Ralph Lumenti--1959
The back of Ralph Lumenti's 1959 card
says it all:
In 1957 the Washington scouting staff
burned up the wires with glowing
reports of a sensational 20-year-old
hurler. That hurler was Ralph
Lumenti. The scouts fell in love with
his supersonic fastball and his
maturity. Naturally, breaking into the
Majors without any minor league
experience is a tremendous job and
the Nats felt that Ralph was a year or
so away from Big League stardom.
Unfortunately, 1959 would be Lumenti's
final season in the bigs as the
supersonic fastball didn't find the strike
zone very often.
Sure he would fan 30 batters in his
33-1/3 innings that were spread over the
1957-59 seasons for the Senators.
However, he would also walk 42 batters
during his abbreviated three-year major
league career, which also yielded a 1-3
record.
Unfortunately, the left-hander was forced
to remain on the Senators big league
roster for the first two years of his pro
career due signing bonus rules. As
result, Lumenti was unable to develop as
the scouts had predicted, which is too
bad, as the UMass hurler was signed
after posting two 18-strikeout games and
a no-hitter in college.
Ahhh, what could have been....
(6/18/11)
says it all:
In 1957 the Washington scouting staff
burned up the wires with glowing
reports of a sensational 20-year-old
hurler. That hurler was Ralph
Lumenti. The scouts fell in love with
his supersonic fastball and his
maturity. Naturally, breaking into the
Majors without any minor league
experience is a tremendous job and
the Nats felt that Ralph was a year or
so away from Big League stardom.
Unfortunately, 1959 would be Lumenti's
final season in the bigs as the
supersonic fastball didn't find the strike
zone very often.
Sure he would fan 30 batters in his
33-1/3 innings that were spread over the
1957-59 seasons for the Senators.
However, he would also walk 42 batters
during his abbreviated three-year major
league career, which also yielded a 1-3
record.
Unfortunately, the left-hander was forced
to remain on the Senators big league
roster for the first two years of his pro
career due signing bonus rules. As
result, Lumenti was unable to develop as
the scouts had predicted, which is too
bad, as the UMass hurler was signed
after posting two 18-strikeout games and
a no-hitter in college.
Ahhh, what could have been....
(6/18/11)
