Nino Bongiovanni

Anthony Thomas Bongiovanni

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 5' 10", Weight 175 lb.
• High School Santa Clara High School
• Debut April 23, 1938
• Final Game October 1, 1939
• Born December 21, 1911 in New Orleans, LA USA
• Died January 6, 2009 in San Jose, CA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Louisiana native Nino Bongiovanni spent fourteen active seasons in professional baseball from 1933 to 1949.

After five seasons in the minor leagues, Nino was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds on October 5, 1937, from the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League in the 1937 Rule V Draft. Nino played two games in the majors with the Reds in 1938 and appeared in 66 games with the Reds in 1939. This gave the outfielder big league totals of 68 appearances with 43 hits in 166 at-bats for a .259 batting average. Nino also had one plate appearance with no hits in Cincinnati's loss to the New York Yankees in the 1939 World Series.

During his fourteen years in the minor leagues, Bongiovanni had eight seasons that he hit better than .300. His highest average came in 1947 when the left-hand hitting outfielder hit .363 for the San Jose Red Sox in the Class C California League. However, his best season probably came ten years earlier in 1937, when he had league leading totals of 136 runs scored and 236 hits while hitting .322 with 11 home runs, for the Portland Beavers of the AA Pacific Coast League.  In 1934, Bongiovanni had a 41-game hitting streak with the Beavers.  Nino wound down his professional baseball career as a player-manager for the Oroville Red Sox of the Class D Far West League in 1948 and the Stockton Ports of the Class C California League in 1949. His minor league records show he appeared in 1,622 games hitting just over .300 with 62 home runs.

Nino served three years (1943-1945) in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. After his baseball career, he was a business owner and a longtime employee of the Santa Clara Unified School District. He passed away on January 6, 2009, in San Jose at the age of 97.

Year-by-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs
1948	Oroville Red Sox	Far West League	67-51	1st	Boston Red Sox	Lost in 1st round
1949	Stockton Ports	California League	64-76	6th	Chicago White Sox