draft First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1977 Major League Baseball draft. Other notable Selections ''*'' Did not sign Background The White Sox surprised some when they passed on right-handed pitcher Bill ...

Professional career

After going 17-12 with a 2.74

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 ...

in the Atlanta farm system between 1977 and 1979, the Braves brought Brizzolara up to the majors in May 1979. He remained in the Braves' starting rotation for the rest of the season, going 6-9 with a 5.28 ERA in 107.1 innings of work. Brizzolara spent 1980 to 1983 with the Triple A Richmond Braves. In July 1983, he received his second call to the majors. Though he was a starter in 1979 and for most of his minor league career, he was used strictly in

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

by manager

Joe Torre Joseph Paul Torre (; born July 18, 1940) is an American professional baseball executive, serving as a special assistant to the Commissioner of Baseball since 2020. He previously served in the capacity of Major League Baseball's (MLB) chief baseb ...

during the 1983 season, posting a 3.54 ERA in 14 appearances. On October 2, 1983, Brizzolara recorded his one and only save at the major league level. It came in game 162 of the 1983 season. He pitched 2 scoreless innings to preserve a 4-3 Braves win over the Padres. He preserved the win for Ken Dayley. Once more, he opened the 1984 season at Richmond, and went 7-7 with a 3.23 ERA as a starting pitcher. He came up to Atlanta in August, and went 1-2 with a 5.28 ERA through the end of the season. After going 10-12 with a 3.27 ERA for Richmond in 1985, he signed as a minor league free agent with 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 ...

. He spent one season with their Triple A affiliate, the

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen ...

, going 6-6 with a 5.40 ERA.

References

External links

RetrosheetVenezuelan Professional Baseball League
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brizzolara, Tony 1957 births Atlanta Braves players Baseball players from Santa Monica, California Baseball players from Wisconsin Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Greenwood Braves players Kingsport Braves players Leones del Caracas players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Living people Sportspeople from Beloit, Wisconsin Richmond Braves players Savannah Braves players Texas Longhorns baseball players Tiburones de La Guaira players Yarmouth–Dennis Red Sox players