Before There Was a Mike Trout, There was Tony Conigliaro

By Lew Freedman | Staff Historian

Tony C. was a Red Sox phenom. Tony C. was a local hero. Tony C. is a forever memory in Boston sports lore. He was a great, young baseball player whose life was a Shakespearean tragedy.



                     (MLB.com)

You can mention the name Tony Conigliaro to a Red Sox of a certain age and they may get misty on you. Rarely has there been a tease of such talent proportions and rarely has there been a sadness engulfing the life of a single professional athlete. It is hard not to weep when recalling his career.

The Boy Wonder. That was one nickname applied to Conigliaro. He was born in Revere, Massachusetts, about a 20 minute drive from Fenway Park, depending on the traffic, and was a high school star in Lynn (add another 10 minutes).

By 1964, when he was 19 years-old, Tony C. was playing the outfield for the hometown team in the American League and in 1965 when he cracked 32 dingers he became the youngest home-run king in AL history.

Oh, Boston was atwitter, long before it knew about tweets. Conigliaro was the Mike Trout of his era, a home run king, and in 1967 he was an All-Star. Many say they have never seen such a mature, accomplished young hitter as the Los Angeles Angels’ Trout this year. But fans have short memories and they do not remember the hype that surrounded the ascension of Mickey Mantle to the Yankees’ outfield in 1951, at the start of his Hall of Fame career. And they don’t remember Tony C., who by the time he was 22 already had smacked 100 career homers, and maybe they forget because he did not have a Hall of Fame career. Too many terrible things got in the way.

The beginning of the end for Conigliaro occurred in the middle of one of the most exciting Red Sox seasons in franchise history. In 1966, in a 10-team American League, the Red Sox finished ninth. In 1967, under Hall of Fame manager Dick Williams, with left-fielder Carl Yastrzemski hoisting the team on his broad shoulders as he won baseball’s hitting Triple Crown; Conigliaro was decked by a fastball that nearly killed him.

The remainder of this column by Lew Freedman will be available in the August issue of Big Leagues Monthly | Magazine. To make sure you  don't miss the launch date be sure to follow @BigLeaguesMthly for more details.