Older brother Tony, once a bright and shining star for the Boston Red Sox in the mid-60’s until he was struck in the face by a pitch, managed to make his way back to the Major Leagues after such a terrible event, and even had another great season in 1970 when he slammed 36 home runs and drove in 116 runs, both career highs.
Incredible to think when considering the damage to his eye-sight after his gruesome injury.
But sadly the vision problems he sustained from the beaning came back, curtailing any hope for an extended comeback after such a promising 1970 season.
He would play in 74 games for California in 1971 before struggling to make it back to the big leagues in 1975 with his hometown Red Sox.
But he’d only play in 21 games that season, ending what could have been a great Major League career.
As for younger brother Billy, after a promising rookie year in 1970 that saw him slam 18 home runs while batting .271 in only 114 games, he could never quite match that production again, finding himself with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1972 and the Oakland A’s in 1973, playing a total of 100 games combined those two seasons before finding himself out of baseball for good.
The “Tony C” story is especially tragic considering that he also passed away at such a young age (45) in 1990, leaving many to feel that the poor guy could not catch a break not only in the game, but in life as well.