Al Ferrara obit

Al Ferrara, 2-time World Series winner with Dodgers, dies at 84

 

He was not on the list.

Former outfielder Al "The Bull" Ferrara died Friday, the Los Angeles Dodgers announced. He was 84.

Ferrara was part of Dodgers' world championship teams in 1963 and 1965 and also hit 27 total homers over two-plus seasons with the San Diego Padres from 1969 to 1971.

"We are saddened to hear the news of Al Ferrara's passing today," said Stan Kasten, the Dodgers president and CEO. "Not only was Al a memorable player for the Dodgers in the 1960s, but he tirelessly supported the Dodgers community efforts and was one of our most committed alumni supporters. We extend our sympathies to his family."

Ferrara was named the Dodgers' MVP in 1967 when he batted .277 with 16 homers and 50 RBIs in 122 games.

Following the 1968 season, Ferrara was chosen in the expansion draft by the Padres and was the prime left fielder for the franchise during their first two seasons. He batted .260 with 14 homers and 56 RBIs in 1969 and hit .277 with 13 homers and 51 RBIs in 1970. He played 138 games both seasons.

The Padres traded Ferrara to the Cincinnati Reds in May 1971. Ferrara retired after the season.

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Ferrara batted .259 with 51 homers and 198 RBIs in 574 games with the Dodgers (1963, 1965 to 1968), Padres (1969 to 71) and Reds.

During his playing career, Ferrara landed guest acting roles on popular series such as "Gilligan's Island" and "Batman."

Ferrara served as an alumni ambassador for the Dodgers since 2009 and was still making appearances for the organization this year.

Alfred Ferrara Jr. was born on December 22, 1939, in Brooklyn, New York, to Al Ferrara Sr. and his wife Adele. Al Sr. was a New York City fireman for 20 years who later was an air conditioning technician for Chase Bank before working the gate at Jackie Gleason's Inverrary Country Club in Florida in his retirement. Adele Ferrara, a homemaker, died when Al Jr. was 17, leaving her mother, Assunta Paulucci, in charge of Al and his twin siblings Frank and Theodora, who were 12 at the time.

As a youth he was also an accomplished piano player. "I never wanted to play the piano, I wanted to play baseball," Ferrara said. "But a first-generation Italian woman like my grandmother didn't know anything about baseball, so I had to play the piano, starting at age eight. I learned the classics. Mr. Morvillo insisted that I read music and play the pieces as they were written by Beethoven and Bach. I got pretty good and I learned to use piano to do what I wanted to do. I had a deal with my grandmother that after playing for an hour she would give me a quarter to go to the Bat Away at Coney Island. In those days you could hit about 25 balls for a quarter. After a while I got a reputation as a pretty good hitter and men would come around when I was hitting and put more quarters in the machine so I could hit for maybe a half-hour. Finally, I got my grandmother to agree that if I were to become Mr. Morvillo's number one student I could give up piano and play baseball. He would have showcase recitals at Carnegie Hall, and the number one student would play last. When I was 16, I went on last as the number one student, kissed my grandmother, and never touched the piano again." Ferrara attended Lafayette High School (New York City) where he was a high school classmate of Bob Aspromonte and played sandlot baseball with Joe Torre and Joe Pepitone. The summer of 1957 was a turning point for Ferrara. He did well enough for the amateur traveling team Dodger Rookies that Dodgers' scout Buck Lai, who was also the athletic director at Long Island University, arranged for Ferrara to get a baseball scholarship to LIU. After a successful season there, he signed a $9,000 bonus contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1958.

Ferrara made his major league debut at age 23 on July 23, 1963, in a 5–1 Dodgers' loss to the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium. His first hit was in his third game, off Dick Ellsworth. His first homer the next day, off Bob Buhl, was one of three hit by the Dodgers in the fifth inning of a 5–4 loss to the Cubs.

He did not play in the 1963 World Series. He came up again in 1965 for 41 games but again saw no action in the 1965 World Series.

In 1966, he had one of his best seasons. He played in 63 games with 129 plate appearances, hitting .270, and playing in the 1966 World Series, in which he had one hit in one at bat, a pinch-hit single in the ninth inning of Game 4 off of Dave McNally.

In 1967 he had his most productive season to-date. In 384 plate appearances, he hit 16 home runs (a career high) with 50 runs batted in and a .277 average. He was voted Dodger of the Year. "I was young, fun and wacky, and I had L.A. in my hands," he said. Ferrara appeared on episodes of Gilligan’s Island and Batman through connections with fans in show business and through former teammate Lee Walls, who had become a talent agent. "That all came from being a player. I wasn't willing to put in the effort to pursue a real acting career."

Actor

Dracula's Dog (1977)

Dracula's Dog

4.4

Deputy

1977

 

Mansion of the Doomed (1976)

Mansion of the Doomed

5.4

Al

1976

 

Robert Blake in Baretta (1975)

Baretta

6.7

TV Series

Pasquale

1975

1 episode

 

Adam West and Burt Ward in Batman (1966)

Batman

7.5

TV Series

Atlas

Trap Door

1967–1968

3 episodes

 

Mimsy Farmer, Michael Evans, Schuyler Hayden, Laurie Mock, Hortense Petra, and Tim Rooney in Riot on Sunset Strip (1967)

Riot on Sunset Strip

5.0

Musician (uncredited)

1967

 

Jim Backus, Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Tina Louise, Russell Johnson, Natalie Schafer, and Dawn Wells in Gilligan's Island (1964)

Gilligan's Island

7.4

TV Series

Native

1967

1 episode