Joe Garagiola: Legendary Italian / American Baseball Personality

Joseph Henry Garagiola was born on February 12, 1926, in the Italian section of a neighborhood called the Hill, in St. Louis, Missouri. 

He was the second son of "Big John" Giovanni & Angelina Garagiola. Giovanni emigrated to America from Lombardy, Italy & brought his wife over after World War I.

Joe Garagiola grew up across the street from Yogi Berra and the two became close friends throughout their entire lives.  Also on that same street, broadcaster Jack Buck & his son Joe Buck would eventually live. In 2003 the street was renamed Hall of Fame Place with markers placed in front of each one's house. 

 As teenagers the scouts considered Garagiola the better prospect, although it was Berra who went on to a Hall of Fame baseball career. Garagiola who always made jokes at his own expense would say, “Not only was I not the best catcher in the Major Leagues, but I also wasn't even the best catcher on my street!" 

Baseball Trip:  Back in 2001 centerfield, Party Pete, WFUV's Darren Devivo & Den took a baseball trip to Missouri. Visiting both Kansas City & St. Louis. 

In St. Louis we stopped at the Hill neighborhood, visiting both Yogi's & Joe's childhood homes. We even talked to local senior gentleman who told us they were all good baseball players, including himself.

Baseball Career: Garagiola was signed at the age of 15, by his hometown St. Louis Cardinals. He was sent to their Springfield farm club where he also worked as a groundskeeper & clubhouse boy. He actually did Stan Musial's laundry as well.

In their long history, Garagiola is still the youngest player to be signed for the Cardinals. Joe would start play in the minor leagues at AA Columbus soon after.  

In 1944 he was drafted & served two years military duty during World War II. 

At age 19 he returned home & quickly became the Cardinals main catcher. He admitted later he wasn't ready for major league action. 

The hometown hero was honored that August on Joe Garagiola Night. Many friends & relatives from the Hill were in attendance.

Quotes- Joe Garagiola: "A peddler from the Hill told my mother that Joe was the first boy from the neighborhood with a name ending in a vowel that gets his name in the papers & he no kill no one".  

In 74 games he batted .237 with three HRs, four doubles 22 RBIs & a .312 on base %. Behind the
plate he posted a .990 fielding % throwing out 44% of would-be base stealers.

That season, the Cardinals & Dodgers ended the regular season in a tie. For the first time a one game playoff was played to decide who went to the World Series. Joe's Cardinal teammates included Stan Musial, Enos Slaughter & Red Schoendienst.

1946 World Series: In the World Series win over the Boston Red Sox Garagiola batted .316 (6-19) with a pair of doubles & four RBIs. 

In Game #1 in St. Louis, Joe collected an RBI double in the 3-2 loss.

Four Hit -Three RBI World Series Game: In Game #4 at Boston, he was behind the plate again & made MLB history. He became the first rookie catcher to have a four hit World Series game, collecting four hits going 4-5 while driving in three runs. In the seventh inning, he hit a two run double off Red Sox pitcher, Bill Zuber, in the Cards 12-3 win.

In Game #7 he was injured on a foul tip from Ted Williams off his ring finger on his bare hand. He left the game in the top of the 8th inning. In the bottom of the 8th, Enos Slaughters Mad Dash around the bases was the game winning run, clinching the Series victory.

After the Championship: The following season, Joe became the backup catcher to Del Rice & stayed in that role with the Cardinals into the 1951 season. St. Louis would finish second over the next three seasons & Jow would not play in another World Series. 

In 1950 he was having his best season hitting .347 into June, when he injured his shoulder in a collision with Jackie Robinson making him miss three months of action. Overall, he played in 34 games batting a career best .318.

Defensively he threw out 40% or more of would-be base stealers in his first five seasons. In 1951 he led the NL in fielding % as well as passed balls.

Family: In 1949, Joe married Audrie Dianne Ross, the organist at his church. Yogi Berra was his best man & Stan Musial an usher.

In June of 1951, he was traded to the last place Pittsburg Pirates in a seven-player swap. There he was now a teammate of slugger Ralph Kiner who led the NL HRs seven straight years, from 1946 thru 1952.

With the last place Pirates, Joe saw the most playing time of his career, appearing in over 100 games in the two seasons. In 1951 Garagiola led all NL catchers in fielding % (.989) as well as having career highs in HRs (11). 

 In 1952 he had career highs with 105 games behind the plate & 118 games played. At the plate he had career best with 94 hits, 15 doubles & 54 RBIs while batting .273 with a .362 on base %. 

The following season he was traded to the Cubs along with Kiner in a nine-player swap. In Chicago he played in parts of two seasons seeing the most action (63 games) as the team's main catcher along with Walker Cooper & Clyde McCullough & El Tappe. 

Quotes- Joe Garagiola: " One thing you learned as a Cubs fan- when you bought your ticket,
you could bank on seeing the bottom of the ninth." 

In late September 1954, Garagiola was traded to the New York Giants who were on their way to winning their last Championship in New York. 

He appeared in five games for the 1954 Giants behind Wes Westrum & Ray Katt as the third string catcher. He was not eligible to play in the World Series.

Career Stats: In his nine-year playing career, he batted .257 with 481 hits 42 HRs 82 doubles 16 triples 198 runs & 255 RBIs. He struck out 173 times with 267 walks posting a .354 on base % & .739 OPS. In 614 games behind the plate, he posted a .986 fielding %, throwing out 36% of would-be base stealers. 

In his time as a player, he learned he was a good speaker at banquets & baseball functions. He could entertain people & always get a laugh from a Yogi Berra story too. He decided to retire & peruse a broadcasting career.

Broadcaster/Celebrity Career: Garagiola always looked back on his playing career making jokes about it, “I knew that it was time to retire, when I was catching and ex-teammate Stan Musial stepped into the batter's box, turned to me and said, "When are you going to quit?".

He also said “It's not a record, but being traded four times to four teams when there are only eight teams in the league tells you something. I thought I was modeling uniforms for the National League”. 

After baseball Joe Garagiola became a huge celebrity inside & outside of the game. 

Garagiola originally began broadcasting games on radio for the St. Louis Cardinals in the fifties & early sixties. He then worked as a broadcaster with the AL New York club (1965-1967).

Fans of my generation grew up with Garagiola as the long-time broadcaster for NBC. He was doing national games on the NBC Game of the Week, long before MLB network & ESPN.

Garagiola teamed up with the legendary Curt Gowdy as the analyst or color man as they were called then from 1974 - 1976. 

He was also a play-by-play man with Tony Kubek from 1976- 1982. 

Garagiola also worked as a field reporter, doing interviews on many World Series, League Championship Series & All-Star Games from the sixties to the eighties. He was the face of baseball who brought the biggest moments & biggest interviews of the era to us.

Joe gave funny interviews, as well as stories from some of baseball’s lesser-known personalities on his classic groundbreaking pre-game show “The Baseball World of Joe Garagiola”. 

The baseball program was critically acclaimed, giving him an even higher major celebrity status. 

 Through the years he did funny interviews with his friend Yogi Berra, most notably to New York Mets fans, during the 1973 World Series when Berra was the teams manager. 

Garagiola did a great interview with Hank Aaron during that ’73 post season, as Aaron was chasing down Babe Ruth's HR record going into the 1974 season. 

Joe also hosted the Bazooka Bubble Gum blowing contest with various MLB players throughout the 1970's.

In the 1980's Garagiola teamed up with legendary broadcaster Vin Scully on NBC for weekly & post season broadcasts. Together they covered the 1986 World Series for us Mets fans. The two also covered the 1984 & 1988 World Series’.

After the 1988 Series, Joe resigned from NBC after nearly thirty years of work saying they left him twisting while negotiating a new contract. He was replaced by Mets Hall of Famer pitcher Tom Seaver.

In 1990 he worked with the California Angels. In his later years he had done occasional work with the Arizona Diamondbacks where his son Joe Jr. was the team's GM (1997-2005). Joe Garagiola Jr. was an alumnus of Notre Dame & was also an MLB senior V.P.

In 2013 Garagiola retired after seventy years in the business.

Beyond Baseball: Outside of baseball Garagiola worked on NBC’s The Today Show from 1967-1973 covering sports, entertainment & news stories. He returned to the Today Show again from 1990-1992. 

Joe was so popular he not only appeared as a guest, many times on the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson in the sixties & seventies, he also was a guest host when Johnny was on vacation numerous times.

With the Beatles: In May of 1968 he was the guest host when Beatles; John Lennon & Paul McCartney appeared on the show, to promote the Beatles new business venture, Apple.

 

Hosting the Tonight Show 1968 with
guests; John Lennon & Paul McCartney 

Game Shows: In those years, Garagiola also hosted game shows such as- He Said, She Said; Joe Garagiola's Memory Game; Sale of the Century; To Tell the Truth; & Strike it Rich. 

He was a regular on the New Years Eve, Orange Bowl Parade in Miami, Florida. He also covered the annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. Locally he covered St. Louis wrestling as well.

President Ford: Joe was also a close friend to former US President Gerald Ford, whom he had met during a celebrity golf outing. He promoted Gerald Ford during his 1976 presidential campaign with television ads. 

Books: Garagiola has written some great baseball books, including the 1960's classic; Baseball is A Funny Game. He also authored; It’s Anybody’s Ballgame (1980) & Just Play Ball (2007). 

Quotes- Joe Garagiola: "Baseball is drama with an endless run and an ever-changing cast." 

When he reached his late eighties he moved into a retirement community, just as his old friend Yogi Berra had done. Garagiola recalled a conversation the two had about the situation. "I said, 'How's it going, Yog? & he said, 'It's all right, but geez, they've got a lot of old people here."

Classic Berraism: The classic Berra line "When you see a fork in the road, take it" supposedly came from a conversation when Yogi was giving Joe directions to his home in Montclair, New Jersey.

Passing: On March 23rd, 2016, Joe Garagiola passed away at the age of 90.

The Garagiola Family released this statement:  "We are deeply saddened by the loss of this amazing man who was not just beloved by those of us in his family, but to generations of baseball fans who he impacted during his eight decades in the game. Joe loved the game and passed that love onto family, his friends, his teammates, his listeners and everyone he came across as a player and broadcaster. His impact on the game, both on and off the field, will forever be felt."