Frank Kasheta

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Francis Xavier William Kasheta

BR Minors page

Biographical Information[edit]

Frank Kasheta pitched in the minor leagues from 1963 to 1967. He was first signed by the Boston Red Sox as an amateur free agent, a couple of years before the institution of the amateur draft, and pitched for the Reading Red Sox of the Eastern League in 1963, going 8-7, 3.03 in 16 games. A local boy, he had been a star at Norwich University where he also played basketball and was inducted in the school's Hall of Fame in 1988.

Following his first professional season, he was selected by the San Francisco Giants in the first-year player draft that was held as part of the 1963 Rule V Draft. He spent the next four years in their organization. In 1964 and 1965, he was back in the Eastern League, spending both years with the Springfield Giants, going 16-7, 3.48 the first year and 7-10, 3.24 the second. In 1966, he began the season still in the same circuit, now with the Waterbury Giants, but after going 4-2 with an ERA of 1.00 in his first 8 games, finally got the call to AAA and finished the year with the Phoenix Giants of the Pacific Coast League, for whom he was 10-8, 2.81. But still, he could not break through to the big league team's pitching staff in spite of putting up good numbers for four straight seasons. In 1967, he started the year with Phoenix, but after going 1-1, 7.36 in 5 games, was loaned to a pair of teams in the International League, the Syracuse Chiefs and the Jacksonville Suns, who were respectively affiliates of the New York Yankees and New York Mets. A detailed breakdown of his statistics for those teams is not available, but things apparently did not go well as his record for the year was 1-7 in 24 games.

On February 13, 1968, he was included in a rare trade between the Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers, accompanying C Tom Haller to L.A. in return for infielders Ron Hunt and Nate Oliver. The two west coast rivals had not exchanged players since 1956, when the great Jackie Robinson elected to retire after being traded by the Dodgers, then still based in Brooklyn to the Giants. In any case, Kasheta never played in the Dodgers system, as he was unable to regain his effectiveness in spring training and was released.

As of 2022, he was still in New England, living in Dudley, MA.

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