Tony Conigliaro

In the tragic history of Boston Red Sox baseball from 1919 through 2003, the era characterized by the "Curse of the Bambino' (which was brought down on the BoSox after the franchise sold the greatest player in the history of the game to the New York Yankees so Red Sox owner Harry Frazee' could get the funds to finance the play that served as basis for the musical No, No, Nanette (1930)), perhaps no event is more tragic -- not the loses in the seventh, final and deciding games of the 1946, 1967, 1975, and 1986 World Series -- than what transpired on August 18, 1967. On that day, Tony Conigliaro, the 22-year-old Red Sox right fielder who appeared fated for greatness and a Hall of Fame career, was hit in the left cheek by a fastball thrown by California Angels pitcher Jack Hamilton in a home game at Fenway Park. The pitched ball shattered Conigliaro's cheekbone and cracked the orbital bone encasing his left eye. More ominously, the impact severely damaged the retina of his left eye. The beaning was so severe that Conigliaro dropped down to the ground face first, sprawled before home plate, as if pole-axed, bleeding from the nose and eye. Pitcher Jack Hamilton, who approached the prone Conigliaro to assess his condition, was restrained and lead away by his own catcher, Buck Rodgers, so as not to be affected by the sight of the carnage. Conigliaro was taken off the field in a stretcher, and pictures of him with a ghastly black eye were carried by the press after he had recovered. (One picture would grace the cover of "Sports Illustrated" magazine in 1970, to advertise an excerpt from his just-published biography, "Seeing It Through", the title a pun on the effect of the injury on his eyesight.) The injury was so severe, he missed the rest of the season, and the Red Sox's first trip to the World Series in 21 years, the so-called "Impossible Dream" pennant. He would not return to the Red Sox for 18 months. Anthony Richard Conigliaro, who was known and loved by Red Sox fans as "Tony C", was a local boy, born in Revere, Massachusetts, a seaside suburb of Boston. He made his major league debut with the Red Sox in 1964, as a 19-year old, and was a leading candidate for rookie of the Year Honors, batting .290 with 24 home runs and 52 RBI in 111 games when his season ended with a broken arm in August. The following year, the 20-year old Tony C. became the youngest player to lead a major league in home runs when he topped the American League with 32 dingers. In the fateful year of 1967, Tony C. was selected for the All-Star Game. It was the season in which, at the age of 22, he would became the youngest A.L. player to hit a total of 100 home runs. He also was the New England teeny-boppers' favorite player, having launched a singing career. According to sabremetrics, the study of baseball statistics, the player most similar to Tony C. when he was 20 and 21 was Mickey Mantle while the player most similar to him at the age of 22 was Frank Robinson, both first-ballot Hall of Famers. (The player most similar, statistically, when he was 24 and 25 years old, after his return to the Red Sox, was Jose Canseco, an outstanding player who might have made the Hall of Fame but for his lackadaisical attitude and public revelation of steroid abuse -- his own and that of other players.) In August 1967, Tony C. was replaced in the line-up by Ken Harrelson, who was traded to Cleveland after the 1968 season in which "The Hawk" lead the A.L. in runs batted in (R.B.I.). With right field now his for the taking, Conigliaro came back to the Red Sox for the 1969 season and played 141 games, slugging 20 homers and batting in 82 runs, a performance that saw him win the Hutch Award for "Comeback Player of the Year". The following year, Tony C. set career-highs of 36 home runs and 116 RBIs, but he was traded after the end of the season, in October, to the California Angels. He proved a flop in Anaheim, batting just .222 with four homers and 15 RBIs in a half-season of 74 games, hampered by poor eye-sight. In 1975, the year that the Red Sox would win their first A.L. pennant since '67, Tony C. tried another comeback, but he soon retired permanently due to the bad eyesight caused by his beaning eight years earlier. Tony C. remained a popular figure in the greater Boston area, running a nightclub with his former major league player brother Billy Conigliaro. It was while being driven to the airport by brother Billy that Tony C., after having interviewed for a broadcasting job, suffered a heart-attack on January 3, 1982, four days short of his 37th birthday. Tony C.'s heart stopped for many minutes, and he subsequently suffered a stroke and lapsed into a coma. Conigliaro remained in a vegetative state until his death on February 24, 1990. He was 45 years old. In commemoration, the Red Sox wore black armbands that season, in which they won the American League East pennant. The Red Sox Nation mourned the death of their tragic hero, and continues to mourn, marking the 40th anniversary of the beaning that derailed such a promising career, and seemed to curse Tony C. On August 18, 2007, his memory was honored before a game at Fenway Park, and a section of seats at the venerable ball-yard was named "Conigliaro's Corner" to honor the late, lamented, never-to-be-forgotten Tony C. The Tony Conigliaro Award is given annually to the major league player who best overcomes an obstacle and continues to play well through the adversity.