Wednesday, December 25, 2013

#196 Doug Camilli



Catcher Doug Camilli is the son of 1941 NL MVP Dolph Camilli. Doug spent nine season in the majors, six of them complete seasons. He was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers out of Stanford University in 1957. He got brief looks at the majors in 1960 and '61 before he stuck in 1962.

With the Dodgers Camilli backed up Johnny Roseboro for three years including the Dodgers' World Series winning 1963 campaign. Camilli did not appear in the Series. His best season in a Dodger uniform was 1962 when he hit .284 with 22 RBI in about 100 plate appearances.

He was sold to the Senators for the '64 season and that was his busiest year as he got into 75 games while serving as Paul Casanova's back-up and pinch hitting. His playing time dwindled over the course of the next two seasons and he moved into the coaching ranks in Washington in 1967. The next season he was activated at the end of the season and got into one final big league contest. He whiffed twice but got a single in his last major league at bat.

Camilli remained in the game as a coach and minor league instructor and manager through 1992, mostly in the Red Sox system.

Gil Hodges played with both Doug and Dolph. Doug Camilli caught Sandy Koufax' third career no-hitter on June 4, 1964.

No comments: