Wayne Belardi

Wayne Belardi
Wayne Belardi
Runs batted in	74
Teams
	Brooklyn Dodgers (1950–1951, 1953–1954); Detroit Tigers (1954–1956);

Carroll Wayne Belardi (September 5, 1930 – October 21, 1993) was an American

player. The first baseman and native of St. Helena, California, appeared in 263 games in Major League Baseball over all or parts of six seasons (1950–1951; 1953–1956) for the Brooklyn Dodgers and Detroit Tigers

. He threw and batted left-handed, stood 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and weighed 185 pounds (84 kg).

Baseball career

Dodgers

Belardi played baseball at

farm system in 1949, playing part of that season for the Nashua Dodgers of the New England League, but due to economic hard times, the league was on shaky footing and Belardi was promoted to Triple-A

before the New England circuit failed in midseason.

In Brooklyn, Belardi's path was blocked by the presence of eight-time

runs batted in. He came to bat twice in the 1953 World Series as a pinch hitter, going 0 for 2 as the Dodgers fell to the New York Yankees

in six games.

Tigers

In 1954, Belardi was used strictly as a pinch hitter during the season's early months, collecting two

waiver deal. In Detroit, he received an extended opportunity to play, getting into 88 games, with 71 starts at first base. Again, he hit 11 home runs and set a personal best with 58 hits, but he batted only .232 with 24 runs batted in. Most of Belardi's 1955

season took place in the minor leagues, as he made only three appearances as a pinch hitter for the Tigers during April.

But he was able to bounce back and spend all of

RBIs and 66 bases on balls. Defensively, he recorded a .986 fielding percentage

primarily as a first baseman and a few games as an outfielder.

Late career

During the 1956–1957 offseason, he was included in a couple of significant trades. On December 5, Detroit sent him to the

Kansas City Athletics in an eight-player deal. Then, on February 19, 1957, he was a part of a transaction—which would include 13 players in all—he was sent to the Bombers along with pitchers Bobby Shantz and Art Ditmar and young third baseman.^[1] Belardi never made the Yankees roster. He spent the final year of his professional career by hitting .220 in 1957 with their Double-A farm team, the New Orleans Pelicans

.

Belardi's baseball career was curtailed by injuries he suffered in a car accident.[2]^[3] He died at age 63 in Santa Cruz, California.