Joe DeMaestri, American baseball player, Died at 87

  Sports

Joseph Paul DeMaestri was born on December 9, 1928, and died on August 26, 2016.

His nickname was “Froggy”.

He was an American shortstop in Major League Baseball.

Joe played for the Chicago White Sox (1951), St. Louis Browns (1952), Philadelphia & Kansas City Athletics (1953–1959) and New York Yankees (1960–1961).

Joe batted and threw right-handed, stood 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and weighed 170 pounds (77 kg).

During an 11-season career, DeMaestri was a .236 hitter with 49 home runs and 281 RBI in 1,121 games played.

DeMaestri made the American League All-Star team in 1957.

At Briggs Stadium, on July 8, 1955, DeMaestri collected six hits in six at bats in an 11-inning game against the Detroit Tigers.

Most of his hits were singles and he scored two runs, but Detroit won the contest, 11–8.

During the eighth inning of Game 7 of the 1960 World Series, DeMaestri took over for regular Yankee shortstop Tony Kubek when Kubek was struck in the throat by a bad-hop ground ball hit by Bill Virdon of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Joe was on the field when, one inning later, Bill Mazeroski hit his famous walk-off homer against Yankee pitcher Ralph Terry.

Joe DeMaestri passed away at 87 years old.