Former Brookyln Dodgers catcher and New York Mets coach Joe Pignatano has died.
FILE - New York Mets coach Joe Pignatano, right, with pitcher Danny Frisell, left, looks at tomato plants he grew in the baseball bullpen of Shea Stadium in New York, June 25, 1969. Pignatano, who made his major league debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1957 and later was a coach for the Mets, died Monday, May 23, 2022, in Naples, Fla.
“He was fairly committed to taking care of his tomatoes,” former Mets pitcher Jim McAndrew told The Associated Press.Pignatano, who reached the majors as a catcher with his hometown Brooklyn Dodgers and became a longtime coach, died Monday at 92. Pignatano made his major league debut with Brooklyn in 1957. On Sept. 24, he took over for future Hall of Famer Roy Campanella and caught the final five innings in a 2-0 win over Pittsburgh. It was the Dodgers’ last home game before bolting Brooklyn for the West Coast.
After stints with the Kansas City Athletics and San Francisco Giants, he joined the 1962 expansion Mets in midseason. The Mets were awful, setting a modern major league record for losses in going 40-120, and they wrapped up their season in inglorious fashion. Instead, Chicago second baseman Ken Hubbs went back and caught the ball and threw to first baseman Ernie Banks, who relayed to shortstop Andre Rodgers for a triple play.A career .234 hitter, he played 307 games and hit 16 home runs. Among the pitchers he tagged for homers were Robin Roberts, Warren Spahn and Jim Kaat, all of them Hall of Famers.
“It was his home away from home,” McAndrew recalled Monday. “He had five or six hours a day down there with his tomatoes. He really took care of them. When we were on the road, the grounds crew helped out. They had the water.”
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