Thinking about some former professional baseball players from Washington County
Many outstanding players from Washington County made it into professional baseball and had much success. The Mon Valley produced two of the best in Stan Musial and Ken Griffey Sr., both Donora natives.
Musial, a Hall of Famer, had 3,630 career hits – 1,815 at home and 1,815 on the road. Griffey played 19 seasons in the majors – three fewer than Musial – and was the right fielder for the 1975 World Series champion Cincinnati Reds.
There were many other local standouts who made it pro ball.
Bruce Dal Canton, a California High School product, spent 11 years in the majors as a pitcher for the Pirates, Atlanta Braves, Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals.
Fred Tustin never played in the majors, but he left Waynesburg College in 1937 and signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers, later playing in the St. Louis Cardinals’ organization.
In 1938, while Tustin was playing for Williamson (W.Va.) in the Class D Mountain State League, his roommate was Musial. Tustin played semi-pro ball in Washington for Scott Motors and Washington Steel Company.
Dominick “Scooter” Romano Jr., was a star pitcher at Trinity High School in the late 1940s. He helped the Hillers to a section championship and signed a contract with the St. Louis Browns. He later returned to the Community League where he tossed a no-hitter for the Knestrick Generals, who won the league title in 1951.
“Scooter” made a stop in Lima, Ohio, after he signed a contract to play for a Philadelphia Phillies farm team. Romano also was a good softball player for the Alpine and Polish clubs. Both teams won championships.
Denny Brown of Washington was an all-world softball player who spent a lot time in the minor leagues with the Kansas City Royals.
“I was with a couple of young players, Frank White and George Brett, who went on have great careers with the Royals.” Brown said.
Another Trinity graduate, Joseph Urso, attended Morris Harvey College (now known as the University of Charleston) in West Virginia. He started his minor-league career with the St. Louis Cardinals in the Arkansas State League before World War II. In 1945, he played second base for teams in Columbus (Ohio), Lynchburg, (Va.), Tallahassee (Fla.), Fall River (Mass.) and Flint (Mich.).
St. Louis must have sent a lot of scouts to the area.
The Cardinals even had an affiliate here, the Washington Redbirds, who played in the Class D Pennsylvania State Association from 1939 through 1942.
Robert Czmiel was another local player who signed with St. Louis, but it was the Browns not the Cardinals. He played two seasons (1951-52) in the minors. A Triple Crown winner in the tri-state Wheeling Baseball League, Czmiel played first base for Washington & Jefferson College.
I’ve been told Bob Wagner was a Sandy Koufax-like pitcher in this area. “Wags,” who is currently the scoreboard operator for several teams who play at Consol Energy Park, was a left-hander.
After an outstanding high school career at Washington High School, Wagner was signed by the Cleveland Indians and played for their Corning, N.Y., affiliate in 1953 and in Kingsport, Tenn., in 1954.
Of all the people from Washington County who played professional baseball, none had a game as good as Ron Necciai, a Monongahela High School product who played in the Pittsburgh Pirates system. Necciai made it to the major leagues in 1952, but he’s best known for what he did in a game earlier that year while playing for the Bristol (Tenn.) Twins in the Class D Appalachian League.
Against the Welch (W.Va.) Miners, Necciai struck out 27 batters in a nine-inning game, throwing a no-hitter. One Welch batter was retired on a groundout early in the game, but the Bristol catcher was charged with a passed ball on a strikeout in the ninth inning, allowing Necciai to strike out a fourth batter in the inning.
From greats like Musial and Griffey to one-game wonders like Necciai and recent major leaguers such as Chris Peters and Brian Simmons – both from Peters Township – Washington County has produced some excellent baseball players. Heck, even Ken Griffey Jr., who hit 630 career home runs, was born in Washington County.
• In my last column, about the Wise family’s athletic success and WPIAL championships, one person was omitted. John Anthony Wise, son of Joan Wise, was a member of Wash High’s 1,600-meter relay team that placed third at the PIAA Championships. He was the Prexies’ 800 record holder.
Bill DiFabio writes a bi-weekly column about local sports history for the Observer-Reporter.