Ollie Carnegie
Baseball player
Died when: 77 years 97 days (927 months)Star Sign: Cancer
Oliver Angelo Carnegie (June 29, 1899 [or 1898] – October 4, 1976) was an Italian American professional baseball player whose playing career spanned 15 seasons.Over that time, Carnegie played in the minor leagues with the Class-B Flint Vehicles (1922) of the Michigan–Ontario League; the Class-B Hazleton Mountaineers (1931) of the New York–Penn League; the Double-A Buffalo Bisons (1931–1941, 1945) of the International League; and the Class-D Lockport White Sox (1942) and the Class-D Jamestown Falcons (1944) of the Pennsylvania–Ontario–New York League (PONY League).
In 1,539 career games played, Carnegie batted .309 with 1665 hits, 302 doubles, 48 triples and 297 home runs.Carnegie batted and threw right-handed.Carnegie also managed the Class-D Jamestown Falcons in 1944.
Officially a player-manager since he also played 96 games that season, Carnegie led the Falcons to a 70–54 record which was good enough for second overall in the PONY League.
In 1921, Carnegie started playing professional baseball.He later left the professional circuit to play in a semi-professional baseball league based in Allegheny County, where he was from.
Over those years, Carnegie played for teams representing Dormont, Pennsylvania, McKeesport, Pennsylvania, Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, Pitcairn, Pennsylvania and others.
The Pittsburgh Press, which covered the league, nicknamed Carnegie the "Bambino" and described him as the "sandlot Babe Ruth".Carnegie returned to professional baseball in 1931 after accepting a contract with the Hazleton Mountaineers, a minor league team owned by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Buffalo Bisons purchased Carnegie from the Hazleton Mountaineers in 1931.This would be the beginning of a tenure which would last for 12 nonconsecutive seasons.
Carnegie is the Bisons career record holder in hits, home runs, runs batted in and games played.He also holds the Bisons' single-season record in home runs with 42.
Carnegie led the International League in home runs in 1938 and 1939.Carnegie has won multiple accolades during his career and after.
In 1938, he won the International League Most Valuable Player Award.Carnegie was the career International League leader in home runs with 258, until Mike Hessman hit his 259th on June 30, 2014.
He is the career leader in runs batted in (1,044) for the International League.He was also an inaugural member of the International League Hall of Fame and the Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame.
Carnegie is also a Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame member, inducted in 1992.Among many fans and professionals, Carnegie is widely renowned as one of the best Buffalo baseball players ever.
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