NOT REALLY MISSING IN ACTION: 1973 BILLY CONIGLIARO

Good day all!

On the blog today, a "not so missing" 1973 card for Billy Conigliaro, who moved West to Milwaukee after his first three years in the Big Leagues with the Boston Red Sox:

Conigliaro "the younger" appeared in 52 games for the Brewers in 1972, hitting .230 with seven homers and 16 runs batted in.

Billy had himself a promising rookie year in 1970 that saw him slam 18 home runs while batting .271 in only 114 games, but he could never quite match that production again, finding himself with the Brewers after those initial three years in "Beantown" followed by a year with the Oakland A’s in 1973, playing a total of 100 games combined those two seasons before finding himself out of baseball for good.

He put in parts of five seasons in the Majors, hitting .256 over 347 games, with 40 homers and 128 runs batted in, scoring 142 runs between 1969 and 1973.

1971 TOPPS ROOKIE ALL-STARS: BILLY CONIGLIARO

Today on the blog, we take a look at the unreleased 1971 Topps Rookie All-Star card for Billy Conigliaro, younger brother of Tony:

As stated earlier, Topps proposed a sub-set designed as you see here featuring the 1970 Rookie All-Star team, but never went on to produce the cards.

Originally larger poster board mock ups, some got out and made it to the open market years ago.

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.

He put in parts of five seasons in the Majors, hitting .256 over 347 games, with 40 homers and 128 runs batted in, scoring 142 runs between 1969 and 1973.

 

BASEBALL BROTHERS- TONY AND BILLY CONIGLIARO

The next “Baseball Brothers” card is a 1972 version featuring Boston favorites Tony and Billy Conigliaro, though Tony was now in California as an Angels player trying to resurrect his career marked my tragedy:

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.