Carl Furillo facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Carl Furillo
Furillo, c. 1953
Outfielder
Born: (1922-03-08)March 8, 1922 Stony Creek Mills, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died: January 21, 1989(1989-01-21) (aged 66) Stony Creek Mills, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Batted: Right Threw: Right
debut
April 16, 1946, for the Brooklyn Dodgers
Last appearance
May 7, 1960, for the Los Angeles Dodgers
MLB statistics
Batting average	.299
Home runs	192
Runs batted in	1,058
Teams
Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers (1946–1960)
Career highlights and awards
2× All-Star (1952, 1953) 2× World Series champion (1955, 1959) NL batting champion (1953)

Carl Anthony Furillo (born March 8, 1922 – died January 21, 1989) was a famous American baseball player. He was known by his nicknames "the Reading Rifle" and "Skoonj". Carl played his entire career in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers. He mostly played as a right fielder, which is a defensive position in the outfield.

Carl Furillo was a key player on seven National League (NL) champion teams. These teams won their league titles between 1947 and 1959. He was a great hitter, with his batting average being over .300 five times. In 1953, he won the batting title with an amazing .344 average. This was the highest average for a right-handed Dodgers hitter since 1900. Carl was also famous for his strong and accurate throwing arm. He made ten or more assists (throws that help get a runner out) in nine seasons in a row. He led the league in assists twice. When he retired, he had played the fifth-most games in right field in NL history.

Carl's Early Life

Carl Furillo was born in Stony Creek Mills, Pennsylvania. His parents were immigrants from Italy. They came from the regions of Campania and Benevento.

People often called him "Skoonj." This nickname came from the Italian word scungilli, which means "snail." Snails were his favorite food!

Carl left school after the eighth grade. He worked different jobs, like picking apples and working in a woolen mill. But he always made time to play baseball. When he was 18, his mother passed away. After that, he decided to try playing baseball professionally.

Carl's Professional Baseball Career

Starting in the Minor Leagues

In 1940, Carl Furillo signed with a team called the Reading Chicks. They were in a league called the Interstate League. It was here that he earned his nickname "the Reading Rifle" because of his powerful arm. The Dodgers team was so impressed by him that they bought the entire minor league team just to get Carl! After playing for the Reading Brooks in 1941, he moved to the Montreal Royals. There, he hit for a .281 batting average in 129 games.

Carl's baseball career was put on hold because of World War II. In 1942, he joined the United States Army. He served for three years. He fought in the Pacific Ocean area and earned three battle stars. He also received the Purple Heart medal because he was wounded during a battle.

Playing in the Major Leagues

After returning from the army, Carl joined the Dodgers for special training. He made it to the major leagues in 1946. The next year, in 1947, he hit .295 for the Dodgers, who won the National League title. He also had 88 runs batted in (RBI), which was ninth best in the league.

Carl was a very important player for the Dodgers when they won the league title in 1949. He hit .322, which was fourth best in the NL. He also hit 18 home runs and had 106 RBI. He was one of the top ten players in many hitting categories that year. He even finished sixth in the voting for the MVP Award. In 1950, he hit .305 with 18 home runs and 106 RBI. He also scored a career-high 99 runs. In 1951, he had his personal best with 197 hits.

Carl became very good at playing balls that bounced off the high right-field wall at Ebbets Field. He led the NL in assists in 1950 (18) and 1951 (24). Because of his strong arm, players on other teams became afraid to try to run extra bases when he was in the outfield. In 1952, a newspaper called him "one of the best players in the game." They said his playing style was "close mechanical perfection."

In 1952, Carl's batting average was .247. But he was still chosen for his first All-Star team. After the season, he had surgery for cataracts (a problem with his eyes). He came back even stronger in 1953. He won the batting title with a .344 average. He also hit 21 home runs and had 92 RBI. He made a career-best 38 doubles. He was chosen as an All-Star again that year.

Carl's 1953 season ended early on September 6. He was hit on the wrist by a pitch during a game. This led to a fight with the opposing manager. During the fight, another player accidentally stepped on Carl's hand. This broke a bone in his little finger.

In 1955, Carl hit .314 for the Dodgers, who won the World Series. He also had 95 RBI and a career-high 26 home runs. In 1956, the Dodgers won the NL title again. Carl hit .289 with 21 home runs and 83 RBI. He hit .306 in 1957, which was the Dodgers' last season in Brooklyn. In 1958, their first year in Los Angeles, he hit .290 with 83 RBI. In 1959, his playing time was less. But he had a big moment in the playoff series against the Milwaukee Braves. He hit a ground ball that allowed Gil Hodges to score. This won the NL title for the Dodgers.

The Dodgers let Carl go from the team in May 1960 because he had a torn calf muscle. He sued the team. He said they released him to avoid paying him a higher pension and medical costs. He eventually won $21,000. Carl later said that he was "blackballed" from baseball. This meant no other team would hire him. The baseball commissioner at the time, Ford Frick, denied this.

World Series Highlights

Carl Furillo played very well in the 1947 World Series. He hit .353, even though his team lost in seven games. In Game 5 of the 1952 World Series, he made an amazing catch over the fence. This stopped a home run by Johnny Mize and helped his team win.

In the 1953 World Series, Carl hit .333. In the final Game 6, he hit a 2-run home run that tied the game in the ninth inning. However, the New York Yankees scored later to win the game and the Series.

In the 1955 World Series, which the Dodgers won, Carl started the scoring in Game 1 with a solo home run. In Game 7, he helped his team win 2-0. This was the only World Series title the Brooklyn Dodgers ever won.

Carl's Baseball Stats

In his 15-year career, Carl Furillo had a batting average of .299. He hit 192 home runs, had 1,910 hits, and 1,058 RBI. He also scored 895 runs. He was a great outfielder, making 3,322 putouts and 151 assists. If he had just one more hit in his career, his batting average would have been exactly .300!

Carl played in seven World Series with the Dodgers. Six of these were against the New York Yankees. He won two World Series titles: in 1955 and in 1959 against the Chicago White Sox.

Life After Baseball

After he stopped playing baseball, Carl Furillo left the sport completely. An author named Roger Kahn wrote a book about the Dodgers. He found Carl working as an elevator installer at the World Trade Center in New York City. For a while in the 1960s, Carl owned a deli (a type of food shop). Later, he worked as a night watchman.

Some of his old teammates said that Carl eventually got over his sadness about leaving baseball. Towards the end of his life, he started going to fantasy baseball camps. These camps were held at Dodgertown in Florida.

Carl Furillo developed leukemia, a serious illness. He passed away in Stony Creek Mills, Pennsylvania, at age 66, from what seemed to be a heart attack. He was survived by his wife, Fern, his two sisters, his sons, and five grandchildren. He is buried in Pennsylvania. Even though Carl felt that baseball had forgotten him, many of his former Dodger teammates came to his funeral. This included Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax, who was once Carl's roommate.

See Also

• List of Major League Baseball batting champions
• List of Major League Baseball players who spent their entire career with one franchise