Steve Nagy (1919 - 2016)
Posted 08-03-2016 at 03:28 PM by oldtimers
Quote:
Originally Posted by FatJack
Steve Nagy, a southpaw who pitched for the Pirates in 1947 and the Senators in 1950, passed away on July 24 at the age of 97.
Steve was New Jersey born and played college ball at Seton Hall, where he went 22 - 1 (including a streak of 13 wins in a row). Chuck Connors and Gene Hermanski were among his teammates at Seton Hall (at least according to Baseball-Reference).
The Dodgers signed him in 1942 and Steve got off to a good start. Splitting the year between class B Durham and Double-A Montreal, the lefty posted a record of 11 - 6 with an ERA of 2.62.
He entered the Navy in September 1942 and was stationed in Virginia, then Florida, then Canada, and finally in England. He was discharged in January 1946 and attended the spring camp for the Montreal Royals (the Dodgers top farm club) where he had a front row seat to history as Jackie Robinson and pitcher Johnny Wright (both formerly stars of the Negro Leagues) reported as well. Several years ago, George Shuba remembered that there were nearly 100 players on the field when Robinson and Wright arrived and, Shuba believed, the only two still living were he and Steve Nagy. Shuba died in 2014. If his memory was correct, the last of those players who witnessed the moment has now passed (I'll leave it to others to figure out if Shuba's memory was correct).
For his part, Nagy remembered that the initial reaction from the other players was mixed. "We had a couple Southern guys in there, but once Jackie showed he had great ability, they accepted, you know? There were a few guys that were kind of resentful, but that's normal when guys are from the South." The first day passed without incident, but that didn't last as the town of Sanford Florida wasn't ready for integration--not in restaurants, not in schools, and, apparently, not on baseball fields.
Playing for the Royals that year, Jackie led the team in hitting, batting .349, and Steve far outpaced the rest of the pitching staff, winning 17 against just 4 losses. Whether or not the Dodgers were impressed with Nagy, the Pittsburgh Pirates sure were and they purchased his contract from Brooklyn as soon as the season was over.
Steve broke camp with the Pirates in 1947. Pitching in relief, Nagy got into 3 games and was roughed up pretty good. He was sent back to the minors come cut-down day. He was recalled in September, pitched a little better, and got a start (taking the loss) against the Cardinals on September 25. The following year, the Pirates traded Steve to the San Francisco Seals and he spent much of the rest of his career in the PCL. Much, but not all.
The Washington Senators took Steve in the Rule 5 draft and, in 1950, put him in the rotation. Though his major league numbers weren't pretty by season's end, he started off en fuego. His first two starts were both against the Yankees and he won both (both complete games). Joe DiMaggio was 0 for 5 in the first game, 1 for 4 in the second. That one hit was a home run. But Nagy got him back. In the 8th inning, he hit a shot to the deepest part of centerfield which DiMaggio had to run down. By the time the throw came in, Nagy had bowled over catcher Yogi Berra for an inside the park home run. That proved to be the winning run.
Steve's final major league outing as a pitcher came on June 16 (though he was used as a pinch runner on the 20th and 23rd). He'd started 2 - 0, but he'd dropped his next 5 decisions and it was back to San Francisco for Steve.
Steve pitched for Seattle from 1951-1954, was back in Frisco in '55, and wrapped up his career with three seasons for Buffalo. He finished with a 3 - 8 major league record and a minor league record of 121- 109. Steve was inducted into the Seton Hall Athletics Hall of Fame in 1975.
You can find an image of Steve with Pittsburgh here, an image of Steve with Brooklyn here, and an image of Steve with Washington here. So just to be able to offer something different, I've colorized this one. While this is the same image as the Washington image posted by tnfoto, I found it in the Lexibell files. And I'd love to crow that its a wider shot except I really did a fairly godawful job colorizing the background. But I'm not unhappy with the colorization of Steve, himself, so....
Steve was New Jersey born and played college ball at Seton Hall, where he went 22 - 1 (including a streak of 13 wins in a row). Chuck Connors and Gene Hermanski were among his teammates at Seton Hall (at least according to Baseball-Reference).
The Dodgers signed him in 1942 and Steve got off to a good start. Splitting the year between class B Durham and Double-A Montreal, the lefty posted a record of 11 - 6 with an ERA of 2.62.
He entered the Navy in September 1942 and was stationed in Virginia, then Florida, then Canada, and finally in England. He was discharged in January 1946 and attended the spring camp for the Montreal Royals (the Dodgers top farm club) where he had a front row seat to history as Jackie Robinson and pitcher Johnny Wright (both formerly stars of the Negro Leagues) reported as well. Several years ago, George Shuba remembered that there were nearly 100 players on the field when Robinson and Wright arrived and, Shuba believed, the only two still living were he and Steve Nagy. Shuba died in 2014. If his memory was correct, the last of those players who witnessed the moment has now passed (I'll leave it to others to figure out if Shuba's memory was correct).
For his part, Nagy remembered that the initial reaction from the other players was mixed. "We had a couple Southern guys in there, but once Jackie showed he had great ability, they accepted, you know? There were a few guys that were kind of resentful, but that's normal when guys are from the South." The first day passed without incident, but that didn't last as the town of Sanford Florida wasn't ready for integration--not in restaurants, not in schools, and, apparently, not on baseball fields.
Playing for the Royals that year, Jackie led the team in hitting, batting .349, and Steve far outpaced the rest of the pitching staff, winning 17 against just 4 losses. Whether or not the Dodgers were impressed with Nagy, the Pittsburgh Pirates sure were and they purchased his contract from Brooklyn as soon as the season was over.
Steve broke camp with the Pirates in 1947. Pitching in relief, Nagy got into 3 games and was roughed up pretty good. He was sent back to the minors come cut-down day. He was recalled in September, pitched a little better, and got a start (taking the loss) against the Cardinals on September 25. The following year, the Pirates traded Steve to the San Francisco Seals and he spent much of the rest of his career in the PCL. Much, but not all.
The Washington Senators took Steve in the Rule 5 draft and, in 1950, put him in the rotation. Though his major league numbers weren't pretty by season's end, he started off en fuego. His first two starts were both against the Yankees and he won both (both complete games). Joe DiMaggio was 0 for 5 in the first game, 1 for 4 in the second. That one hit was a home run. But Nagy got him back. In the 8th inning, he hit a shot to the deepest part of centerfield which DiMaggio had to run down. By the time the throw came in, Nagy had bowled over catcher Yogi Berra for an inside the park home run. That proved to be the winning run.
Steve's final major league outing as a pitcher came on June 16 (though he was used as a pinch runner on the 20th and 23rd). He'd started 2 - 0, but he'd dropped his next 5 decisions and it was back to San Francisco for Steve.
Steve pitched for Seattle from 1951-1954, was back in Frisco in '55, and wrapped up his career with three seasons for Buffalo. He finished with a 3 - 8 major league record and a minor league record of 121- 109. Steve was inducted into the Seton Hall Athletics Hall of Fame in 1975.
You can find an image of Steve with Pittsburgh here, an image of Steve with Brooklyn here, and an image of Steve with Washington here. So just to be able to offer something different, I've colorized this one. While this is the same image as the Washington image posted by tnfoto, I found it in the Lexibell files. And I'd love to crow that its a wider shot except I really did a fairly godawful job colorizing the background. But I'm not unhappy with the colorization of Steve, himself, so....
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