Bobby Del Greco Stats

Robert George Del Greco was a Major League Baseball player with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1952, 1956), St. Louis Cardinals (1956), Chicago Cubs (1957), New York Yankees (1957-1958), Philadelphia Phillies (1960-1961, 1965), and Kansas City Athletics (1961-1963).

Bobby Del Greco Rookie Card | 1952 Topps Baseball Card (#353 | Checklist)
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Bobby Del Greco was widely considered one of the best defensive center fielders in baseball, but his reputation as a light-hitter followed him around throughout his career:

Bobby Del Greco Haunted By 'Can't Hit' Reputation

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Bobby Del Greco has a dark, round face and a voice weary explaining the jumble of his baseball history.

Still hunched at the end of his hotel bed he looked like a welterweight fighter who had been knocked out by a ranked middleweight early in his career, and would never live it down.

The Phillies outfielder has heard it so many times, "You just can't hit major league pitching."

DEL GRECO winces at the label he wears like a tattoo. He's been in more hotel rooms than the Gideon Bible, and his baseball biography takes plenty of space in the record book.

Bobby has spent spring and gloomy portions of summers with the Pirates, the Cubs, the Cardinals, and the Yankees. He's 27.

Truth is, this fellow can run, throw and field. If he could hit as much as .270, Del Greco would be considered one of the greatest of modern big leaguers.

No one in either league, according to opinons, can patrol centerfield like this fellow.

DEL GRECO made two catches in Milwaukee Sunday afternoon that looked impossible. He received a standing ovation from the fans each time.

Still, Bobby has been told so many times, in many towns, by wise men that he's not a big leaguer because of his hitting. (Del Greco is currently hitting .220).

He's had his heart broken by experts.

There was Branch Rickey in Pittsburgh and Frank Lane in St. Louis - but let's start where every baseball epic should begin. That means Casey Stengel.

"I was so sure I was going to stick with the Yankees," said Del Greco wearing a small, wry smile, as if to take the edge off the old grief. "This was in 1958. They'd brought me up the previous year, you know, when Mickey Mantle hurt his leg. I'd been kicked around a lot and I thought this was my break."

What bulwarked his confidence was the newspapers. A few days before the June 15 cutdown date, the New York scribes predicted Del Greco would stay, and Enos Slaughter would go.

Bobby called Pittsburgh. He flew his mother, his wife, and five children to New York, rented a house and began to live like a Yankee.

That's when Stengel turned the party into a wake. Bobby sensed it instantly when Casey called him to his office and shut the door. Whe he shuts the door, you are headed for Richmond, which Del Greco was.

"I don't get it," flared Bobby, his temper boiling under the last injustice. "I'm good enough to help this club as a fourth or fifth outfielder. What's wrong with me?"

"Well, now young man, there's lotsa things you oughta work on," replied Stengel, as recalled by Del Greco. "You gotta hit more to right field. And you oughta slide better. Why, when I was breakin' in..."

The criticism of Del Greco's skills, especially his sliding, sent the ball player's rage soaring.

He pointed out that he could play the blankety-blank outfield better than any blankety-blank overpaid hot dog on Mr. Stengel's roster.

"I've never played 15 straight games in the majors, never," he said. "They say I can't hit. You get that sort of reputation and it follows you. No matter what you do in the minoor leagues. I know I can play center field as well as anyone."

Earlier in the hotel lobby, Gene Mauch, manager of the Phillies, expressed this opinion, "All Del Greco has to do is hit a little better, and he'll be one of the greatest. There isn't a better fielder anywhere."

Del Crandall, Milwaukee catcher, is another Del Greco booster. "He beat us out of the pennant in 1956. It was the game before the season's end," explained Crandall. (Warren) Spahn's pitching in St. Louis and I've never seen him greater. Well, Del Greco was just unbelievable. He made three of the finest catches you'll ever see. You know how deep center field is in Busch Stadium. Del Greco went all the way back and pulled down a ball Ed Mathews hit that was a sure triple. We lost 2-1, and the Dodgers won the pennant."

Source: The Daily Times. Salisbury, Maryland. August 25, 1960. Page 22-23.

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