Biography roy campanella career stats

In September he suffered a compound fracture from a foul tip off his right thumb and missed starting 11 consecutive games behind the plate — the Dodgers dropping seven of them.

Biography roy campanella career stats: Career statistics. Batting average Home runs,

In spring training before the season, Campy took another foul tip on his right thumb that chipped the bone and forced him to play in pain all year. Later, a beaning by Turk Lown of the Cubs sent him to the hospital for five days with a concussion and he experienced dizziness for weeks thereafter. Nevertheless, he batted a career-high.

On the last day of the regular season, which ended in a tie between the Dodgers and the New York Giants, Campanella aggravated a leg injury he had received in a collision at home plate a few days earlier. He gamely struggled through the first game of the three-game playoff series, but realized he was hurting the team and sat out the last two contests.

It was the first year in history that catchers won the annual award in both leagues. Campanella followed his brilliant campaign with a disappointing performance in After he had endured numerous minor injuries early in the season, a foul tip chipped a bone in his left elbow in July. He played with the injury for 10 days before his arm had to be placed in a cast for nearly two weeks.

His season average fell to. In Campanella reported to spring training in great shape and stayed remarkably healthy through the season. And what a great season it was! He batted. In spring training before the campaign, Campanella injured his left wrist and hand when he slid awkwardly trying to break up a double play. The bone on the heel of his hand was fractured and pieces that chipped off were impinging on the nerve.

Surgery was recommended, but Campanella tried to play with the painful condition. He finally agreed to an operation in early May. Initial estimates put the recovery time at eight to 10 weeks, but Campy returned to action in less than a month. Numbness in the hand bothered him all year, however, resulting in a dismal. Insult was added to injury when their crosstown rivals defeated the Cleveland Indians to capture the world-championship banner that had proved so elusive to the Dodgers.

After the season Campanella submitted to further surgery on the hand to remove scar tissue and repair nerve damage. But the year-old veteran made a miraculous comeback in At midseason he was leading the league in hitting when he was hit on the left kneecap by a foul tip that broke a bone spur loose from his patella. The knee was in a cast for more than two weeks and he missed his first All-Star Game sincealthough he was picked for the team.

Nevertheless, Campy was still challenging for the batting title late in the season, when the rigors of catching every day caused his hands to start bothering him again and his hitting fell off. He still finished with a.

Biography roy campanella career stats: WAR. AB. H. HR. BA

He again drove the Dodgers to the National League pennant, and led them to victory over the Yankees in the World Series. Four years after Campy and Yogi became the first catchers to win MVP honors in the same season, they became the second and last duo to accomplish the feat through the season. His twice-operated-on glove hand, which had begun tormenting him again late the previous year, still ached.

He ended the campaign with a. In the World Series, another seven-game loss to the Yankees, he hit only. Campanella decided to undergo another operation after the campaign to relieve the pain in his left hand, but the Dodgers insisted that he go on their offseason exhibition tour of Japan first, which drastically cut into his recovery time. With his hands still troubling him inhe missed more than 50 games and hit.

Biography roy campanella career stats: OBP SLG OPS OPS+

Brooklyn fell to third place in the National League amid persistent rumors of a move to the West Coast. Campy loved playing in Brooklyn and like most of the Dodger veterans hated the prospect of moving. But in Januaryjust before he was due to biography roy campanella career stats for spring training, Campanella was permanently disabled in a traffic accident.

He had successfully invested in a liquor store in central Harlem, called Roy Campanella Choice Wines and Liquors, earlier in his career and worked there in the offseason. The appearance was canceled, but he stayed to help close up the liquor store before leaving for his home in Glen Cove, on the North Shore of Long Island. The Chevy station wagon Campy normally drove was in the shop for repairs, and he was driving a much lighter rental car when he lost control of the vehicle on an icy street.

He hit a telephone pole and the car flipped over, pinning him under the steering wheel. Roy Campanella, once the best catcher in the National League, if not all of major-league baseball, would spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. The Dodgers continued to pay Campanella his salary while he was hospitalized for surgery and rehabilitation for almost a year after the accident.

Though he never got a chance to play for the Dodgers in Los Angeles, a crowd of 93, fans, the largest in baseball history to that date, jammed the Los Angeles Coliseum on May 7,for a benefit exhibition game between the Yankees and Dodgers — a tribute to the former Brooklyn great. His teenage marriage to Bernice Ray had quickly ended in divorce.

With Roy away so much of the time, traveling the Negro League circuit or playing winter ball in the Caribbean, Bernice continued to live with her parents and the couple had gradually drifted apart. In Roy married Ruthe Willis, a fine athlete herself. In Ruthe suffered a fatal heart attack at the age of 40 before a divorce was finalized. On May 5,Roy married Roxie Doles, who remained at his side for the remainder of his life.

After enduring years of therapy, Campanella regained some use of his arms. He eventually was able to feed himself, shake hands, and even sign autographs with the aid of a device strapped to his arm, though he remained dependent on his wheelchair for mobility. Through it all he managed to maintain the positive, upbeat attitude that was his trademark and became a universal symbol of courage.

Inthe same year he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, he received the Bronze Medallion from the City of New York, the highest honor the city confers upon civilians, awarded for exceptional citizenship and outstanding achievement. InCampanella played in the newly formed Venezuelan Professional Baseball League on the Sabios de Vargas team, which he was co-coach and led to the league championship.

Campanella moved into the Brooklyn Dodgers ' minor biography roy campanella career stats system in as the Dodger organization began preparations to break the MLB color barrier with Jackie Robinson. His easy-going personality and strong work ethic were credited with his being able to move successfully between the races. Although Branch Rickey considered hiring Campanella to break baseball's color barrier, Rickey ultimately decided upon Robinson.

The Nashua team thus became the first professional baseball team of the 20th century to field a racially integrated lineup in the United States. Campanella's season proceeded largely without racist incidents, and in one game Campanella assumed the managerial duties after manager Walter Alston was ejected. Campanella was the first African American to manage White players of an organized professional baseball team.

Nashua was three runs down at the time Campanella took over. They came back to win, in part due to Campanella's decision to use Newcombe as a pinch hitter during the seventh inning; Newcombe hit a game-tying two-run home run. Jackie Robinson's first season in the major leagues came inand Campanella began his MLB career with the Brooklyn Dodgers the following season, playing his first game on April 20, In later years, Robinson and his wife sometimes stayed with the Campanella family during some ballgames because adequate hotels for blacks could not be found in the city.

After spending most of the beginning of the season on the bench, Campanella was assigned to the Saint Paul Saintsthe Dodgers' affiliate in the Class AAA American Associationwhere he resided in the Rondo neighborhood. On May 18, Campanella become the first person to break the color barrier in the American Association when he entered a game. By early July, after having success against the league's pitching, he returned to the Dodgers.

Campanella stayed at the Major League level and played for the Dodgers from July through as their regular catcher. Inhe had three different uniform numbers 33, 39, and 56 before settling on 39 for the rest of his career. Campanella was selected to the All-Star Game every year from through With his All-Star selection, he was one of the first four African Americans so honored.

In each of his MVP seasons, he batted over. That same year, Campanella hit 40 home runs in games in which he appeared as a catcher, a record that lasted untilwhen it was exceeded by Todd Hundley. After the Dodgers lost the first two games of the series to the Yankees, Campanella began Brooklyn's comeback by hitting a two-out, two-run home run in the first inning of Game 3.

The Dodgers won that game, got another home run from Campanella in a Game 4 victory that tied the series, and then went on to claim the series in seven games when Johnny Podres shut out the Yankees 2—0 in Game 7. Campanella caught three no-hitters during his career: Carl Erskine 's two, on June 19, [ 18 ] and May 12, [ 19 ] and Sal Maglie 's on September 25, I only shook Campy off once," Maglie recalled.

After the seasonthe Brooklyn Dodgers relocated to Los Angeles and became the Los Angeles Dodgers, but Campanella's playing career came to an end as a result of an automobile accident. He never played a game for Los Angeles. Campanella lived in Glen Cove, New Yorkon the North Shore of Long Island ; he operated a liquor store in Harlem between regular-season games and during the off-season.

After closing the store for the night on January 28,he began his drive home to Glen Cove. He fractured the fifth and sixth cervical vertebrae and compressed the spinal cord. Campanella wrote his autobiography, It's Good to Be Alivewhich was published in ; in it, he discussed his convalescence and partial recovery after the crash. Campanella was portrayed by Paul Winfield.

After his playing career and rehabilitation, Campanella remained involved with the Dodgers.

Biography roy campanella career stats: Roy Campanella Bio. Fullname:

In Januarythe Dodgers named him assistant supervisor of scouting for the eastern United States and special coach at the team's annual spring training camp in Vero Beach, Floridaserving each year as a mentor and coach to young catchers in the Dodger organization. On September 27,Campanella appeared as himself in an episode of Lassie called "The Mascot" in which he coached the Calverton boys' baseball team and advised Timmy about a matter of cheating.

The New York Yankees agreed to make a special visit to Los Angeles between road series in Kansas City and Chicago to play an exhibition game against the Dodgers for the occasion. The Yankees won the Thursday night game 6—2, with an attendance of 93, setting a record at that time for the largest crowd to attend a Major League Baseball game. The proceeds from the game went to defray Campanella's medical bills.

It was the first time he wore his Dodgers uniform since his career-ending accident. InCampanella moved to California and accepted a job with the Dodgers as assistant to the director of community relations, Don Newcombehis former teammate and longtime friend. Campanella was married three times. His first marriage, to Bernice Ray on January 3,ended in divorce.

They had two daughters together. On April 30,he married Ruthe Willis, who brought her son David to the marriage. They had three children together including a son, Roy Campanella IIwho became a television director. Their marriage deteriorated after Campanella's accident; they separated in Ruthe died of a heart attack at age 40 in January On May 5,Campanella married Roxie Doleswho survived him.

Campanella died of heart failure at age 71 on June 26,at his home in Woodland Hills, California. In JulyCampanella was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown[ 33 ] the second player of black heritage actually bi-racial so honored, after Jackie Robinson. InThe Athletic ranked Campanella at number 94 on its "Baseball " list, complied by sportswriter Joe Posnanski.

Campanella was featured on a United States postage stamp in The stamp is one of a block of four honoring baseball sluggers, the others being Mickey MantleHank Greenbergand Mel Ott. The club's players and coaches vote on it annually, and is given to the Dodger who best exemplifies "Campy's" spirit and leadership. Shortstop Rafael Furcal was named the inaugural winner of the award.

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikidata item. American baseball player — This article is about the baseball player. One year later, Berra won his second, the first American League catcher with two.

Copyright Hosted by Hosting 4 Less. Part of the Baseball Almanac Family. Follow BaseballAlmanac Find us on Facebook. Campanella was 26 years old when he broke into the major leagues on April 20,with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Roy Campanella stats, height, weight, career totals, schools, positions, and more historical research are in the Baseball Almanac.