Anthony 'Tony' Ferrara, (c. 1927 – December 4, 2009) was an American professional baseball player, coach, and scout.

Early life

Ferrara was born in

Schenectady, New York Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

in the late 1920s. After High school he got a scholarship to the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

. After college he signed with the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...

and played minor league baseball before a shoulder injury ended his playing career.

Coaching career

In the 1960s Ferrara spent five seasons as the hitting coach for St. Johns University. In 1970, Ferrara moved to

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 ...

and landed a job with the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

and remained with them until 1997, serving in a number of roles including batting practice pitcher, bullpen coach, and scout. In 1999 former Yankee

Rick Cerone Richard Aldo Cerone (born May 19, 1954) is an American former professional baseball player, television sports color commentator and minor league baseball team owner. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from to with the Cleveland Ind ...

asked Ferrara to become First base coach for the

Newark Bears The Newark Bears were an American minor league professional baseball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They were a member of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball and, later, the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball. T ...

of the independent Atlantic League, a position he held for three seasons. In 2002, he coached in the professional

Israel Baseball League The Israel Baseball League (IBL; Hebrew: ליגת הבייסבול הישראלית, ''Ligat ha-Beisbol ha-Israelit'') was a six-team professional baseball league in Israel. The first game was played on June 24, 2007. League structure The six ...

and served as Assistant Commissioner.. In 2009, Ferrara returned to the Bears as bench coach.

''The Natural''

In 1984, Ferrara served as technical advisor for the

Robert Redford Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the List of awards and nominations received by Robert Redford, recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Awards, Academy Award from four nomi ...

film ''

The Natural ''The Natural'' is a 1952 novel about baseball by Bernard Malamud, and is his debut novel. The story follows Roy Hobbs, a baseball prodigy whose career is sidetracked after being shot by a woman whose motivation remains mysterious. The story mos ...

'' and appeared in the film as third base coach.

Death

Ferrara died on December 4, 2009, a few weeks after suffering a stroke. He is survived by his younger brother, Joseph A. Ferrara who resides in Florida.

References

1920s births 2009 deaths Baseball players from Florida Minor league baseball players New York Yankees scouts University of Miami alumni {{US-baseball-bio-stub