Ernie Lombardi played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Brooklyn Robins, Cincinnati Reds, Boston Braves, and New York Giants during a career that spanned 17 years, from 1931 through 1947.
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21 Facts About Ernie Lombardi
2.
Ernie Lombardi was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1986.
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3.
Ernie Lombardi was known as a gentle giant, and this made him hugely popular among Cincinnati fans.
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4.
Ernie Lombardi attended McClymonds High School, the same school from which baseball star Frank Robinson and basketball star Bill Russell later graduated.
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6.
Ernie Lombardi's talents were soon noticed by the Brooklyn Robins, who purchased his contract for $50,000.
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7.
Ernie Lombardi played his rookie season for the Robins in 1931 and hit.
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8.
Ernie Lombardi became one of the Reds' most productive and popular players.
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9.
Ernie Lombardi was the catcher for left-hander Johnny Vander Meer's back-to-back no-hitters, accomplished on June 11 and June 15,1938.
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10.
Ernie Lombardi was again an All-Star the next two seasons, and his hitting skills and leadership helped the Reds to the National League pennant in 1939 and 1940, and the World Series title in 1940.
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11.
Ernie Lombardi enjoyed three productive if unspectacular seasons with the Giants before seeing his playing time diminish over the next two seasons.
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12.
Six foot, three inch, 230-pound Ernie Lombardi was legendarily slow-footed, and during the course of his major league career he grounded into 261 double plays.
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13.
An opposing manager once jokingly said that Ernie Lombardi was so slow, he ran like he was carrying a piano — and the man who was tuning it.
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14.
Unfortunately for the Reds and Ernie Lombardi, he had failed to wear his protective cup and Ernie Lombardi was in pain and dazed.
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15.
In 1953, Ernie Lombardi had been battling depression and agreed to go to a sanatorium.
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16.
Ernie Lombardi received blood transfusions and was initially listed in critical condition, but within a couple of days newspaper reports said that he would survive.
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17.
Ernie Lombardi worked as an attendant in the Candlestick Park press office and later as a gas station attendant in Oakland, California.
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18.
Ernie Lombardi was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 1958.
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19.
Ernie Lombardi died in 1977 and was buried at the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland.
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21.
Ernie Lombardi was honored along with four other Crosley Field Era Reds: Joe Nuxhall, Ted Kluszewski, Frank Robinson, and Pete Rose.
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