Wayne Belardi
Carroll Wayne Belardi (September 5, 1930 – October 21, 1993) played baseball at Bellarmine College Preparatory, where he graduated in 1948. He then played first base in Major League Baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers and Detroit Tigers. He played from 1950 to 1956 and appeared in the 1953 World Series for the Dodgers.
| Wayne Belardi | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Wayne Belardi – Detroit Tigers | |||
| First baseman | |||
| Born: September 5, 1930 St. Helena, California | |||
| Died: October 21, 1993 (aged 63) Santa Cruz, California | |||
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| MLB debut | |||
| April 18, 1950, for the Brooklyn Dodgers | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| September 30, 1956, for the Detroit Tigers | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .242 | ||
| Home runs | 28 | ||
| Runs batted in | 74 | ||
| Teams | |||
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In 263 games over six seasons, Belardi posted a .242 batting average (143-for-592) with 71 runs, 28 home runs, 74 RBI and 66 bases on balls. Defensively, he recorded a .986 fielding percentage primarily as a first baseman and a few games as an outfielder.
Wayne Belardi was one of several future major leaguers who was at Santa Clara University in 1948. He was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1949 and spent six years in the majors from 1950 to 1956 with the Dodgers and the Detroit Tigers as a backup first baseman and pinch hitter. Big and powerful, Wayne played part of 1949 for the Nashua Dodgers in the New England League, but due to economic hard times in some of the towns in the league, the league was shaky and he was moved out before it failed. He came up to the Dodgers in 1950 at age 19 and hit 11 home runs in limited play in each of 1953 and 1954, the latter mostly with the Tigers. He appeared in the 1953 World Series in two games as a pinch-hitter. Strangely, he was out of the majors at age 26 despite hitting .279 in 1956, but was included in a couple of big trades, first to the Kansas City Athletics and then to the New York Yankees after that season, without making it back. He concluded his professional career hitting .220 in 1957 with the New Orleans Pelicans, a Yankees farm team.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)