Reno Bertoia
From BR Bullpen
Reno Peter Bertoia
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 5' 11½", Weight 185 lb.
- School Assumption College
- Debut September 22, 1953
- Final Game April 29, 1962
- Born January 8, 1935 in St. Vito Udine, Italy
[edit] Biographical Information
Reno Bertoia, who played ten seasons in the major leagues, is the most recent major leaguer to have been born in Italy. All six of them played in the majors between 1932 and 1962.
Bertoia's family moved to Canada when he was 22 months old. He grew up in Windsor, ON. His next-door neighbor was Hank Biasatti, who had been in the majors in 1949. Bertoia attended Assumption College. He apparently played Class D ball prior to coming to the majors.
Bertoia broke in at age 18 and spent his first six major league seasons with the Detroit Tigers. He and Al Kaline were the same age, and he roomed with Kaline for five years. Neither of them was the youngest player in the league as rookies, though, because Bob Miller was only 17.
Primarily a third baseman, Bertoia had several seasons where he was used mostly as a second baseman. He also filled in at shortstop from time to time, mostly during 1955-1957.
Never a strong hitter, Bertoia's best years with the bat were 1957, when he hit .275 on a team that hit .257, and 1960, when he hit .265 and was among the league leaders in triples, hit-by-pitch, and sacrifice hits. After playing most of the 1961 season with two second-division teams, he was traded back to the Detroit Tigers in August, and was part of their attempt to catch the New York Yankees. The Yankees ended up winning 109 games while the Tigers won 101 games.
After his major league career he played for Hanshin in Japan in 1964.
After baseball, he went back to Windsor, and became a college teacher and scout. He was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988. In 2005, writer Marty Gervais wrote a book called Reno, about a boy's hero worship of Reno Bertoia in 1957.
One key source: Reno Bertoia Tiger by Day, Student by Night.
