Anthony Andrew DePhillips (September 20, 1912 – May 5, 1994) was a

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), ...

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 ...

with the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

. He played in 35 games, all during the 1943 season.

Biography

DePhillips was born in

New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Uni ...

and attended

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

. For his career, he compiled a .100 batting average in 20

at-bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a bat ...

s, with two

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, DePhillips served as the physical education teacher at the Henley School in Jamaica Estates, New York. Tony was a standout basketball and baseball player at Newtown High School and at Fordham University. He played minor league baseball for the New York Yankees and played in the Major Leagues with the Cincinnati Reds. Tony also officiated college and NBA basketball games and was a scout for the Philadelphia A's and the New York Yankees. On November 11, 1949 Tony opened a sporting goods store on Francis Lewis Blvd in Bayside. The grand opening was attended by sports greats of the times which included Phil Rizzuto of the Yankees, Gene Hermanski of the Dodgers, and Jake LaMotta the middleweight boxing champ. In the spring of 1950 Tony started a youth baseball league in the neighborhood with 150 kids. By 1954 600 youngsters were participating and by 1958 Tony's youth club had 1200 members. Initially a baseball club, other sports were added that included basketball, football, bowling, handball, roller hockey and archery. The initial ages of the participants were 10-14 with 15-16 year old division being added in 1952 and a 9-year-old group in 1953.Varsity baseball and basketball travel teams were also added, and players from those teams went on to participate in high school and college teams and receive major league tryouts. In 1978, he was inducted into the Fordham University Hall of Fame. He died on May 5, 1994 in Port Jefferson, New York at the age of 81.He also founded a sporting goods store—De Phillips Sports—in Flushing NY, which is still in business and can be found at 33-05 Francis Lewis Blvd, Bayside Queens.

References

External links

Baseball Almanac
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dephillips, Tony 1912 births 1994 deaths Cincinnati Reds players Major League Baseball catchers Baseball players from New York (state) Minor league baseball managers Dayton Ducks players Akron Yankees players Binghamton Triplets players Augusta Tigers players Newark Bears (IL) players Little Rock Travelers players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Birmingham Barons players Bridgeport Bees players Fordham Rams baseball players Burials in Queens, New York, by place