Ted Del Guercio

Thaddeus John Del Guercio (some Baseball Guides list Theodore as his first name, others list Thaddeus - the 1954 Guide uses both names in different sections)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 195 lb.
• School Seton Hall University

• Born December 29, 1927 in Newark, NJ USA
• Died November 23, 2006 in Newark, NJ USA

Ted Del Guercio played 12 years in the minor leagues and was the only member of the Largest Trade in Baseball History not to make the majors.

Del Guercio debuted in 1945 with the Durham Bulls (.239, 1 HR, 6 RBI) and Scranton Miners (.213, 1 HR, 4 RBI). In 1946, Ted played for the Oneonta Red Sox, hitting .310/~.404/.429 with 15 steals and finishing in the top 10 in the Canadian-American League in average. His 12 errors were tied for the lead by an outfielder in the circuit.

In 1947, Del Guercio batted .280 with 8 HR and 51 RBI for the Roanoke Red Sox. The next year, Ted had a career-high 19 HR and 94 RBI while hitting .296 for the Lynn Red Sox. He was 4th in the New England League in RBI and second in homers, behind Jim Pokel. He hit one more homer than Dale Long.

Del Guercio was back in Scranton in 1949 and batted .317 with 8 HR and 79 RBI and also got a brief look with the Seattle Rainiers. He was in the top 10 in the Eastern League in batting average. In 1950, the outfielder moved to the Sacramento Solons and hit .252/~.313/.331 as the club's primary pinch-hitter (44 games in which he did not play the field) and #5 outfielder (65 games).

In 1951, Ted made stops in Sacramento, Oakland (.206 in the PCL), Memphis (.223, 5 RBI) and Fort Worth (.240/~.336/.292 in 42 games) in a rough year. The next season, Del Guercio spent the campaign with Fort Worth, hitting .263/~.295/.390 with 8 triples. He played at least 30 games that year at each outfield spot, with a 1.000 fielding percentage in 87 games in left field.

Del Guercio hit .240/~.321/.400 in 10 games for the 1953 Fort Worth Cats but spent most of the year with the Charleston Rebels, batting .333/~.419/.518. He finished third in the South Atlantic League in average, 29 points behind a youngster named Hank Aaron. Using a rudimentary (BB+HBP+H) divided by (BB+HBP+AB) as our formula, he led the SAL in OBP, one point ahead of Keith Jones and 20 points ahead of Aaron.

That winter, he was traded by the New York Yankees along with Don Larsen, Billy Hunter, Bob Turley, Kal Segrist, Bill Miller and Don Leppert to the Baltimore Orioles for Gene Woodling, Harry Byrd, Jim McDonald, Hal Smith, Gus Triandos, Willy Miranda, Mike Blyzka, Darrell Johnson, Jim Fridley and Dick Kryhoski in the Largest Trade in Baseball History.

Ted hit .333 in brief action for the 1954 San Antonio Missions but spent most of the year with the Wichita Indians, batting .321/.402/.406. He finished third in the Western League in batting average behind Joe Kirrene and Reno DeBenedetti and joined Bobby Prescott and Jim King in the WL All-Star outfield.

In 1955, the veteran was on the Columbus Jets, hitting .272 with 6 homers and 52 RBI. He finished up with Columbus in 1956, batting .250.

Sources: 1947 and 1951-1955 Baseball Guides, Pat Doyle's Professional Baseball Player Database, The Western League by Patrick Stewart and W.C. Madden