Meet JP

No, not JP Howell whom I expect we all remember well. JP, as in Dodger catcher Joe Pignatano. For some unknown reason, his name popped into my head the other day. Perhaps it is because I am partial to catchers. Older Dodger fans such as myself will remember Joe. He is now one of the oldest living Brooklyn Dodgers at age 90.

Joe Pignatano was truly a Brooklyn Dodger. He was born in Brooklyn, attended Westinghouse High School in Brooklyn, and debuted at the MLB level with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

He played in only 307 major league games over six years with a slash line of .234/.332/.351 yet his story is no less interesting than those of  MLB all-star players. He was a player, reputed to be a valued teammate and later a valued coach, and seemed to be grateful for the career he had chosen. Things were not always easy for him and perhaps the “P” in Pignatano   stands for perseverance. Coming along after Roy Campanella and then John Roseboro as well as Norm Sherry the preferred target for Sandy Koufax did not make his path very easy.

Nevertheless, his story is an interesting one. Here’s to you Joe.

Pignatano did not attend college and was signed out of high school. Knowing of his baseball aspirations, his high school coach sent a letter to the Dodgers asking for a tryout for the then 18-year-old catcher. The Dodgers reciprocated with an invite to a tryout at Ebbet’s Field. There were in the vicinity of 80 young players for the tryout, each day with fewer coming back. Pignatano and one other youngster made the cut and 10 days later he signed a contract with the Dodgers.

He was assigned to the Cairo Egyptians in the Kentucky-Illinois-Tennessee League in 1948 playing three games with three hits in eight at bats. Perhaps the highlight was the standing ovation he received for catching a foul popup. It was strange to be applauded for catching a popup  but other catcher had caught a foul popup for the Egyptians.

With little warning and without  explanation Pignatano was released by the Dodgers a few days later and sent home to Brooklyn. Once he got home, his mother took over, as mother’s do. She was appalled that at the beginning of the journey home he actually was sleeping in the train station until a police officer found him a room for the night and paid for his room as he had no cash in his pocket. She picked up the phone, dialed the Dodgers, and got to speak with Fresco Thompson who was Brooklyn’s minor-league chief. Thompson initially congratulated Mrs. Pignatano on how well her son was doing not knowing he had somehow been released. Another tryout at Ebbet’s Field quickly ensued and  he was again signed by the Dodgers.

Over the next  seven years he played with seven Dodger affiliates in seven different leagues: Cambridge, Valdosta, Asheville, Elmira, Fort Worth, St. Paul, Montreal. His climb was interrupted by two years of military service (1951-52).

An interesting anecdote illustrates that whatever can happen will happen in the game of baseball. Playing for the Fort Worth Cats in 1955, Pignatano was listed as the number 8 batter in the lineup on May 29. In the second inning he went to the plate in the number 7 spot and hit a home run. On appeal by the opposing Shreveport Sports, the hit was nullified and the proper batter, Maury Wills, was called out. Pignatano then batted in the number 8 spot, and hit another homer.

He played with the AAA Montreal Royals in 1957 hitting .299 over 70 games. His actual on-field debut as a catcher with the Dodgers came on June 4, 1957 in a game against the Chicago Cubs replacing Roy Campanella in the fifth inning and catching Sandy Koufax.  He singled in his first MLB at bat. Although I cannot remember it, I would have been listening to that game as I rarely ever missed a Dodger game on radio. Vin Scully, in Scully style, on air  asked anyone who knew the Pignatano family to call Joe’s wife at home in Brooklyn to alert her of Joe’s impending debut.

Pignatano served as a back-up catcher with the Dodgers  for four years and racked up a couple of special moments, especially one in 1959 with the Los Angeles Dodgers. In fact, it is his favorite memory coming in the game with the Milwaukee Brewers on September 29. With the league championship on the line and two-out he entered the game as a pinch runner and replaced John Roseboro who had been lifted for a pinch hitter.

“Well, I tell you what. The greatest moment for me, you know, I played sparingly, but in 1959 we’re playing the Braves for the pennant, the playoff games, and I come up in the bottom of the 12th inning, after Hodges. We had two out, Hodges walked, and I singled. And then Furillo singled. And we won the pennant. That was my greatest moment in the big leagues. Even getting the base hit my first time at bat. But that day, my hit helped us get to a World Series.”

“I can still hear Vin Scully’s call, ‘We’re going to Chicago,’” said Pignatano.

Stepping back a bit, Pignatano is part of Brooklyn Dodger trivia. On Tuesday, September 24, 1957, he was behind the plate during the final five innings of the Brooklyn Dodgers’ last home game, played at Ebbets Field against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He relieved starting catcher Roy Campanella in the top of the fifth inning with the Dodgers leading 2–0 and helped guide pitcher  Danny McDevitt to a complete game shutout victory. Pignatano earned a ring in 1959 as the upstart Dodgers took out the Chicago White Sox in six games. Following the 1960 season he was traded to the Kansas City Athletics where he hoped he would get more of a starting role but it didn’t quite work out.

“I enjoyed Kansas City. I hit well for a while and owner Charlie Finley took care of us. As long as I had a uniform I really didn’t care where I was.”

It was the only season in which Pignatano played in more than 90 games or had more than 200 at-bats.

He finished off his playing career in 1962 with  brief stints with the San Francisco giants and New York Mets.  Although not a highlight, it is a bit of trivia and as we say anything that can happen in the game of baseball will happen. He is the only major league player to end his career by hitting into a triple play, which he did while playing for the Mets in the eighth inning on September 30, 1962. Pignatano, like so many MBL players at that time, always worked in the offseason. He worked  as a plumber’s helper for about 10 years and then 23 years with the A&S Department Store in Brooklyn helping with toys before Christmas and the January White Sale.

“I needed to work in the off season to make ends meet,” he said.

Pignatano returned to baseball in 1965 when manager Gil Hodges asked him to join the coaching staff with the Washington Senators. Pignatano worked for the Senators from 1965 to 1967 before following Hodges to New York. Yogi Berra was established as the first base coach on the Mets, so Pignatano moved to the bullpen.

“My job was to work with the relievers, make sure they were ready, and advise Gil,” he said.

With the Mets he earned a second ring in 1969.

“That season was baseball at its best,” he said. “We had a bunch of young kids and a few veterans playing great. [Donn] Clendenon won a lot of games for us with late hits, and Jerry Grote remains the best defensive catcher I have ever seen.”

Baseball, perhaps more than any other team sport, is often seen as a game with superstitions. Joe Pignatano is reputed to have one that may be unique among superstitions. It centers around his garden in the Mets bullpen.

“In 1969 I discovered a wild tomato plant in the bullpen and nurtured it the rest of the season,” he remembered. “We got some tomatoes off it, but most important we won the whole thing. After that, I kept up the garden as long as I was with the Mets as a good luck charm.”

He served as a coach with the Mets until 1981  and ended his coaching career with three years in Atlanta under manager Joe Torre.

I believe Joe Pignatano still carries a soft spot in his heart for Ebbet’s  Field. 

“Ebbet’s Field was quaint. It was beautiful. I mean, it was a fan’s ballpark. You went around, that park was the home of us and they were like all our friends, the fans. I mean, they just loved us. But ironically, I get to play my first game in Ebbet’s Field, my first at-bat I get a base hit in Ebbet’s Field, and I was the last catcher in Ebbet’s Field. And that ballpark to me was the greatest in the world, because it was my home and it was my start.”

Perhaps this helps explain the Miracle Mets: Gil Hodges manager, Rube Walker pitching coach, Joe Pignatano bullpen coach