Reno Bertoia

Who was Reno Bertoia?

Reno Peter Bertoia was an Italian-born professional baseball player, playing infield for the Detroit Tigers, Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Athletics.

Born as Pietro, Bertoia moved with his family to Canada from Italy at the age of one and grew up in Windsor, Ontario. His next-door neighbour and role model was Hank Biasatti. Bertoia attended Assumption College High School in Windsor and was signed by the Detroit Tigers in 1953. He went on to attend Assumption University in 1958 while a member of the Tigers. Bertoia also became close friends with Hall of Fame outfielder Al Kaline while with Detroit, and was an important part of Kaline's early years with the Tigers.

In 10 major league seasons he played in 612 games and had 1,745 at bats, 204 runs, 425 hits, 60 doubles, 10 triples, 27 home runs, 171 RBI, 16 stolen bases, 142 walks, .244 batting average, .303 on-base percentage, .336 slugging percentage, 586 total bases and 31 sacrifice hits.

In January 1964, Bertoia signed to play in the Japanese Central League with the Hanshin Tigers. He asked for his release a few weeks into the season because his son had been ill during most of the family's stay in Japan.