Remembering Joe Pignatano

Joe Pignatano, the Brooklyn native loved by both fans of the Dodgers and Mets, died earlier this week at 92. I captured this image in 2008 where he joined teammate Tommy Davis for the team's 50th anniversary L.A. celebration. (Ironically, Tommy passed just six weeks ago.)

While he played only eight games with a B on his cap, Joe earned a forever place in Brooklyn baseball history, behind plate for the final pitch of Danny McDevitt's shutout in the last game ever played at Ebbets Field, on September 24th, 1957. After moving west with the club, including an appearance in the 1959 World Series, Pignatano returned (after brief stops in Kansas City and San Francisco) to his native city as one of the 1962 expansion Mets. With a touch of irony, Joe's final at bat for the losingest club of the 20th century was hitting into a triple play against the Cubs on September 30th. But that was just the start of his association with Mets. 

In 1965, two years after his retirement, he joined ex-teammate Gil Hodges' coaching staff in Washington. Three years later, he and Gil came home to help the Mets turn the corner -- and then some! Pignatano became a fixture at Shea, serving as bullpen coach under Hodges, Yogi Berra, Joe Frazier and Joe Torre, a 14-season Flushing run through 1981. Recognized for nurturing  stars such as Seaver, Koosman, Matlack, Ryan and McGraw, he was also known for cultivating tomato plants in a corner of the Shea Stadium bullpen.

The last surviving coach from the Amazin' 1969 champs is also remembered at Brooklyn's current baseball home. The Cyclones pair him on a plaque with McDevitt for that Ebbets finale, alongside others for such beloved names as Erskine, Robinson, Hodges and Newcombe.


Comments

Mike McCann said…
Thanks to Dean Hoffman for discovering the video of Joe and Tommy's interview that day. https://youtu.be/fMTJrmbIY7Y?t=18
May 26, 2022 at 8:44 AM
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