- Carl Furillo
Infobox MLB retired
name=Carl Furillo
position=Outfielder
bats=Right
throws=Right
birthdate=birth date|1922|3|8
Stony Creek Mills,Pennsylvania
deathdate=death date and age|1989|1|21|1922|3|8
Stony Creek Mills,Pennsylvania
debutdate=April 16
debutyear=by|1946
debutteam=Brooklyn Dodgers
finaldate=May 7
finalyear=by|1960
finalteam=Los Angeles Dodgers
stat1label=Batting average
stat1value=.299
stat2label=Home runs
stat2value=192
stat3label=Runs batted in
stat3value=1,058
teams=
* Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers (by|1946-by|1960)
highlights=
* 2x All-Star selection (1952, 1953)
* 2xWorld Series champion (1955, 1959)Carl Anthony Furillo (
March 8 1922 -January 21 1989 ), nicknamed "The Reading Rifle" and "Skoonj," was aright fielder inMajor League Baseball who played his entire career for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers. A member of sevenNational League champions from 1947 to 1959, he batted over .300 five times, winning the by|1953 batting title with a .344 average – then the highest by a right-handed Dodger since 1900. Noted for his strong and accurate throwing arm, he recorded 10 or more assists in nine consecutive seasons, leading the league twice, and retired with the fifth most games in right field (1408) in NL history.Furillo was born in Stony Creek Mills,
Pennsylvania . He left school in the eighth grade, and often felt awkward among his teammates as a result; they would later recall that he rarely socialized with players who were better-educated. He signed with theReading, Pennsylvania team in theInterstate League , earning one of his nicknames with his powerful arm; the Dodgers were sufficiently impressed by his ability that they purchased the entire minor league franchise to acquire him. His other nickname, "Skoonj," came from the Italian word "scungilli " ("snail"), and was a comment on his lack of speed. Arriving in the major leagues in by|1946, he batted .295 for the by|1947 NL pennant winners, finishing the year ninth in the league with 88 runs batted in. He was one of the key members on the Dodgers' by|1949 champions, hitting .322 (4th in the NL) with 18home run s, and placing among the league's top ten players in RBI (106),slugging average (.506), hits (177), runs (95), triples (10) andtotal bases (278); he finished sixth in the voting for the MVP Award. In 1950 he batted .305 (7th in the league) with 18 home runs, 106 RBI, and a career-high 99 runs. He achieved a personal best with 197 hits, finishing third in the NL for the second year in a row, for the 1951 team which lost a legendary pennant playoff to the New York Giants; he also batted .295 (9th in the NL) with 91 RBI and 93 runs. In that year he set a team record with 667at bat s, exceeding Ivy Olson's by|1921 total of 652;Maury Wills broke his mark with 695 in by|1962.He became skilled at negotiating balls hit off the high right-field wall at
Ebbets Field , and after he led the NL in assists in both 1950 (18) and 1951 (24), opposing runners were increasingly reluctant to challenge his arm. OnAugust 27 , by|1951, he threw outPittsburgh Pirates pitcher Mel Queen by two feet at first base after Queen had apparently singled into right field. Furillo batted only .247 for the by|1952 pennant winners, though he was selected to his first All-Star team. Diagnosed withcataract s, he had surgery in the offseason and returned with perhaps his best season, winning the batting title and collecting 21 home runs and 91 RBI with a career-best 38 doubles (3rd in the NL). His .344 average was the highest by a right-handed Dodgers hitter sinceOyster Burns hit .354 in 1894;Tommy Davis bettered him with a .346 mark in 1962. He was again named an All-Star, ending the year fifth in the league in slugging (.580), and finished ninth in the MVP balloting. But his season ended onSeptember 6 against the Giants – he was batting against Rubén Gómez in the second inning, and opposing managerLeo Durocher was yelling for Gomez to "stick it in his ear"; Furillo was hit on the wrist by a pitch, and proceeded to first base, but with a 3-2 count on the next hitter he charged into the Giants dugout and began choking Durocher. In the ensuing brawl,Monte Irvin of the Giants stepped on Furillo's hand, fracturing a knuckle on his little finger.For the by|1955 champions he was seventh in the league with a .314 average, along with 95 RBI and a career high of 26 homers. With the by|1956 team which repeated as NL champions, earning the team's seventh pennant in ten years, he slipped to a .289 average but maintained solid power totals with 21 homers, 83 RBI and 30 doubles. He hit .306 in the Dodgers' last season in Brooklyn in 1957, and batted .290 in their first year in Los Angeles, finishing eighth in the league with 83 RBI. With the by|1959 pennant team, his playing time was reduced to only 50 games, with just 25 of them in the outfield. But he had one last highlight in the playoff series against the Milwaukee Braves when he beat out a ground ball in the 12th inning of the second and final game, with
Gil Hodges scoring from second base to win the NL flag. The Dodgers released Furillo in May by|1960 while he was injured with a torn calf muscle; he sued the team, claiming they released him to avoid both the higher pension due a 15-year player and also medical expenses, and eventually collected $21,000. He would later maintain that he was blackballed as a result and couldn't find a job within the sport – a charge denied by CommissionerFord Frick .Furillo played in seven
World Series with the Dodgers, six of them against theNew York Yankees , winning in 1955 and in 1959 against theChicago White Sox . He had an excellent1947 World Series , batting .353 in a seven-game loss; he had two RBI and scored a run in a 9-8 Game 3 victory, and scored the run which gave Brooklyn the lead for good in an 8-6 win in Game 6. He preserved a 6-5 victory in Game 5 of the1952 World Series when he made a spectacular catch over the fence of an apparent home run byJohnny Mize – who had already homered three times in the Series – with one out in the eleventh inning. In the1953 World Series he hit .333, and drove in the tying run in the seventh inning of Game 1, though Brooklyn went on to lose; in the final Game 6, his 2-run homer with one out in the ninth tied the game 3-3, but New York scored in the bottom of the inning to win the game and the Series. In the victorious 1955 Series he started the scoring with a solo home run in his first at bat of Game 1, which New York won 6-5. In Game 7 he advancedRoy Campanella to third base on a groundout in the fourth inning, with Campanella later scoring, and was walked intentionally with one out and runners on second and third in the sixth, with another run following on asacrifice fly by Hodges. The two runs held up for a 2-0 victory, and Brooklyn earned the first World Series title in franchise history. In the 1959 Series he was limited to four pinch-hitting appearances; his 2-run single in the seventh inning of Game 3 broke a scoreless tie, and Los Angeles held on for a 3-1 win.In his 15-year career, Furillo batted .299 with 192 home runs, 1910 hits, 1058 RBI, 895 runs, 324 doubles, 56 triples, 48
stolen base s, a .458 slugging average and 514 walks for a .355on base percentage . As an outfielder, he had 3322putout s, 151 assists, 34double play s and 74 errors for 3547total chances and a .979fielding percentage .After retiring, Furillo left the sport; while writing his landmark 1972 book "The Boys of Summer" about the 1952 and 1953 pennant-winning teams, author
Roger Kahn located him installingelevator s at theWorld Trade Center . Furillo later worked as a night watchman; he developedleukemia , and died in Stony Creek Mills at 66 years of age of an apparent heart attack. Furillo died a very unhappy ex major league ball player and he felt baseball completely forgot about him and his accomplishments.In an article in 1976 in
Esquire magazine, sportswriter Harry Stein published an "All Time All-Star Argument Starter," consisting of five ethnic baseball teams. Furillo was the right fielder on Stein's Italian team. This was his father's ancestry - his mother was Pennsylvania Dutch.ee also
*
Top 500 home run hitters of all time
*List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
*List of Major League Baseball batting champions External links
*baseball-reference|id=f/furilca01
* [http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/F/Furillo_Carl.stm BaseballLibrary] - career highlights
*findagrave|4399References
* "Baseball: The Biographical Encyclopedia" (2000). Kingston, NY: Total/Sports Illustrated. ISBN 1-892129-34-5.
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