Hank Biasatti
| Hank Biasatti | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| First baseman | |||
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Born: January 14, 1922 Beano, Italy |
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Died: April 20, 1996 (aged 74) Dearborn, Michigan |
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| MLB debut | |||
| April 23, 1949, for the Philadelphia Athletics | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| October 2, 1949, for the Philadelphia Athletics | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .083 | ||
| Home runs | 0 | ||
| Runs batted in | 2 | ||
| Teams | |||
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Listed height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) |
| Listed weight | 175 lb (79 kg) |
| Career information | |
| College | Assumption |
| BAA draft | 1947 / Round: -- / Pick: -- |
| Selected by the Boston Celtics | |
| Position | Guard |
| Number | 3 |
| Coaching career | 1956–1962 |
| Career history | |
| As player: | |
| 1946 | Toronto Huskies |
| As coach: | |
| 1956–1962 | Assumption |
| Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |
Henry Arcado Biasatti (January 14, 1922 – April 20, 1996) was an Italian-Canadian National Basketball Association player and a Major League Baseball first baseman. He is the only Canadian to play at the top professional level in both sports.
Born in Beano, Italy, Biasatti grew up in Windsor, Ontario, where he was a star basketball player at Gordon McGregor Continuation School and Assumption College High School and played baseball for the East Windsor Cubs. He then played basketball at Windsor's Assumption College and served in the Canadian Army in World War II. Biasatti was a farmhand of the Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team, playing for London Army during the war. The team won the Canadian Congress baseball championship and played in the Ontario Baseball Association championship series in 1943. The next season, playing for the London Majors of the Intercounty Baseball Association, he was ruled ineligible to play by the OBA because he would also play Sunday games in Detroit. The OBA ordered London to replay its semi-final series against Windsor because Biasatti had played for the Majors. Biasatti and the Majors won the OBA senior title in 1945. Biasatti played basketball for Assumption between the 1945 and 1946 baseball seasons.
In 1946, Biasatti began the baseball season as the starting first baseman for the Leafs in the International League. He was a good fielder but a poor hitter, and lost the starting job. He was assigned to the Savannah Indians of the South Atlantic League at the end of May but returned to the Leafs a few weeks later. He asked to be farmed out in July and was sent to the Sunbury Yankees of the Class B Interstate League.
Following the 1946 baseball season, Biasatti was invited to the inaugural training camp of the Toronto Huskies in preparation for the first season of the Basketball Association of America, which evolved into the NBA. He was one of six Canadians invited to camp, and the only one who made the team. Former Assumption teammate Gino Sovran would join the Huskies a few weeks into the season, and the two were the only Canadians to ever play for the team. Biasatti played six games for the Huskies, including the BAA's first game on November 1, 1946. The NBA cites Biasatti as the first international player in league history. He was given an outright release by the Huskies in December after telling the team that baseball was his top priority and that he would be attending training camp for the Philadelphia Athletics. He was selected by the Boston Celtics in the 1947 BAA draft, but never played for the team.
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