Marino Pieretti

Marino Paul Pieretti
(Chick)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 7", Weight 158 lb.
• High School Galileo High School
• Debut April 19, 1945
• Final Game October 1, 1950
• Born September 23, 1920 in Lucca, Italy
• Died January 30, 1981 in San Francisco, CA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Marino Pieretti was a 5' 7" 150 lb. right-hander who was born in Italy but came to the United States before he was a year old. He grew up in San Francisco but was rejected by his hometown San Francisco Seals for being too small. Marino signed instead with the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League and after three years in the minors won a league-leading 26 games in 1944 for the Beavers. On November 1st if that year, he was drafted by the Washington Senators in the 1944 Rule V Draft.

Marino became a 14-game winner as a rookie for Washington in 1945 and was used primarily in relief for the Senators in 1946 and 1947, before being traded to the Chicago White Sox for Earl Harrist on June 9, 1948. He was with the White Sox in 1948 and 1949 and finished out his major league time with the Cleveland Indians in 1950. He concluded his six-year stay in the majors at 30-38 and a 4.53 ERA. While with Cleveland on June 20, 1950, he gave up Joe DiMaggio's 2000th career base hit, and then personally walked to first base and handed the ball to his boyhood friend from the North Beach section of San Francisco.

Pieretti pitched for several more seasons as a durable starter in the PCL, again for the Portland club, also the Sacramento Solons and the Los Angeles Angels, finishing up his eleven-year minor league career with the Modesto Reds of the California League in 1958. Marino was 37 years old when he retired from active duty and left the game with a minor league record of 145 wins and 137 losses with a 3.57 ERA while pitching 2,339 innings.

Marino, who earlier in his career had picked up the nickname "Chick" when a doctor had to remove a chicken bone from his throat, had a winter job killing steers in a San Francisco slaughterhouse. He also worked a lot of Italian weddings as an accordeon player in a dance band. He later pitched batting practice for the Seals, and for many years ran youth baseball programs and clinics. He passed away June 30, 1981 at age 60 in San Francisco, CA.

See also: Baseball Players of the 1950s

Notable Achievements

• 200 Innings Pitched Seasons: 1 (1945)