Tito Francona oral history interview
Date1994 June 30
DescriptionAn interview of John "Tito" Francona that was conducted by Larry Moffi on June 30, 1994 in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. Content of the interview include: Side One -- Track 1 - On being with nine different ball clubs, meeting a lot of other players; nickname Tito, real name John, but his father started calling him that when he was a kid because in Italian it means "little one" and he was small; always loved to play baseball, became good friends with Mel Ott when he was a radio and TV announcer in Detroit in 1958, at the end of the season he went home and he was killed (from a car crash;) they used to go to church together; Francona played American Legion and high school baseball; signed by the Browns, got a $5,000 bonus one year and the next year he got $2500 before the season and $2500 after the season, he played in York, PA in 1952, they had a good ball club and most of the players went to Triple AAA, he was the only lousy player on the team but he was the only one who made it to the Big Leagues; signed by Jim Weaver (tape is stopped then started again,) resumed story about being signed by the Browns; went to York, his first time away from home, and the hotel he was staying at burned down; he did lousy that year, hit .228; York was a B club; in 1953, he went to spring training in Thomasville, GA, had a good spring, and they sent him to Aberdeen SD, a C League, thought he was going backwards, but had a good year there, and met his wife, married in 1956; after the '53 season he went into the service for two years, was in Fort Benning, GA; as soon as he got out of the service in September, he went and worked out Baltimore for a few days, they were in last place and were going to put him in the lineup but they wanted him to play winter ball in Colombia, with Brooks Robinson, Wayne Causey and Bob Nelson; he had a good season down there, hit 16-17 home runs and.290; and he went to spring training, and he went up to Baltimore for 1956 (00:00:00 to 00:06:23) Track 2 - (Contains profanity) His father only played local ball, but was very happy that Francona was signed, he was a big help; his first game in the Big Leagues was in Boston, he went to the ballpark at 8 a.m. and put on his uniform to get acclimated, sitting in the dugout and saw a big guy come walking out, number 9, it was Ted Williams; and he walked across the field and started telling him about hitting; Francona's roommate was Harry Dorish, who had played with Boston, and Dorish called Williams to tell him that Francona would be there early; Williams gave him some good tips, made him feel much more comfortable, he never forgot that; the first game, Boston was taking batting practice, and his back was away from home plate, suddenly it got quiet in the park, and he turned around and it was Williams' turn at batting practice, and the whole team ran behind the backstop to watch Williams hit; Williams had just returned, the sportswriters used to rag on Williams a lot, saying he couldn't hit the fastball anymore, and Williams turned around and said "Jesus Christ couldn't throw a fastball by me," he played against Williams for 4-5-6 years and never saw anyone like Williams as a hitter, he was like a machine; his eyes were super, he could see the ball, he was just unbelievable, better than (Stan) Musial, (Hank) Aaron, (Roberto) Clemente, they were struggling to hit .300, but with Williams, it was automatic; the first game, Francona was playing right field, and they had to shift on Williams, he was supposed to play near the fence; one time when Francona played first base in Boston, they guy ahead of Williams got a walk, and he realized he could get hurt if Williams hit a line drive, the manager, Paul Richards, gave him the sign to play in back of the runner, and he was relieved, because Williams hit so hard he could really hurt you; one time when he was playing with the White Sox, Williams hit a line drive an Nellie Fox jumped for the ball and got hit in the chest; one time Francona was playing right field, and sun was in his eyes, and he had time to flip his glasses up and down twice before the ball came down; a couple of years ago in an old-timers game in St. Petersburg, Williams was going to manage the team, and walked in from right field and everybody ran towards him, and he sat down beside Francona, really made him feel important, everybody wanted an autographed ball from Williams, he slipped one in Francona's pocket; everybody also followed around Joe DiMaggio; Williams was the greatest hitter, then Aaron, Mays, Clemente and Musial (00:06:23 to 00:14:33) Track 3 - On 1959 Cleveland team, a good ball club, should have won that year easily, but they went up against the White Sox and they wiped them out in seven games over a two-week period; one time he was playing center field, and Minnie Minoso was in left, Sherm Lollar was hitting and hit a high fly ball to left-center, near the fence, Minoso called him off the ball, there was a sell-out crowd, the ball hit Minoso's glove and bounced over the fence, they called it a grand slam home run, but it should have been an error; another game, George Strickland, their best defensive player, missed a double-play ball in the 9th inning; Cleveland had the better team, but the White Sox had Luis Aparicio and Nellie Fox, and they kept winning by one run; everyone was after Rocky (Colavito) because he wasn't hitting well against the White Sox; he had a good year, started out as a pinch hitter with Detroit that year, and didn't play for Detroit because Gail Harris was having a good year; the manager Jack Tighe got fired and Bill Norman took over; Francona got traded along with Jack (?) for Ray Boone and Bob Shaw; he and Bill (Hoeft?) told a trainer that each was the other one; spring of '59 Detroit had 9 left fielders so he didn't play much; his wife was pregnant and living in SD and he decided to quit and go back to school so he could change his vocation, he was packing his bag at the hotel, and there was a sportswriter across the hall who wrote a story about him and Cleveland general manager Frank Lane read the story in the paper and he had Larry Doby towards the end of his career, and Lane called Detroit and offered them Doby for Francona; Joe Gordon was the manager and he had seen Francona play and thought he was pretty good; went to Tucson to join the Indians; didn't know where he was going to play, they had Minnie Minoso in left; Jim Piersall in center, Rocky Colavito in right; Vic Power at first base and Mickey Vernon as pinch hitter; Gordon worked with him on batting every day so he could be a pinch hitter, he was satisfied with that role, when the season opened, the first seven times he pinch hit, he got six hits and helped them win a few games, he got a home run in the 10th inning against the Yankees, Cal McLish was pitching for Cleveland and the Yankees scored a run in the top of the 10th, everybody was down, but Francona got up and hit a home run with one on base, the crowd went wild; a couple games later, he was 6-7 and they wanted to find a place to play him; Piersall didn't want to play center one game, and they put Francona in center, so he got into the lineup; he didn't have enough at-bats to qualify for the hitting championship, the whole year he played with a pulled hamstring, they put an inner tube around his leg; Chuck Tanner told him to push himself, but his leg got really bag and he had to sit out a few games, he had an 18-game hitting streak at one point, but got an out pinch hitting; he was just happy to be playing, had a quick bat and it was great; the next year he hit .292, but didn't have good luck that year; he had a couple good years in Cleveland, came back in 1961, made the All Star Team and hit .301, drove in 85 runs, never made any money there, Frank Lane was good to him, made $10,000 in '59 and Lane offered to double his salary and Gordon gave him a $2500 bonus; the next year, he hit .292 and got a $6000 raise; in '61 he played every game, had 85 runs, hit .301, but Gabe Paul had taken over and wouldn't give him a raise because the club wasn't making any money, he held out and finally got a raise of $3500 and a rented car for spring training; a few years later, Paul cut him when he had a bad year; Birdie Tebbetts brought in a lot of young kids and Francona asked to be traded and wound up in St. Louis for three years; Bill White got hurt in Philly, and Stan Musial was manager and signed Francona (tape runs out) (00:14:33 to 00:31:25)
Object numberBL-2000-02292-014
Artist, Creator, or Manufacturer
Moffi, Larry
Classificationsaudio/visual materials
Collection NumberBA RMA 002 Larry Moffi oral history collection
Dimensions00:31:25|1 of 2
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RestrictionsDue to copyright restrictions, this interview can only be listened to at the Giamatti Research Center at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
Object number: BL-2001-00092-017
St. Louis Cardinals (Baseball team)
1968 February 08