Rico Petrocelli
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Americo Peter "Rico" Petrocelli (born June 27, 1943 in Brooklyn, New York) is a former Major League Baseball shortstop and third baseman who played his entire career in the American League for the Boston Red Sox (1963-1976). After a brief stint in 1963, he joined the team full time in 1965.
In 1967 Petrocelli was selected to the All-Star game and was a strong performer during the Red Sox' "Impossible Dream" year. In Game 6 of the World Series, he belted two home runs against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Sox ultimately lost the series 4 games to 3.
In 1968 and 1969 Petrocelli led the league shortstops in fielding percentage. Beside this, in 1969 he set a league-record shortstops of 40 home runs and repeated as an All-Star. He had another good season in 1970, hitting 29 home runs and a high-career 103 RBI.
When the Red Sox acquired future Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio in 1971, Petrocelli moved to third base. At his new position he once again was the leader in fielding percentage making only 11 errors in 463 total chances.
In the 1975 Fall Classic, which Boston lost to the Cincinnati Reds, Petrocelli hit .308 with four RBI and three runs, and played errorless defence. After a series of injuries, Petrocelli retired at the end of the 1976 season. Following his playing career, he has been involved with baseball as a minor league manager-coach and also in broadcasting.
In his career, Petrocelli hit 210 home runs with 773 RBI and 653 runs in 1553 games. He was inducted to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 1997.
External links
- Career statistics at Baseball Reference (http://www.baseball-reference.com/p/petrori01.shtml)
- Where have you gone, Rico Petrocelli? - Article at MLB.com (http://www.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/news/mlb_news_story.jsp?article_id=mlb_20020107_WHYGpetrocelli_news&team_id=mlb)