Hank Camelli

Henry Richard Camelli
born Henry Richard Comolli

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 190 lb.

• Debut October 3, 1943
• Final Game September 28, 1947
• Born December 9, 1914 in Gloucester, MA USA
• Died July 14, 1996 in Wellesley, MA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Hank Camelli was a major league catcher from 1943 to 1947 with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Boston Braves.

Hank made his major league debut on October 3, 1943, the same day as Gil Hodges, scoring a run while going 0-for-3 with the Bucs. He backed up Al Lopez in his official rookie season, hitting .296 in 63 games in 1944 as the Bucs won 90 games, finishing second in the National League. He only saw action in one game in 1945, then hit just .208 in 43 games in 1946. In the offseason, he was packaged with Bob Elliott to the Boston Braves for four players, chief among them Hall of Famer Billy Herman. In 1947, he had the most at-bats in any one season in his career (150), but slogged to a .193 average while backing up Phil Masi on a Boston team that won 86 games and finished third in the NL. In five seasons and almost a full season's worth of games (159), Camelli hit .229/.313/.306 with 2 homers and 26 RBI.

Outside the bigs, Hank played for the 1936 Tyler Trojans and the 1938 Williamsport Grays. He became player-manager of the Saginaw Athletics during the 1940 season. In 1950, he was player-manager with the Saginaw Bears. In 1951 he managed the Kingston Colonials for the first part of the season and then was the player-manager of the St. Hyacinthe Saints in Canada.

Year-by-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Playoffs	Notes
1940	Saginaw Athletics	Michigan State League		2nd		replaced Dallas Avery
1950	Saginaw Bears	Central League	56-81	6th
1951	Kingston Colonials	Can-Am League		--	--	replaced by Joel Kern
	St. Hyacinthe Saints	Provincial League		5th		replaced Bull Hamons