John Orsino, American baseball player, Died at 78

  Sports

John Joseph Orsino was born on April 22, 1938, and died on November 1, 2016.

He was a Major League Baseball catcher.

John was signed by the New York Giants as an amateur free agent before the 1957 season, and played for the San Francisco Giants (1961–1962), Baltimore Orioles (1963–1965), and Washington Senators (1966–1967).

He made his major league debut on July 14, 1961 against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Candlestick Park.

John Orsino was the starting catcher and went 0-for-3 with 3 putouts, 2 assists, 1 error, and 1 passed ball.

Then the Giants lost, 6-4.

The day after was a lot better…he was in the starting lineup again and went 1-for-3 with a walk, a run batted in, a run scored, and no errors in the field as the Giants crushed the Pirates 8-3.

Orsino’s best season was 1963, when he had his career best in games played (116), hits (103), at bats (379), home runs (19), runs batted in (56), runs scored (53), and on-base percentage (.349). The Orioles had a good year, winning 86 games and losing 76.

One of the most famous games, John Orsino was ever involved in took place at Memorial Stadium on September 12, 1964.

John Orsino was the Orioles starting catcher in a rare battle of complete game one-hitters between O’s left-hander Frank Bertaina and Kansas City Athletics southpaw Bob Meyer.

He doubled to lead off the bottom of the 8th of the 0-0 game, and teammate Bob Saverine came in to pinch run for him.

Next, Saverine advanced to third on a Bertaina sacrifice bunt, and then scored when Jackie Brandt hit a sacrifice fly.

His career totals for 332 games include 252 hits, 40 home runs, 123 runs batted in, 114 runs scored, a .249 batting average, and a slugging percentage of .420.

He was a multi-sport athlete.

John Orsino became a golf pro in 1977 and then went on to coach a university men’s golf team in 2004.

John Orsino passed away at 78 years old.