Johnny Lucadello

From BR Bullpen

130 pix

John Lucadello

BR page

Biographical Information[edit]

Texas native Johnny Lucadello spent sixteen active seasons in professional baseball in a career that spanned three decades from 1936 to 1955. He was born in a coal mining town in Texas, but his family moved to Chicago, IL when the mine closed down. The seventeen-year-old was signed as an amateur free agent by the St. Louis Cardinals, during the 1936 season, and assigned to the Fostoria Cardinals of the class D Ohio State League. The youngster appeared in just 24 games as an outfielder, hitting .222. He wound up with the Fairbury Jeffs, a St. Louis Browns affiliate, of the class D Nebraska State League his second year in the game, handling the 2B position and hitting .316 with eight homers, while appearing in 116 games.

In 1938, his third year in the game, Johnny spent 115 games with the Johnstown Johnnies of the class C Middle Atlantic League, hitting .318 with 11 home runs while fielding the 3B slot and made his first appearance in the major leagues with the Browns on September 24th, appearing in 7 games and picking up 3 base-hits in 20 at-bats. Lucadello played this type of game for the next two seasons, 1939 and 1940, playing well in the minors and finishing up the season with the big league Browns. In 1941 the Browns changed their game plan and Johnny was with the team for the entire season, from start to finish, appearing in 107 games at second base and hitting at a .279 clip in 351 at-bats.

Like a lot of other ballplayers Lucadello spent the next four seasons serving his country during World War II. He enlisted in the United States Navy on March 14, 1942 and mustered out on October 16, 1945. He spent the entire 1946 year back with the Browns, appearing in 87 games and hitting at a .264 average while dividing his infield time between the second and third base positions. Johnny was then selected off waivers by the New York Yankees from the Browns on March 1, 1947.

Johnny spent until June 13, 1947 with the Yankees, used almost exclusively as a pinch-hitter and appeared in only 12 contests with 5 base-hits for an .083 average. This was it for Lucadello in the big leagues. He finished up his six up-and-down years with a .264 batting average and a .965 fielding percentage while appearing in 239 games. He finished out the 1947 season in 34 games with the Kansas City Blues of the American Association.

Johnny spent the next four seasons (1948-1951) all in AAA ball, with his best numbers coming in 1948 when he hit .275 with 12 home runs for the Newark Bears of the International League. In 1953 he was with the Wichita Falls Spudders club of the class B Big State League and hit .301 with 10 homers in 131 games. He dropped down to the class D level in 1954 with the Decatur Commodores of the Mississippi-Ohio Valley League as player-manager and guided the team to the league title with a 74-52 record and personally won the league batting title with a .362 batting average, plus taking the mound for 47 innings and coming up with a 4-1 record, all at the age of 35.

Lucadello finished up his sixteen-year run in 1955, hitting .350 with 9 homers in 131 games for the class B Port Arthur Sea Hawks, as well as appearing on the mound in two games. This gave the 36-year-old a minor league record that shows he appeared in 1,486 games, hitting very close to the .300 mark and capping it off with his 4-1 pitching record.

After baseball Lucadello returned to his native Texas where he worked and lived until his death on October 30, 2001 in San Antonio, TX. John Lucadello was 82 years of age. Before his death he was inducted into the All Sports Hall of Fame for Italian-Americans in Chicago, IL.

Johnny was also the brother of Tony Lucadello, former minor league player and long-time scout.

Related Sites[edit]

Retrieved from "https://www.baseball-reference.com/bpv/index.php?title=Johnny_Lucadello&oldid=909906"