Danny Silva

Daniel James Silva

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 170 lb.

• Debut August 11, 1919
• Final Game August 11, 1919
• Born October 5, 1896 in Everett, MA USA
• Died April 4, 1974 in Hyannis, MA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Note: Some dates given are approximations from inexact information

Danny Silva was an infielder, primarily a third baseman, 18 years (~1915-1932), all in the minors except for a cup of coffee in 1918. Silva was born on Monday, October 5, 1896, in Everett, MA. He broke into Organized Baseball in ~1915 at age ~18. The Class B New England League which had succeeded through the Great War when most other leagues collapsed, succumbed on August 2, 1919, and Silva who was batting .385 for Fitchburg, MA was taken by the Washington Senators. He broke into the big leagues on August 11, 1919, with Washington and played in one game at third base for them with a single in four at bats.

He was drafted into the U.S. Army and discharged in ~1918 (BN) and returned to the minors. He played professional basketball as a forward for the Worcester, IL team in the 1921-1922 season. Back to baseball full time, he played with Springfield in the Eastern League (1922); Pittsfield in the Eastern League (1922-1923); and although he remained on Pittsfield's ineligible list from 1924 until 1933, he played for Idaho Falls in the Utah-Idaho League (1927-1928); Pueblo in the Western League (1928); New Haven in the Eastern League (1929); and Tucson in the Arizona-Texas League (1932); ending his baseball playing career at age 35.

He taught, coached and umpired 24 years in the Everett, MA area high schools. He retired to the Cape Cod area in 1955 where he was a minor league administrator and umpire almost until his death, ending his baseball career in ~1972 at age ~75. Silva was a veteran of both World Wars I and II (BN). He died at age 77 at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, MA following a short illness on April 4, 1974 and is buried at Mosswood Cemetery in Cotuit, MA.

Sources

Principal sources for Danny Silva include newspaper obituaries (OB), government Veteran records (VA,CM,CW), Stars & Stripes (S&S), Sporting Life (SL), The Sporting News (TSN), The Sports Encyclopedia:Baseball 2006 by David Neft & Richard Cohen (N&C), old Who's Who in Baseballs (none) (WW), old Baseball Registers (none) (BR) , old Daguerreotypes by TSN (none) (DAG), Stars&Stripes (S&S), The Baseball Necrology by Bill Lee (BN), Pat Doyle's Professional Ballplayer DataBase (PD), The Baseball Library (BL), Baseball in World War II Europe by Gary Bedingfield (GB) and independent research by Walter Kephart (WK) and Frank Russo (FR) and others.

Related Sites

• Danny Silva at the Baseball Almanac
• Bio at Baseball Page
• and a full Bibliography from SABR's The Baseball Index (TBI)