Rugger Ardizoia

Rinaldo Joseph Ardizoia

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 180 lb.
• High School High School of Commerce (San Francisco)
• Debut April 30, 1947
• Final Game April 30, 1947
• Born November 20, 1919 in Oleggio, Italy
• Died July 19, 2015 in San Francisco, CA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

"`Oh yeah, yessir. I loved it." - Rugger Ardizoia, talking about his baseball career

Rinaldo "Rugger" Ardizoia pitched one game in the majors and twelve years in the minors, mostly bouncing around the Pacific Coast League.

He was born in Italy and grew up in San Francisco, California. He began playing for the San Francisco Missions in the Class AA Pacific Coast League in 1937 after graduating from high school. The Missions moved to Hollywood the next year to become the Hollywood Stars, and he played two years for them until being signed for the New York Yankees by west coast scout Joe Devine. The Yankees sent him to the Newark Bears in the Class AA International League in 1941.

When World War II started, he was considered an enemy alien since he was Italian-born and was not allowed to travel to the Canadian cities with the team. So, in 1942, he was assigned to the Kansas City Blues in the Class AA American Association. In 1943, he was drafted into the Air Force and sent to McClelland Field in Sacramento, California, as a maintenance person for the aircraft there. He later was sent to Hawaii with the 7th Air Force as a tow target operator and then to Tinian and Iwo Jima with the 20th Air Force. Ardizoia was discharged in December 1945 and went to spring training with the Yankees the next year spending the season with the Oakland Oaks in the PCL, where he won 15 games.

Ardizoia’s major league career consisted of just two innings of relief pitching on April 30, 1947. Manager Bucky Harris tabbed him to relieve Karl Drews in the 7th inning of the Yankees' game against the St. Louis Browns in St. Louis. The Browns already held a 13-4 advantage, so his career amounted to nothing more than mop-up duty. Ardizoia started out well, pitching an uneventful 7th. In the top of the 8th, George McQuinn's RBI double chipped away at the Browns' lead, but in the bottom of the frame, Ardizoia gave up two runs on Wally Judnich's second home run of the game. In the top of the 9th Johnny Lindell pinch-hit for him and Ardizoia's big league career came to an end. Rugger spent 1948 back with Hollywood, 1949 with the Seattle Rainiers of the PCL, and 1951 with the Dallas Eagles of the Class AA Texas League before retiring from baseball.

Further Reading

• Larry Stone: "Those were the most wonderful days I believe I ever had", in Mark Armour, ed.: Rain Check: Baseball in the Pacific Northwest, Society for American Baseball Research, Cleveland, OH, 2006, pp. 103-104.

Related Sites

• Rugger Ardizoia bio on SABR.org