Tony Antista

Anthony Dyer Antista
(The Walloping Wop of the Copper League)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 6", Weight 148 lb.
• High School Abraham Lincoln High School

• Born January 19, 1907 in Rockvale, CO USA
• Died November 3, 1961 in Arcadia, CA USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Tony Antista was a minor league player from 1928 to 1932. He had two brief stints in the Pacific Coast League in 1928 and 1931, but spent most of his career in the Arizona State League, where he starred. Antista was signed by the Mission Reds for 1928, but was released in early May after 12 games and signed with the Bisbee Bees. He hit .311 with 8 homers and 56 RBIs for the Bees in 1928, .414 with 10 homers also for Bisbee in 1929, and in 1930 he hit a league-record .430 with 17 homers, 100 RBIs, 36 doubles, 16 triples, 191 hits, and 127 runs scored in 109 games. He had a 45-game hitting streak. He hit .353 with 5 homers in 96 games for the Phoenix Senators in 1931, and hit .338 for the El Paso Texans in the Arizona-Texas League in 1932.

According to the El Paso Evening Post of August 30, 1927 p.8, he once held the amateur fly-weight championship of southern California, beating Fidel LaBarba for the title. He was also a skilled musician, and played piano in an orchestra in the winter. He played piano for Isom's Imperials in 1924.

He was one of the top players in the semi-pro Copper League in 1927 for the Bisbee Miners, leading the league in Runs, Triples, and Steals. In 1925, his first season in baseball, he played for Charley Hill's Pacific Electric team in California. He played for the Juarez Indians of the Copper League in 1926. He also played for the Pacific Electric club in the winter from 1926 to 1928. In 1930, he played for the Union Terminal team. He played for Wilmington in the winter of 1931.