Gene Conley

Infobox MLB retired
bgcolor1=#af0039
bgcolor2=#0f437c
textcolor1=white
textcolor2=white
name=Gene Conley


position=Pitcher
bats=Right
throws=Right
birthdate=birth date and age|1930|11|10
debutdate=April 17
debutyear=by|1952
debutteam=Boston Braves
finaldate=September 21
finalyear=by|1963
finalteam=Boston Red Sox
stat1label=Win-Loss
stat1value=91-96
stat2label=ERA
stat2value=3.82
stat3label=Strikeouts
stat3value=888
teams=
*Boston Braves (by|1952)
*Milwaukee Braves (by|1954-by|1958)
*Philadelphia Phillies (by|1959-by|1960)
*Boston Red Sox (by|1961-by|1963)
highlights=
*All star in 1954, 1955, and 1959

Donald Eugene (Gene) Conley (born November 10, 1930) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who played eleven seasons from by|1952 to by|1963 for four different teams. Conley was also played forward in the 1952-1953 season and from 1958 to 1964 for two teams in the National Basketball Association. He is best known for being the only person to win championships in two different sports, one with the Milwaukee Braves in the 1957 World Series and three Boston Celtics championships from 1959-61.

Conley was the winning pitcher in the 1955 All-Star Game and was selected for the 1954 and 1959 games.

In 11 seasons pitching for the Braves, Phillies and Red Sox, Conley posted a 91-96 with 888 strikeouts and a 3.82 ERA in 1588.2 innings.

Early life

Conley was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma. While still young, his family moved to Richland, Washington. He attended Richland High School where he played multiple sports. He reached the all-state team in baseball, and basketball, and was the state champion in the high jump.cite news|title=Conley Tabbed a Major Sure-Shot|author=Roger Dove|publisher=The Sporting News|page=2|date= January 2, 1952|accessdate=2008-01-03] Conley attended Washington State University, where in 1950, he led Washington State to a second place national rank in college baseball. In basketball, Conley was twice selected honorable mention to the All-America team, leading the team in scoring with 20 points per game.

During the summer, Conley pitched semi-professional baseball in Walla Walla, Washington, in which scouts from almost every Major League Baseball team came to recruit him. He also was getting contract offers to play professional basketball from the Minneapolis Lakers and the Tri-Cities Blackhawks. At first he declined the offers, saying that his family doesn't want him to sign any professional contracts until he finished school.cite book |title=Baseball between the Lines: Baseball in the Forties and Fifties as Told by the Men Who Played It|author=Donald Honig|publisher=U of Nebraska Press |isbn=0803272685|pages=193-205 ] But the offers were getting bigger, and in August of by|1950 he signed a professional contract with the Boston Braves for a $3,000 bonus.

In 1949, he married They are still married and have three children and seven grandchildren.cite web|title=Double play Catching up with Gene Conley|author=Jon Goode|url=http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2005/03/02/double_play/|date=March 2, 2005|accessdate=2008-01-05| publisher = Boston.com]

Minor league career

Conley attended spring training in by|1951 and was assigned to Hartford of the Eastern League by the request of former Braves star Tommy Holmes, who was managing the club.cite news|title=New Tempest Brews in Boston|author=Bob Ajemian|publisher=The Sporting News|page=14|date= April 18, 1951|accessdate=2008-01-05] After a month, Conley had a record of five wins and only one lost and was praised by observers in the league, saying that he had the best fastball since former pitcher Van Lingle Mungo played in the league in by|1933.cite news|title=Eastern League|publisher=The Sporting News|page=30|date= May 30, 1951|accessdate=2008-01-05] On June 10th, he threw a one-hitter against Schenectady Blue Jays, giving up the lone hit in the seventh inning.cite news|title=Eastern League|publisher=The Sporting News|page=34|date= June 20, 1951|accessdate=2008-01-05] Holmes was promoted to manager of the Braves on June 25, and was replaced by future Baseball Hall of Famer Travis Jackson.cite news|title=Travis Jackson Replaced Holmes in Harford helm|author=|publisher=The Sporting News|page=33|date= July 4, 1951|accessdate=2008-01-05]

By August 1st, Conley had a record of 16 wins, with only three losses, leading the league. cite news|title=Conley, 20, Tops E.L as Hill Winner|author=|publisher=The Sporting News|page=33|date= July 4, 1951|accessdate=2008-01-05] He was unanimously selected to the Eastern League All-Star team on August 29 cite news|title=Scranton Places 4 Players on Eastern League All-Star Team|author=|publisher=The Sporting News|page=33|date= August 29, 1951|accessdate=2008-01-05] He received the Eastern League MVP award that season, after he became the first player in Hartford history to win twenty games in a single season. cite news|title=Conley gets MVP award|author=|publisher=The Sporting News|page=31|date= September 26, 1951|accessdate=2008-01-05]

In the beginning of the by|1952 season, Conley, along with fellow rookies George Crowe and Eddie Mathews, was invited to spring training, with a chance of making the roster.cite news|title=Ailing Braves to Try Old Fashioned Cure, More Daylightball|author=Al Hirshberg|publisher=The Sporting News|page=20|date= December 12, 1951|accessdate=2008-01-06] Around that time, the United States Army was drafting for the Korean War. Many major and minor league players were selected to fight in the war, depleting team rosters. Conley was deferred because of his height (6'8'), which was above the Army maximum height for a solder.cite news|title=Braves Official High on Six-Eight Rookie|author=Steve O'Leary|publisher=The Sporting News|page=11|date= November 21, 1951|accessdate=2008-01-06]

Professional Basketball career

In the middle of his first season of professional baseball, Conley agreed to sign with the Wilkes-Barre Barons of the strugling American Basketball League cite news|title=Eastern League|author=|publisher=The Sporting News|page=33|date= August 29, 1951|accessdate=2008-01-05]

Retirement

After his retirement from professional sports, Conley started working for a duct tape company in Boston, Massachusetts.cite web|title=Timeout with Gene Conley|author=Jeff Twiss|url=http://www.nba.com/celtics/history/WhereAreTheyNowGeneConley.html|accessdate=2008-01-04| publisher = NBA.com] After a year working there, the owner of the duct tape company died. Conley later founded his own paper company, Foxboro Paper Company, in which he owned for 36 years until he retired from the business.

Conley currently lives in Clermont, Florida, where he plays golf and watches the Orlando Magic play on his free time. In 2004, his wife released a biography of him, called "One of a Kind", which chronicled his life in both baseball and basketball and how his family dealt with him being gone for most of the year.cite web|title=Gene Conley: One of a Kind|author=Melanie Curtsinger |url=http://www.nba.com/magic/news/Gene_Conley_One_of_a_Kind-132528-800.html|accessdate=2008-01-04| publisher = Orlando Magic]

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/C/Conley_Gene.stm Baseball Library]
* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/boyerke01.shtml Baseball Reference]
* [http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/c/conlege01.html Basketball-Reference.com: Gene Conley]
* [http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2008/01/13/conley_had_twice_as_much_fun/ Conley had twice as much fun] at The Boston Globe