Bensonhurst’s Big League Baseball All-Stars Through The Ages
The New York Mets hosted the All-Star game at Citi Field this week, and it got me thinking about all the all-star Major League players that came out of Bensonhurst.
While the list isn’t all that long, it is star-studded and interesting, punctuated by perhaps the most dominant pitcher that ever lived and one of the greatest female athletes in American history. And, you know what? It may not be a long list, but I can’t think of very many communities that even have a short list!
The list is present in reverse chronological order, with the most recent players first. If there are other
significant Bensonhurst ball players we missed, definitely give a shout out in the comments. So, without further ado, here is the list of Bensonhurst All-Stars and some brief fun facts and stories I was able to dig up on these genuine local legends.
Paul Lo Duca – I am a New York Mets fan, so I have a soft spot for this man. Lo Duca was born in Bensonhurst but grew up in Glendale, Arizona. Despite spending his childhood in the desert, Lo Duca never lost his hard-nosed Brooklyn charisma. Perhaps fittingly, Lo Duca made his debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers, also formerly of Brooklyn, on June 21, 1998.
Lo Duca, a catcher, was a four-time All-Star, including a stellar 2006 appearance for the New York Mets, the year when he replaced Met legend Mike Piazza’s spot on the roster. Lo Duca’s 2006 performance helped drive the Mets to a playoff appearance, but he quickly fizzled out after that big year. After a mediocre 2007, Lo Duca moved on to the Washington Nationals before retiring with the Marlins in 2008. Lo Duca’s role in baseball was a bit tarnished when he was named in the 2007 Mitchell Report as a player that abused performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). Lo Duca, an avid horse racing fan, is currently an analyst for TVG Network, breaking down races.
Rich Aurilia – The next player hailing from Bensonhurst is Rich Aurilia, the former shortstop for the San Francisco Giants. Getting his start as a top college player at St. John’s University in New York, Aurilia became a solid 14-year veteran who made the all-star team and won the Silver Slugger award in his best year, 2001. That season, Aurilia had a . 324 batting average, cranked out 37 home runs, drove in 97 runs and led the league in hits with 206.
Aurilia’s incredible year was grossly overshadowed by Barry Bonds, who with the assistance of PEDs, smashed 73 home runs, shattering the single season record. As his normally reliable skills slowly eroded, Aurilia bounced around between the Mariners, Padres and Reds before returning to San Francisco to finish his career. Aurilia is currently working as an analyst for Comcast SportsNet Bay Area.
John Franco– John Franco is a Bensonhurst native who had the good fortune of never straying too far from his home. His dad, the late Jim Franco, was a New York City Department of Sanitation worker. Throughout his career, Franco wore an orange Sanitation t-shirt under his jersey to honor his father and his working-class roots. Franco met his wife, Rose, at Lafayette High School.
Franco was a closer famous for his deadly screwball. A four-time all-star, Franco got traded to the Mets before the 1990 season from the Cincinnati Reds. He spent the next 14 years with the Mets, racking up 424 saves, the fourth most in baseball history and the most for a left-handed pitcher.
Franco was never a dominant pitcher, often having to work out of tough jams, but he was reliable, consistent and durable, appearing in 1,119 games. He called it quits with the Houston Astros at the age of 44, an impressive accomplishment for anybody. Enshrined in the Mets Hall of Fame, he currently can be seen on the SNY network.
Sandy Koufax – Technically born in Borough Park, we’ll forgive him that small sin. Besides, Koufax moved to Bensonhurst before the tenth grade. Anyway you slice it, Koufax is the product of Southern Brooklyn.
Sandy Koufax is considered one of the greatest pitchers of all time, and some would argue that at his peak, he was the best ever. He was born to a Jewish family and was a basketball prospect at Lafayette High School where he met Fred Wilpon, another Bensonhurst legend, who would grow up to be the owner of the New York Mets.
Blessed with a sizzling left arm that could easily top 100 mph, and a back-breaking curveball, a bunch of major league teams showed interest in Koufax. The Brooklyn Dodgers gave him a signing bonus so large that major league rules forced him on the big league roster. At 20 years old, incredibly raw and unpolished, Koufax made his debut in 1955 as a reliever, the year that Brooklyn would win their only championship before leaving for Los Angeles. Despite his incredible talent, Koufax struggled in his first six years as a professional, often considering retiring to pursue academic interests.
It all turned around in 1961, when Koufax, now a Los Angeles Dodger, increased his off season workout regime and got some life changing advice from catcher Norm Sherry. Sherry told Koufax that he didn’t have to throw so hard to get big league hitters out. By easing up a bit on his killer fastball and removing a hitch from his windup, Koufax found his control. He began a six-year run of utter dominance the likes of which hasn’t ever been replicated in baseball history. He became a seven-time all star, won three Cy Young awards, one MVP (a rarity for pitchers), two World Series MVP awards and pitched four no-hitters, including a perfect game.
As the unquestioned best pitcher in an era chalk full of them, Koufax retired at the age of 31 due to the tremendous strain that pitching put on his arm. As a result of his early retirement, Koufax became the youngest man ever elected to the Hall of Fame at the age of 36. Since his retirement, Koufax has worked as a television broadcaster and a sometimes special spring training pitching coach for both the Mets due to his lifelong friendship with Wilpon.
Millie Deegan – The last entry on our list of famous Bensonhurst ball players is one that comes out of left field. If you’ve seen the Tom Hanks classic A League of Their Own, you’d remember that during World War II, when the country’s top baseball stars were off fighting overseas, a professional woman’s league was started to entertain people on the home front.
Millie Deegan was not only one of the best players of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), but one of the best female athletes in the country. As a teen, she finished second to the great Babe Didrikson Zaharias, considered the greatest female athlete in American history, in the javelin throw at a national meet preceding the 1936 Olympic games.
Too young to officially compete in the Olympics, Deegan turned her attention to baseball where she played in a fast-pitch softball league for the New York Americanettes. Playing in a game inside Madison Square Garden, Deegan ripped a 250-foot home run. Babe Ruth was in attendance and posed in photo where he is seen squeezing her bicep. She then earned the nickname as the “Babe Ruth of Woman’s Softball.”
She tried out for the AAGPBL in 1943 and made the Rockford Peaches, the team featured in the Tom Hanks movie. She played for 10 years as an ace pitcher. She once attended a spring training camp for the Brooklyn Dodgers where Hall of Fame manager Leo Durocher famously said, “If we run out of men, Millie will be the first on the team…if she were a man, she no doubt would have been a Dodger.” Deegan passed away from breast cancer at the age of 82 in 2002.