As part of our ongoing series of celebrities (which we have extended to politicians for this piece) that played either major or minor league baseball, we now present Mario Cuomo, who was the 52nd governor of New York, serving three terms from 1983 to 1994. In addition, Cuomo was previously the lieutenant governor from 1979 to 1982 and the Secretary of New York from 1975 to 1978. He is also well known for the speech he delivered titled the Tale of Two Cities at the Democratic National Convention in 1984.
Although brief, Cuomo played a year of minor league baseball in the Pittsburgh Pirates system in 1952 as a center fielder. The circumstances that led to Cuomo signing with the Pirates hold more intrigue than his playing career for the Brunswick Pirates (Georgia) of the Class D Georgia-Florida League.
Cuomo who grew up in Queens, New York, first attended New York P.S. 50 and then St. John’s Preparatory School where he displayed his athletic prowess. This resulted in him receiving a baseball scholarship to play for St. John’s University, also located in Queens.
The key moment in Cuomo’s baseball career happened in Bridgeport, CT, when he received $25 to play in an exhibition game, which was essentially to showcase the future Hall of Famer, and New York Yankee pitching great Whitey Ford. Although not the focus of that exhibition game, Cuomo’s performance was impressive enough that Pittsburgh Pirates’ scout Ed McCarrick offered him an opportunity with one of their minor league clubs, and eventually signed him to a $2,000 contract. Another interesting tidbit about that exhibition game was that Cuomo played the game under an assumed name, because he was a student at St. John’s and received payment ($25), which would have been a violation of NCAA rules and thus could have meant losing his scholarship at St. Johns.
Cuomo noted the following about that moment in his life: “The only reason McCarrick saw me is because I was playing against Whitey Ford. Whitey was from north Queens and I was from south Queens, and I had played against him before. That didn’t mean I could hit him, but I was comfortable against him and got good wood on the ball”.
Cuomo also recalled about that exhibition game that, “I struck out once, but I also got a bunt single off him and I think the scout was impressed. You can say it was luck or fortuitous. But, if I hadn’t been in Connecticut, and it hadn’t been against Whitey Ford… You have to be very, very lucky to be selected from the sandlots to go to a Major League organization. I never thought of pursuing a Major League career. I never thought of anyone offering me anything.”
In his scouting report to his future manager of the Brunswick Pirates, McCarrick wrote, “He (Cuomo) runs with Major League speed and throws with a Major League arm but his hitting needs a little work. He has considerable power but no one has ever taught him how to hit. He’s reasonably good but could be better with instruction”.
Cuomo’s minor league career started off well in 1952 as he began the season hitting .353 before crashing into a fence while attempting to make a catch. Unfortunately, he injured his wrist on that play and his batting average plummeted and by late August, his average had dropped to .244. More misfortune happened when in August he was hit in the back of the head with a pitch. As Cuomo noted about that moment, “they didn’t have batting helmets back then. We only had one helmet in the dugout and that was for sissies, so-called, or guys who got injured. So I was unconscious, and it was a very bad thing. I wound up in Brunswick Memorial Hospital with impaired eyesight for the next six days”.
That injury ended Cuomo’s season, but the Pirates liked him enough that they invited him back for the 1953 season. Instead Cuomo declined the offer because of a disagreement about medical care going forward as they required him to get checked out by a doctor. Cuomo noted that as far as he was concerned he was fine, and stated “My eyesight was back, and I was playing basketball and everything. In those days, there were no MRIs or CAT scans. All they had were X-rays, and the one they took showed a blood clot. It was kind of a dark smudge, and they said it might be a problem. The only way they could tell would be to open me up and I said no to that, and that was the end of my career. I never played in another game of baseball after that. I used what was left of my $2,000 to buy Matilda [his future wife] a ring, and that was the end of my career.”
Interestingly enough, not everyone believed in the baseball abilities of Cuomo as one player noted, “He couldn’t hit a barn with a paddle”. The player that made this statement was Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle.
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