Chris Cannizzaro, an original 1962 Met and the first All-Star in Padres franchise history, died on Thursday at the age of 78.
The former catcher, who played in the Major Leagues for 13 seasons from 1960-74, had been suffering from lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The Padres acknowledged his passing on Friday.
Cannizzaro was born on May 3, 1938, in Oakland. He began his professional baseball career with the Cardinals, making his MLB debut on April 17, 1960.
Before the Mets' inaugural season in 1962, New York drafted Cannizzaro with the 26th pick of the Expansion Draft. Cannizzaro played in 59 games for the Mets that season, and he spent four years in New York, leading the Major Leagues in caught-stealing percentage in '62 and '65.
http://m.mets.mlb.com/news/article/212607370/original-met-padre-chris-cannizzaro-dies/
4 comments:
Scary thought - I looked at his record in throwing out base stealers. He was tremendous in his early years, deteriorated in that regard in later years. But we're hoping d'Arnaud improves defensively as he ages. Hmmm....
RIP Chris.
He was the first solid Mets defensive catcher!
Casey couldn't pronounce his name and used to call him Canzanaro!
Funny, Lyle! He is kind of like Jerry Grote, but Jerry, who started his career poorly offensively, hitting only about .200 in 1000 at bats in his first 3 years, was one guy who worked his way into being a competent hitter...and a 17 year career.
Lyle -
email at: macksmets@gmail.com
I need to correspond with you.
Mack
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