Geno Petralli
Eugene James Petralli (born September 25 1959 in Sacramento, California) was a 6'1" 180 lbs. utility player with a 12 year career from 1982 to 1993. He played for the Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers both of the American League. He played catcher, first base, second base, third base, outfield, designated hitter and left and right bench. Petralli graduated from John F. Kennedy High School in Sacramento, and went on to Sacramento City College. He was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 3rd round (53rd overall pick) of the 1978 amateur entry draft (January Regular Phase.) In 809 games over his Major League career Petralli hit 24 home runs (just 731 short of tying the Hank Aaron record of 755), drove in 192 runs, and hit for a .267 average. His best season was 1988 as he amassed 352 at-bats, 7 home runs, 36 runs batted in, and a .282 average. He hit over .300 in both 1987 and 1989.
Petralli legacy and progeny
Petralli is the son of former minor leaguer Gene Petralli who played from 1948-1953. Geno was married on September 22, 1979 to the former Susan Patterson. Together they had two sons, James Isiah born on August 13, 1981 and Benjamin Hastings born on October 7, 1985.
Fun Facts
Fun Fact - During the off season of his first few years in baseball Petralli drove a Dr. Pepper delivery truck.
Fun Fact - In this 1986 Topps card (worth 25 cents because it is signed), pictured above, Petralli is smiling after being told by manager Bobby Valentine that he would be starting this day in Detroit in place of catcher Glenn Brummer. Geno used his special home-made bat, "Dr. Pepper Dynamite", to go 1 for 4 with a single.
Fun Fact - In this 1987 Topps card, shown to the left, Petralli is seen lining a single in the top of the 7th inning against Tim Stoddard of the Yankees during a 3-2 Rangers' loss at Yankee Stadium on July 23, 1986.
Fun Fact - Petralli gave up 95 passed balls in his career. This high number was due in large part to Petralli being the personal catcher for Rangers knuckleball pitcher Charlie Hough. Petralli led all of baseball in passed balls with 35 in 1987, 20 in 1988, and 20 in 1990. How he didn't lead the Majors in 1989 remains a mystery which baseball writer Bill James is continuing to work on.
Fun Fact - The Rangers hosted a Petralli Mustache Night on September 6, 1988 and allowed anyone with a mustache into the game for free. Petralli responded by shaving his mustache the next day.
Fun Fact - Petralli's career was often devoid of fun facts and thus baseball card writers were often forced into covering mundane happenings on Geno such as, "Went 1 for 3 with an RBI in a 12-3 win over the Brewers on 8-12-87."
Fun Fact - Petralli loved fun facts and collected them on his fellow Ranger players for the team's program. His favorite was this nugget; "Julio (Julio Franco) is a van enthusiast and drives a custom made van with eight wheels. He also stores his shower caps and Jeri Curl Juice under the back floorboard."
Fun Fact - Petralli has made millions as the founder of DiGiorno's Pizza. His slogan of "It's not delivery, it's Petralli's" was passed over in favor of the name DiGiorno due to product testing results from potential customers.
Fun Fact - Petralli was known as the "Clemens Killer." Geno has the highest batting average against Clemens compared to any other Rangers catcher. Geno would always start against Clemens over Mike Stanley or other Ranger catchers. In fact, in 1988 at Arlington Stadium during warm-ups in 106 degree heat Ranger center fielder Oddibe McDowell said to Geno, "Hey man, its hot as a n*&*$ out here. You be the only one be able to hit the Rocket's heat in this s*&@."
Fun Fact - Petralli and long-time friend, Gary Pettis, were cited for urinating in public outside of the famous Fort Worth caberet, New Orleans' Nights, on August 4, 1990. Following the incident, teammates jokingly referred to Geno and Gary as "Sugar and Spice". The duo never shook the nickname which stuck with both of them until an injury forced Pettis to retire in 1990.
Career Highlights
- Hit a tying two-run pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the 8th inning off of Roger Clemens during a nationally televised Monday night baseball game against the first place Boston Red Sox on August 25, 1986 at Arlington Stadium. The blast, Petralli's second of his career, allowed Ruben Sierra to win the game with a home run in the bottom of the 9th as the surprising Rangers remained close to the California Angels in pursuit of the 1986 AL West title. It was Petralli's greatest momemt.
- Petralli was the Ranger's Union Player Representative in 1986.
- In August 1988 Geno hit .342 (26 hits in 76 at-bats) over the course of 25 games and was named the Rangers Player of the Month. It was the highest honor he ever received.
- Geno's first hit came against Cleveland Indians pitcher Len Barker on September 2, 1982 when he laced a double to left field in the cavernous Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
- Petralli's first hit as a Ranger came in a 6-0 defeat against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium on July 12, 1985. Ed Whitson served up a third inning single to centerfield by Geno.
- Geno gained notoriety when he was implicated in a steroid scandal involving Rafael Palmeiro in 2005. Former Ranger, Jose Canseco, disclosed in his book titled "Juiced" that Mr. Petralli served as the "A$$-man", that is, the individual responsible for injecting steroids into the posterior of fellow teammates.
- The final Major League game for Petralli came on Saturday October 2, 1993 in front of over 41,000 fans who little knew that they were witnessing the end of the Petralli Era. The Rangers lost to Tom Gordon and the Kansas City Royals by a score of 7-4. The game was notable because it was the next to last game ever played at Arlington Stadium before the Rangers moved into their new Ballpark in Arlington the next year. Arlington Stadium was turned into a parking lot shortly after the season ended. Fans can visit the parking spot where Geno had his last at-bat and can also re-enact his numerous passed balls if they so wish or his clutch homer against Clemens. The other item of note is that Petralli caught Ranger pitcher Jeff Bronkey in that last game. Bronkey was born in Afghanistan and is believed to be the only Afghani born player to ever appear in the Major Leagues.
Even More Fun Facts From the Deparment of Redundancy Department
Fun Fact - Knuckleballer Charlie Hough put Petralli in the record books on August 22, 1987. With Hough on the mound, Petralli committed four passed balls in one inning to tie a major-league record. Eight days later, Petralli let six of Hough's evasive deliveries get by him in one game to tie another record. Petralli's 35 passed balls that year -- 32 with Hough pitching -- were the most ever by a big-league catcher.
Fun Fact - Geno attempted to use a queen-sized Sealy Posturepedic Mattress as a catcher's mitt when catching Charlie Hough during a 1987 game, but was denied by home plate umpire Durwood Merrill.
Fun Fact - Though he caught Hough in nine more games in 1988 than he had in 1987, Petralli had only 20 passed balls -- still enough to lead the majors again. On the positive side, in 1987 Petralli became the first Rangers catcher to hit more than .300 (.302).
Fun Fact - Originally a switch-hitter, he batted from the left side most of the time, and abandoned the right side totally in 1988 after having an epiphany while eating in an Arlington, Texas Taco Bueno restaurant. Taco Bueno responded by putting the "Epiphany Nachos" on it's special value menu.
Fun Fact - On October 2, 1986 Petralli appeared as himself in an episode of the hit ABC television program Webster. The show was a ratings smash as Geno hit a pinch-hit home run in Webster's school's Parent-Teacher game against a rival school that had hired Montreal Expos outfielder Mitch Webster as a ringer.
3-D Geno
Use a stereoscope to view Geno Petralli in 3-D just like opposing pitchers did!
1987 Catchers Surplus
The 1987 Texas Rangers set a record for being the only team in Major League history to carry four catchers on their roster for the entire season. Don Slaught, Darrell Porter, Mike Stanley, and Geno Petralli all split time as the team's catcher. Most teams seldom have more than two catchers. The catcher heavy roster did little to help the Rangers as they finished last with a 75-87 record. Many of the foursome would pinch-hit or play designated hitter if not catching. Rangers manager Bobby Valentine never explained his reasons for carrying so many catchers when his team was in such dire need of pitchers.
Petralli Pay Day
Petralli finally cashed in on his stellar play by settling a salary arbitration case with the Rangers on January 20, 1989 for $325,000. [1] Not bad for a former Dr. Pepper delivery truck driver. That date was also the day in which President George H. W. Bush was inaugurated as President of the United States. The President's son, George W. Bush, would later become the managing general partner of a group that bought the Rangers from Eddie Chiles in 1989.
The Nolan Ryan exclusion
For reasons that are unknown to history, Petralli was never allowed to catch any of the famous moments of Nolan Ryan in Texas. Ryan used lesser known catchers such as Chad Kreuter, John Russell, and Mike Stanley to catch his 5,000th strikeout, 6th no-hitter, and 7th no-hitter. To this day Petralli and Ryan do not speak to each other. Houston Astros catcher Alan Ashby however was able to catch three no-hitters in his career (Ken Forsch 1979, Nolan Ryan 1981, and Mike Scott 1986) and thus demonstrates that life is not fair.
The Sad End of the Petralli Era in Texas
The promotion of Ivan Rodriguez in 1991 signaled the end of Petralli's tenure as the Rangers' primary backstop. After two years as I-Rod's backup, he was released after the Rangers looked to veteran Mike Scioscia -- who hadn't played in over a year and was considered fat and out of shape -- to fill the role. "[The Rangers] made it clear that Mike was their guy," the snubbed catcher said after signing with the San Diego Padres in March 1994. "I would have thought they would have shown a little more faith in me." It was a moot point, as neither Scioscia nor Petralli ever appeared in a major-league game again.
Jeff Kunkel
Petralli's best friend and roommate (when not playing in the minors with Oklahoma City) during his playing days was rarely used shortstop Jeff Kunkel. Kunkel now works as an operations manager for a firm called First Rate in the Dallas-Ft Worth region. His bio can be seen here. [2] As of early 2006 Kunkel is rumored to be working to bring more fame and attention to his seldom remembered best friend. In the 1985 Topps baseball card Kunkel is only 14 years old.
Petralli Fan Club
In early 2006 a grass roots movement began to take hold across Texas and the United States to have the Rangers host a Geno Petralli Day during the 2006 season. A special emphasis is being placed upon the 20th anniversary of the prime time pinch-hit homer against Roger Clemens.
The Future? Geno, Jr!
In June 2005 the Detroit Tigers selected Geno's son Ben [3] with their 15th round draft pick. Like his father, Ben is a switch-hitting catcher from Sacramento City College. It is unknown whether he can catch a knuckleball or likes Taco Bueno.
References
- 1987 Texas Rangers Media Guide
- 1989 Texas Rangers Media Guide
- The Impossible Takes A Little Longer. The Texas Rangers - From Pretenders to Contenders. 1990. Phil Rogers.
- Street and Smith Baseball Yearbook 1989
- The Sporting News Baseball Yearbook 1987
- The Sporting News Baseball Yearbook 1989
- Recorded interview of Geno Petralli with Norm Hitzges on HSE July 17, 1990.