Don Ferrarese

Donald Hugh "Midget" Ferrarese (born June 19, 1929 in Oakland, California) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who played from 1955 to 1962 with the Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals. A left-handed thrower, he batted right-handed. An attendant of St. Mary's College of California, he was fairly small at 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m), 170 pounds (77 kg). He apparently got his nickname from his small size.

Ferrarese was used both as a starter and reliever in his career. He started his career as a reliever on April 11, 1955 at the age of 26—in the first big league year of his career, he showed some promise, posting a 3.00 ERA in 6 games (9 innings of work).^[1][2] He never quite lived up to that promise, though. Perhaps his best year when he was mostly a starter was 1959. He went 5 and 3 with a 3.20 ERA in 76 innings of work. Although he walked 51 and struck out only 45, he still gave up only 58 hits that season.^[1][2]

His finest season as a reliever was his last season. Spending time with the Phillies and Cardinals, Ferrarese posted a 3.27 ERA (it was only 2.70 with the Cardinals) in 63+ innings of work. Although he went only 1 and 5, his ERA was considerable lower than the league average of 4.21.^[1][2]

Ferrarese played his final big-league game on September 22, 1962. Overall, he was 19 and 36 with a 4.00 ERA in just over 506 innings of work. He struck out 350 and walked 295 batters.^[1][2]

Ferrarese's career batting average was .156 (20 for 128).^[1][2] The highlights of his hitting career came on May 26, 1959 and June 22, 1962. On May 26, 1959, he collected three hits in three at-bats, all of them being doubles. He drove in two of the three runs the Indians scored, to help beat the Chicago White Sox 3 to 0. The pitchers he victimized in that game were Dick Donovan and Gerry Staley. On June 22, 1962, he made the final hit of his career a good one. Facing pitcher Jim Owens, Ferrarese hit a two-run home run in the third inning. That wasn't enough though, as the Phillies—his former team-beat the Cardinals 11 to 3. But, for every success there seems to be a failure—like his entire 1956 season. He collected one hit in 28 at-bats that year, for a .036 average. Although he was not a good hitter, he did not strikeout too much. Adam Dunn, for example, has struck out in 32.7% of all his at-bats. Ferrarese, for example, struck out in only 20.3% of his at-bats.^[1][2]

As a fielder, Ferrarese posted a .952 fielding percentage. Overall, his career statistics are most similar to those of Bryan Clark.^[2]

Major transactions

Often used as trade bait, Ferrarese was involved in multiple trades in his career, even after his big league career was over:^[3]

• December 6, 1954: Traded by the Chicago White Sox with Matt Batts, Don Johnson, and Fred Marsh to the Baltimore Orioles for Jim Brideweser, Bob Chakales, and Clint Courtney.
• April 1, 1958: Traded by the Baltimore Orioles with Larry Doby to the Cleveland Indians for Gene Woodling, Dick Williams, and Bud Daley.
• December 6, 1959: Traded by the Cleveland Indians with Dick Brown, Minnie Miñoso, and Jake Striker to the Chicago White Sox for Johnny Romano, Bubba Phillips, and Norm Cash.
• April 28, 1962: Traded by the Philadelphia Phillies to the St. Louis Cardinals for Bobby Locke and cash.
• February, 1963: Traded by the St. Louis Cardinals to the Houston Colt .45's for Bobby Tiefenauer.

Other information

• On May 5, 1956, Ferrarese strikes out 13 batters in his first start in about two years.
• On May 12, 1956, he held a no hitter through eight innings, until Andy Carey broke it up with a single.

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Retrosheet