Dario Lodigiani passed away on Sunday, February 10, 2008. The name may not sound familiar, but he was a great part of the fabric of 1940's baseball. He only played for 6 total years in the majors. The first three were with the Philadelphia Athletics. Dario played on the White Sox from 1941 until 1942 and again in 1946.Dario's double play partner in high school was Joe DiMaggio. Years later, in the middle of Joltin' Joe's hitting streak, Dario had a chance to end DiMaggio's streak at 24 games. In Joe's final at-bat, he hit a grounder to Dario. Dario then threw to first in time for the out. Or so he thought. DiMaggio was called safe, even though he was out by half a step. Joe went on to fame and fortune in the bigs. Dario, like Joe, went to serve his country in WWII.
When Dario came back, he played with the White Sox in 1946. He bounced around in the minors for awhile after that, and had a pretty successful minor league career, before finding his niche as a scout for the White Sox. He signed players such as Ken Williams, Rusty Kuntz and Jack McDowell.
In 2006, he was inducted into the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame. To read an interview with Dario, check this site out.
2 comments:
1941 Goudey! It does my heart good to see some 1941 Goudey. Those damn things are impossible to find.
I wish I owned it, but unfortunately it's a "borrowed" image.
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