ORAL HISTORY PROJECT BASEBALL IN PENNSYLVANIA 1. Student's Name Richard Glass 2. Subject's Name ,Iobo "Ti to" Fraocona Professional 3. Subject's Background baseball player 1952-1970 a. date and place of b. Present address c. Present Occupation 4. Date of Interview Director of Parks & Recreation, Beaver November 17th, 1994 5. General Comments: See Attached DO NOT WRITE BELOW THIS LINE County General Comments Tito Francona has been a sports legend in Beaver County, Pennsylvania for over forty years. Fifteen years in the major leagues, an American League batting championship in 1959 and an All-Star Game appearance in 1961 made Francona's career legend in the towns of his home valley. Tito's commitment to sports to this day can be witnessed by his position as Director of Parks and Recreation for Beaver County. Terry Francona, Tito's son, is currently the manager of the Birmingham farm club for the Chicago White Sox. One of his players is the talented former basketball star Michael Jordan. Tito stays close to his game by visiting his son Terry and maintaining his extensive system of contacts throughout baseball. As a player, as a father and as director of recreation for his home county, Tito Francona passes on his love of the game to future generations. Richard Glass November 20th, 1994 (TITO) JOHN PATSY FRANCONA HEIGHT 5 '11 " BORN-ALIQUIPPA, PA. NOV. 4, 1933. YEAR 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 TEAM YORK, PA. ABERDEEN, S.D. GAMES 80 123 AT BATS 247 474 RUNS H. 2B II II II II II II II II " II ST. LOUIS ST. LOUIS PHIL.-ATLANTA ATLANTA ATLANTA-OAKLAND OAKLAND-MILWKEE. 139 97 86 122 147 155 158 142 111 81 83 109 122 83 84 445 279 197 399 544 .592 621 500 270 174 156 327 346 173 98 3B HR RBI AVERAGE 22 92 56 8 3 0 154 35 10 6 18 79 226 325 62 35 21 68 115 65 50 145 159 178 169 114 67 45 33 78 99 4 9 3 7 2 1 2 20 2 17 8 16 5 14 0 10 2 8 2 5 4 1 4 6 1. 6 13 1 2 55 7 1 5 23 3 0 1 57 38 20 79 79 85 70 41 24 19 17 28 47 42 10 258 233 254 363 292 301 272 228 248 259 212 239 286 Jl8 235 ARMY ARMY BALTIMORE BALTIMORE CHICAGO-DETROIT CLEVELAND WEIGHT 190 84 87 82 57 35 15 14 35 32 67 6 16 8 8 17 36 30 28 29 13 6 --------------------------------------------------------------------------~-----5,121 1,719 650 1,395 224 34 125 656 272 1960 LED AMERICAN LEAGUE IN DOUBLES-J6 1961 SELECTED TO ALL-STAR GAME 1959 UNOFFICIAL AMERICAN LF.AGUE BATTING CHAMPION 363 WIFE · ROBERTA SON-TERRY DAUGHTER-AMY Terry is currentlf with the Milwaukrr Brewers . Interviewer: Probably the first thing I'd like to ask you, Mr. Francona is what teams you played for, the time that you played, what got you started in baseball? Francona: I've always wanted to be a baseball player. I was born in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. As far back as I can remember baseball just ... there was something ... I just like it. The town of Aliquippa was a good baseball town. I moved to New Brighton when I was in the fourth grade. I didn't want to go there. New Brighton was'nt noted for their baseball. They were softball. When I got a little older I would commute to Aliquippa with my dad. My dad worked at the steel mill .•. J&L (Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp.). I'd get up in the morning with him at six oclock and go to Aliquippa. I had an aunt that lived right there and I played for a team there that was a little higher than Little League. I played there three or four days a week then I'd meet my dad at my aunt's and we would go home at four oclock. When I got into highschool, I played highschool baseball. My sophomore year in highschool I was playing for the Junior League. We were playing our first game of the season. Right before the first pitch, this car drives across the field, throws me in the car and takes me away. You see, its the manager of the Senior League team in New Brighton, he takes me to Beaver Falls and tells me "you're going to be playing with the Senior Legion. That's when they were playing in the county league. They had alot of exminor league ballplayers and older ballplayers and here I was a sophomore (in high school) playing with these older guys. -2- I played with them for a couple years. When I got out of school I was ... not drafted but I tried out with a couple teams ... All through highschool I was getting letters from baseball scouts. I ended up signing with the Browns. I signed for a bonus with the Browns of $5,000 in 1952, then I'd get another $5,000 the next year if I was still around plus my monthly salary of $250 a month. And then it went on from there. Interviewer: How long was your career? Francona: I spent fifteen years in the major leagues. I spent about a year and a half in the minor leagues and two years in the service (Army). Interviewer: And what team did you play with the longest? Francona: Cleveland. From 1959 to 1965 or 1 66. I played outfield, first base. Interviewer: Looking back on it, what would you consider to be the most memorable game moment in your career? Francona: You know, just being in the major leagues I was very happy, I enjoyed the career. I enjoyed going out to the ballpark every day. One memorable day was in 1959. The Yankees and Cleveland were a big rivalry. Alot of people from the Erie area and from Western Pennsylvania came down to watch those games and we had a full house, about 60,000 people. In the first part of the season I was only pinch hitting. In the first six times at bat, I had five hits. There was this one particular time. It was a Friday night and we had a good game. Calvin Glitch was pitching for us, one of our ace pitchers. Anyway, it was in the ninth inning and they -3- scored a run. We were losing 2 to 1 going into the bottom of the ninth. Our manager, Joe Gordon, looked down the bench because they (the Yankees) brought in a pitcher ... I can't remember his name ... I think it was Zack Monroe ... and nobody saw this guy before. So Joe looks down the bench and says "Hey, anybody seen this guy before?" and I said "Yeah, I played against him in the minor league." He (Monroe) put me up to pitch, we had a guy on base and I hit a homerun. Those people went wild. Every Friday at the game we would raffle off a car and they sent me out of the dugout right afte1 this to pick out the winning lottery ticket and the stadium just went wild. Right after that was when I started to play regularly. Interviewer: You've seen the game change alot over the years. What do you think the good and the bad changes have been? Francona: I think money is the root of all evil now. If anybody can make money more power to 'em, but I think what it's doing to some of the players now ... with drugs ... it seems like some of the guys cannot handle it. It probably would have happened to us (the older players) when we were playing but we didn't have the money to do all this stuff. Now, when they're making millions and millions of dollars they can do anything they want and I think some just get carried away. Interviewer: Do you think that the fact that ballplayers are organized into a labor union now has impacted upon the game? Francona: Oh I think so. Very much so. You know when we were playing, we had a union, when Marvin Miller came in and even before that but we weren't very strong. The owners ruled the roost. But the owners brought it on by themselves. They created this monster they have now -4- they have now. If you take for instance my position, I played with nine teams in fifteen years ..• you know, you're just like a piece of furniture .•. you're gone. Alot of times we were pinned against the wall money-wise. When I went in to the general manager to talk over a contract, right away they would say: "you're going to play for this or go on home." You had no recourse. You couldn't go bargain with another team. So I think they forced it on the players where the union became so strong today That's why they're so strong. Because it's passed on to these players (about) what happened to us. All they had to do back in our time was make a few adjustments ... be a little better to their ballplayers. It seems though like they're both wrong. If I were an owner, how can you dictate to me how much money you're going to make? I feel that's wrong. But I feel the players should be paid a fair wage. I think the owners made their mistake a few years ago when they gave away the store. Interviewer: If you were going to give advice to a young player today, what would you tell him? Francona: Oh, the game has never changed on the field. I think the game will never change.It's so much fun to play the game. I really enjoyed it. When we played the game, we travelled together. We played cards together. We ate together. Today, ballplayers are making so much money that they're going off in different ways. They're flying their own planes to different towns. The only time the players see each other is on the ballfield. note: There are some further comments regarding the 1994 baseball strike which are not transcribed.