Joe Garagiola Sr. facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Joe Garagiola |
|||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Garagiola in 1951
|
|||||||||||||||
| Catcher | |||||||||||||||
| Born: February 12, 1926 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
|||||||||||||||
| Died: March 23, 2016 (aged 90) Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S. |
|||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
| debut | |||||||||||||||
| May 26, 1946, for the St. Louis Cardinals | |||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | |||||||||||||||
| September 26, 1954, for the New York Giants | |||||||||||||||
| MLB statistics | |||||||||||||||
| Batting average | .257 | ||||||||||||||
| Home runs | 42 | ||||||||||||||
| Runs batted in | 255 | ||||||||||||||
| Teams | |||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
Joseph Henry Garagiola Sr. (February 12, 1926 – March 23, 2016) was an American professional baseball catcher. He later became a well-known announcer and television host. People loved his lively and fun personality.
Garagiola played nine seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, and New York Giants. After his baseball career, he became famous for being a regular on The Today Show. He also hosted and appeared on many game shows.
Contents
Early Life and Baseball Dreams
Joe Garagiola was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He grew up in an Italian-American neighborhood called The Hill. His childhood friend and rival, Yogi Berra, lived right across the street. Yogi was nine months older than Joe.
When Joe and Yogi were teenagers in the early 1940s, many baseball scouts thought Joe was the better player. But Yogi Berra went on to have a Hall of Fame career. Joe, however, was a "journeyman," meaning he played for several teams but wasn't a superstar. Joe often joked about living across from Yogi. He would say, "I wasn't even the best catcher on my street!"
Joe Garagiola's Baseball Career
The St. Louis Cardinals signed Joe Garagiola when he was just 16 years old. At 17, he was the youngest player ever for the Columbus Red Birds team. In 1943, he played for the Columbus team. Then, in 1944, he joined the military.
Joe served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was sent to the Philippines in 1945, where he continued to play baseball. He left the service in early 1946 and joined the Cardinals at age 20. Garagiola made his first major league appearance in 1946.
As a rookie in 1946, Joe played in his only World Series. He did very well, hitting 6-for-19 in five games. In Game 4, he got four hits out of five tries and helped score three runs. On September 11, 1947, Joe Garagiola and Jackie Robinson had an argument at home plate. The incident was later featured in a children's book.
Joe Garagiola played in 676 games over nine seasons for four National League teams. He was a decent hitter for a catcher. He often made fun of his own playing skills. He once shared a story about his ex-teammate Stan Musial. Stan asked him, "When are you gonna quit?" Joe knew it was time to retire.
In 1970, Joe looked back at his career. He said, "Being traded four times when there are only eight teams in the league tells you something. I thought I was modeling uniforms for the National League."
Life After Playing Baseball
Becoming an Author
After retiring from baseball, Joe Garagiola wrote a book in 1960 called Baseball Is a Funny Game. The book sold well and helped him become known as a "personality." It was full of funny stories from his childhood and playing days. This book showed off his friendly and humorous style, which became his trademark as a broadcaster.
Joe also wrote two other books: It's Anybody's Ballgame (1988) and Just Play Ball (2007).
Baseball Announcer
Joe Garagiola started broadcasting after he stopped playing. He first called Cardinals radio games from 1955 to 1962.
He became very well known for working with NBC television for almost 30 years. He started doing national baseball broadcasts for NBC in 1961. He also called several World Series games on NBC Radio in the 1960s. From 1976 to 1982, he worked with Tony Kubek. Later, he teamed up with Vin Scully from 1983 to 1988. Together, they called three All-Star Games and three World Series.
After leaving NBC Sports, Joe worked for the California Angels in 1990. From 1998 to 2012, he was a part-time announcer for the Arizona Diamondbacks. His son, Joe Jr., was the general manager for the Diamondbacks. Joe officially retired from broadcasting on February 22, 2013.
Other TV Appearances
Besides baseball, Joe Garagiola was a co-host on Today from 1967 to 1973 and again from 1990 to 1992. He sometimes filled in as host for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. He even hosted when The Beatles members John Lennon and Paul McCartney appeared in May 1968.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Joe hosted several game shows. These included He Said, She Said, Joe Garagiola's Memory Game, and Sale of the Century. He was also a guest on Match Game. He hosted a wrestling show called Wrestling at the Chase for three years. Later, he became famous for co-hosting the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show from 1994 to 2002.
One of Joe's first TV appearances was in 1960. He was at a campaign event for John F. Kennedy. He put his arm around former President Harry S. Truman. Knowing his father would be watching, Joe looked into the camera and said, "Hey Pop, I just want you to see who I'm hanging around with."
Joe Garagiola and Politics
In the 1976 presidential election, Joe Garagiola supported President Gerald Ford. Joe made a series of TV ads with Ford. They talked in a relaxed, friendly way. Some people called these ads "The Joe and Jerry Show."
Joe and President Ford became close friends. On election night in November 1976, Ford invited Joe to the White House. They watched the election results together. Ford lost the election to Jimmy Carter.
Fighting Against Chewing Tobacco
Joe Garagiola strongly spoke out against using chewing tobacco. He had started chewing tobacco when he played for the Cardinals. But he quit completely in the late 1950s. Every year, he visited major league teams during spring training. He brought former players who had suffered from oral cancer because of tobacco. He always talked about this issue on his broadcasts whenever he saw a player chewing tobacco.
Helping Others
In the 1990s, Joe Garagiola started working with the St. Peter's Indian Mission Catholic School. This school was on the Gila River Indian Reservation in Arizona and needed help. Through his charity work, he helped build or repair many things at the school. These included a basketball court, a soccer field, a library, and repairs to the old mission church.
For his hard work, tribal leaders gave him the nickname "Awesome Fox." Today, you can see his name on The Joe Garagiola Learning Center and Awesome Fox Field at the mission school.
Awards and Honors
Joe Garagiola received many honors during his life. He was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1970. In 1973, he won a Peabody Award for his work at NBC. The Baseball Hall of Fame honored him in 1991 with the Ford C. Frick Award. This award is for great broadcasting achievements.
He was also inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame in 2004. Joe has his own star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. In 2008, he was inducted into the St. Louis Wrestling Hall of Fame.
On December 4, 2013, Joe Garagiola was named the 2014 recipient of the Buck O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award. This award is given by the Baseball Hall of Fame every three years. It recognizes people who have made positive contributions to Major League Baseball. The Hall specifically mentioned his work against smokeless tobacco. They also noted his role in starting the Baseball Assistance Team. This charity helps people in the professional baseball community who need support.
In the 2013 movie 42, actor Gino Anthony Pesi played Joe Garagiola.
Personal Life
Joe Garagiola married Audrie Ross in 1949. Audrie was the organist at the Cardinals' ballpark. Their two sons also had connections to baseball. Joe Jr. was the general manager for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He later became a senior vice president for Major League Baseball. Their other son, Steve, is a broadcast journalist in Detroit. Their daughter, Gina, has also worked in TV news. Joe Garagiola Sr. had eight grandchildren.
His Passing
Joe Garagiola passed away on March 23, 2016, at the age of 90, in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Diamondbacks baseball team wore a special patch on their sleeves during the 2016 season to remember him. It was a black circle with "JOE" written in white, and a catcher's mask replaced the "O."
Joe Garagiola's funeral was held on April 13 in St. Louis. He was buried at Resurrection Cemetery in St. Louis.
