Rico Petrocelli
| Rico Petrocelli | |||
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Petrocelli in 2009
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| Shortstop / Third baseman | |||
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Born: June 27, 1943 Brooklyn, New York |
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| MLB debut | |||
| September 21, 1963, for the Boston Red Sox | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| July 15, 1976, for the Boston Red Sox | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .251 | ||
| Home runs | 210 | ||
| Runs batted in | 773 | ||
| Teams | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
Americo Peter "Rico" Petrocelli (born June 27, 1943 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American retired baseball shortstop and third baseman who played his entire career in the American League with the Boston Red Sox (1963–76). After a brief stint in 1963, he joined the team full-time in 1965.
In 1967 Petrocelli was selected to the All-Star game during the Carl Yastrzemski-led Red Sox' "Impossible Dream" year. In Game 6 of the World Series, he belted two home runs against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Sox ultimately lost the series 4 games to 3. In 1968 and 1969 Petrocelli led the league shortstops in fielding percentage. In 1969 he set a record (since broken) for home runs by a shortstop with 40 and repeated as an All-Star. He had another good season in 1970, hitting 29 home runs and a career-high 103 RBI.
When the Red Sox acquired Luis Aparicio in 1971, Petrocelli moved to third base. At his new position he once again was the leader in fielding percentage making only 11 errors in 463 total chances for a fielding percentage of .976. In the 1975 Fall Classic, which Boston lost to the Cincinnati Reds, Petrocelli hit .308 with four RBI and three runs, and played errorless defense. Petrocelli holds the fourth-best, all-time fielding percentage for third-basemen.
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