Phil Gagliano obit

Ex-Memphian, St. Louis Cardinal Phil Gagliano dies at 74

 

He was not on the list.

Former Memphian Phil Gagliano, who played major league baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1960s and appeared in two World Series, died Monday at his home outside Branson, Missouri.

Gagliano was 74. He would have turned 75 two days after Christmas.

His brother, Ralph, said Phil had been in poor health recently following a heart procedure. He said Phil suffered a slight heart attack five years ago, one he didn’t know he’d had until a later checkup.

Gagliano grew up in Memphis, attended Christian Brothers High School and signed a major league contract with the Cardinals in 1959. Gagliano made his major league debut in April 1963 at age 21 and enjoyed his best season in 1965 when he hit .240 with eight home runs and 53 runs batted in for the Cardinals while serving as a key utility player.

“He batted something like .250 lifetime,” Ralph said. “It’s hard to hit (better than) .250 coming off the bench. He would have started in the big leagues but that was before the reserve clause, before (free agency). The Cardinals wouldn’t let him go.

“The Cardinals kept him and he would relieve everybody. He would relieve (Ken) Boyer and (Mike) Shannon at third (base), (Dal) Maxvill at short and (Julian) Javier at second. He played everywhere.”

Gagliano played in 1967 World Series against Boston and the 1968 World Series against the Detroit Tigers. During his 12-year career, he also played for the Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox and for a Cincinnati Reds’ team that included Johnny Bench, Tony Perez and Pete Rose. Gagliano hit .324, mostly as a pinch-hitter, in 1971 with the Red Sox and .290 with the Reds, in the same capacity, in 1973. His last season was with the Reds in 1974.

His career and that of high school teammate and former major league all-star catcher Tim McCarver mirrored one another. McCarver, like Gagliano, attended Christian Brothers and signed with the Cardinals in 1959 and played for the Cardinals in the 1960s.

“He and I were, at one time, tethered at the hip,” McCarver said. “We went to Christian Brothers together, we played on the same (American) Legion team under Phil’s uncle, Tony (Gagliano).

“He and his wife were close enough to my family that they were the godfather and godmother of my youngest daughter. To say I thought highly of Phil is understated. He was just a wonderful man, in every way.”

Gagliano and McCarver were teammates in 1960 with the Memphis Chicks, a minor league affiliate of the Cardinals. Gagliano hit .315 in 43 games with the Chicks and often spent postgame get-togethers with Memphis manager Joe Schultz and teammates at the Gagliano home.

“Shannon played on that (1960) team, too,” said Ralph, a pro baseball player, too, who appeared in a major league game with the Cleveland Indians in 1965. “They’d all come over to the house and drink beer. My idea of drinking beer was to have one or two beers. Well Schultz – an old St. Louisan and a German - and them would come over and they’d drink a case and a half of beer. My dad like to have fallen out of his chair.”

McCarver said he remembers being “treated like royalty” at the Gagliano household every time he stopped by.

Gagliano retired to Hollister, Missouri, after his major league career. McCarver said he last spoke to Gagliano at a 50-year reunion of the 1964 Cardinals team.

A visitation is scheduled for Monday from 1 to 3 p.m. at St. Louis Catholic Church on White Station Road followed by a funeral mass at 3 p.m.

Utility player

Born: December 27, 1941

Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.

Died: December 19, 2016 (aged 74)

Hollister, Missouri, U.S.

Batted: Right

Threw: Right

MLB debut

April 16, 1963, for the St. Louis Cardinals

Last MLB appearance

October 1, 1974, for the Cincinnati Reds

MLB statistics

Batting average .238

Home runs          14

Runs batted in   159

Teams

St. Louis Cardinals (1963–1970)

Chicago Cubs (1970)

Boston Red Sox (1971–1972)

Cincinnati Reds (1973–1974)

Career highlights and awards

World Series champion (1967)