Joe Garagiola was later well known outside baseball for having been one of the regular panelists on The Today Show for many years and for his numerous appearances on game shows as a host and panelist.
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31 Facts About Joe Garagiola
2.
Joe Garagiola was signed at age 16 by the St Louis Cardinals organization.
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3.
Joe Garagiola was sent to the Philippines in 1945, where he played ball for Kirby Higbe's Manila Dodgers.
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4.
Joe Garagiola was discharged from service in early 1946 and was just 20 years old when he joined the Cardinals.
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5.
Joe Garagiola allegedly spiked Robinson's foot in the second inning, and when Robinson came to the plate the next inning and made a comment to him, Joe Garagiola reportedly responded with a racial slur.
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6.
Joe Garagiola was a mediocre hitter in the majors, which featured in his self-deprecating humor.
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7.
Joe Garagiola turned to broadcasting following his retirement as a player, first calling Cardinals radio broadcasts on KMOX from 1955 to 1962.
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8.
Joe Garagiola began doing national baseball broadcasts for the network in 1961.
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9.
Joe Garagiola called several World Series on NBC Radio in the 1960s, teaming with announcers including By Saam and George Kell.
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10.
Joe Garagiola alternated play-by-play duties with Curt Gowdy on NBC until 1976, when he assumed the role full-time.
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11.
Joe Garagiola teamed with color commentator Tony Kubek from 1976 to 1982; in 1983, he shifted to color commentary as Vin Scully joined the network as lead play-by-play announcer.
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12.
Besides calling baseball games for NBC, Joe Garagiola served as a co-host on Today from 1967 to 1973 and again from 1990 to 1992.
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13.
Joe Garagiola occasionally guest-hosted The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, including the only live appearances by members of The Beatles on the program while still a group, when John Lennon and Paul McCartney guested in May 1968.
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14.
Joe Garagiola was a guest celebrity panelist on Match Game in the late 1970s.
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15.
Joe Garagiola achieved a new field of fame as co-host of the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show for USA Network from 1994 to 2002.
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16.
From 1969 to 1970, Joe Garagiola was the Saturday afternoon host of the program Monitor.
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17.
In 1970, Joe Garagiola appeared at a preliminary trial following former Cardinals outfielder Curt Flood's lawsuit against Major League Baseball, challenging the game's reserve clause.
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18.
Two men became close friends, and on election night in November 1976 Ford invited Joe Garagiola to be one of his guests at the White House to watch the results on television.
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19.
Joe Garagiola was an advocate against the use of chewing tobacco.
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20.
Joe Garagiola had picked up the habit during his playing days with the Cardinals, but quit cold turkey in the late-1950s.
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21.
Joe Garagiola annually visited major league teams during spring training with players from his generation who have suffered from oral cancer related to the addiction, and he always made comments about it on broadcasts whenever the camera would be on a player chewing tobacco.
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23.
Joe Garagiola was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1970.
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24.
Joe Garagiola was presented with a Peabody Award in 1973 for his NBC work.
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25.
Joe Garagiola was inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame in 2004.
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26.
Joe Garagiola has been given his own star on the St Louis Walk of Fame.
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27.
On December 4,2013, Joe Garagiola was named as the 2014 recipient of the Buck O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award, presented once every three years by the Baseball Hall of Fame for positive contributions to Major League Baseball.
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28.
Joe Garagiola married Audrie Ross, the organist at the Cardinals' ballpark in St Louis, in 1949; their two sons later had an association with baseball.
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30.
Joe Garagiola's daughter, Gina, has worked in TV news, as a field reporter for Phoenix television station KTVK, and is a freelance writer.
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31.
Joe Garagiola died at age 90 on March 23,2016, in Scottsdale, Arizona.
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