Joe Garagiola

Joseph Henry Garagiola Sr. was born on February 12, 1926, in St. Louis, Missouri, and died on March 23, 2016. He spent nine seasons as a catcher in Major League Baseball, playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, and New York Giants, before building a second career in radio and television.

Garagiola grew up on Elizabeth Avenue in the Hill, an Italian-American neighborhood in south St. Louis. His childhood friend and rival, Yogi Berra, lived across the street and was a year older. As teenagers, most baseball scouts considered Garagiola the better prospect, but Berra went on to a Hall of Fame career while Garagiola became a journeyman. He often joked about this, saying, "Not only was I not the best catcher in the Major Leagues, I wasn't even the best catcher on my street!"

Signed by the St. Louis Cardinals at age 16, Garagiola became the youngest player in Columbus Red Birds history at 17. He was playing for Columbus in the Class AA American Association in 1943 when he was drafted into military service on April 24, 1944. After basic training at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, he was sent to Fort Riley, Kansas, where he caught for the Fort Riley Centaurs alongside Rex Barney and Pete Reiser. In 1945, he was deployed to the Philippines and played for Kirby Higbe's Manila Dodgers. Discharged in early 1946, he joined the Cardinals at age 20 and made his major league debut that year.

In his only World Series appearance, as a rookie in 1946, Garagiola went 6-for-19 over five games. In Game 4, he had four hits and three RBIs. On September 11, 1947, he was involved in a home-plate incident with Jackie Robinson. Garagiola allegedly spiked Robinson's foot in the second inning; when Robinson commented on it the next inning, Garagiola reportedly responded with a racial slur. Umpire Beans Reardon held Garagiola back as Robinson mockingly clapped.

Garagiola appeared in only 676 games over nine seasons across four National League teams. He was a mediocre hitter for a catcher, a fact he turned into self-deprecating humor. He once recalled that his former teammate Stan Musial, stepping into the batter's box, asked him, "When are you gonna quit?" Looking back in 1970, Garagiola said, "It's not a record, but being traded four times when there are only eight teams in the league tells you something. I thought I was modeling uniforms for the National League."

After retiring as a player, Garagiola lent his name to the 1960 book Baseball Is a Funny Game, largely ghostwritten, which sold well and established his folksy, humorous public persona. He later wrote It's Anybody's Ballgame (1988) and Just Play Ball (2007).

He began his broadcasting career calling Cardinals games on KMOX radio. He became best known for nearly 30 years with NBC, starting national baseball broadcasts in the 1960s. He called several World Series on NBC Radio with By Saam and George Kell. After Mel Allen was fired, Garagiola joined the New York Yankees broadcast team alongside Phil Rizzuto from 1965 to 1967; in May 1967, he called Mickey Mantle's 500th home run.

He returned to NBC baseball in 1973 as host of The Baseball World of Joe Garagiola, then became a play-by-play announcer in 1974. He alternated play-by-play with Curt Gowdy until 1976, then took the role full-time, teaming with Tony Kubek from 1976 to 1982. In 1983, he moved to color commentary when Vin Scully joined as lead play-by-play announcer. Together, they called three All-Star Games (1983, 1985, 1987), three National League Championship Series (1983, 1985, 1987), and three World Series (1984, 1986, 1988). After the 1988 World Series, Garagiola resigned from NBC following a contract dispute, and Tom Seaver replaced him.

He spent 1990 as a cable-television commentator for the California Angels. From 1998 to 2012, he worked part-time color commentary for the Arizona Diamondbacks, where his son Joe Jr. was general manager. He officially retired from broadcasting on February 22, 2013.

Beyond baseball, Garagiola was a regular panelist on The Today Show and appeared on numerous talk and game shows. He was widely known for amplifying, often for comedic effect, remarks attributed to his old friend Yogi Berra—whether Berra actually said them or not.