On December 15, 1960 the Red Sox announced that they had made a trade; Frank Sullivan was on his way to Philly and Gene Conley was heading to Fenway Park to ply his trade. On paper it looked like a wash, Sullivan was a 6’6″ 225 lb right-hander and Conley was a 6’8″ 225 lb right-hander. Both men were 30 years old, both had been all-stars and both appeared to have their best years behind them.
Although Sullivan had a better record at the time of the trade, Conley carried a resume which was a bit more impressive. He had finished third in the Rookie of the Year balloting in 1954, after going 14-9 with a 2.96 ERA with the Braves. He was the winning pitcher in the 1955 All Star game and he was a World Champion! In fact he was a three-time World Champion! He won one championship with the Braves.
Gene Conley was the fourth starter in the 1957 Milwaukee Braves rotation behind Warren Spahn, Lew Burdette and Bob Buhl. The 1957 Braves beat the Yankees in seven games to win the World Series!
And he won two championships with the Boston Celtics.
That’s him with the big smile behind Red Auerbach.
Conley was drafted by the Boston Celtics in 1952, The Celtics were just beginning to emerge as an NBA power as Conley joined Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman wearing the green and white.
He was part of the first three consecutive NBA championship in the Boston Celtics run of eight consecutive NBA crowns (1959-1966).
In 1952 he also made his major league pitching debut with the Boston Braves and after playing both in the major leagues and the NBA that season, he decided to forgo basketball and focus on pitching. He resumed his NBA career in the fall of 1958 as the Boston Celtics began a march that was and remains unprecedented in the history of American sports, eight consecutive World Championships!
Donald Eugene Conley holds a unique position in American sports history. He is the only man who has won a World Championship in both baseball and basketball. He has counted among his teammates hall of famers, Warren Spahn, Eddie Matthews, Hank Aaron, Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, Tommy Heinson and Sam Jones. He literally has “backed up” the greatest left-handed pitcher in baseball history (Warren Spahn) and the greatest winner in the history of sports (11 rings) Celtics center Bill Russell.
Conley chats with Red Sox pitching coach Sal Maglie before a start in April 1961.
He truly is one of a kind!
http://www.amazon.com/One-Kind-Katheryn-R-Conley/dp/0975433253/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323820247&sr=1-1
And so it was on this day in Fenway Park history, December 15, 1960.
About fenwaypark100
Hello and welcome, my name is Raymond Sinibaldi. A retired history teacher, after 26 years in the classroom, a baseball fan for three score and five, I have authored 13 books. Eight about baseball and her glorious history; most recently Yankees in the Hall of Fame and Dodgers in the Hall of Fame. An aficionado of the Kennedy Administration, I have written four books in that realm and also co-authored a book of motivational stories for coaches. The first, The Babe in Red Stockings which was co-authored with Kerry Keene and David Hickey and released in 1997. It is a chronicle of Babe's days with the Red Sox. We also penned a screenplay about Babe's Red Sox days so if any of you are Hollywood inclined or would like to represent us in forwarding that effort feel free to contact me. In 2012 we three amigos published Images of Fenway Park in honor of the 100th birthday of Fenway Park. That led to the creation of this blog. The following year, 2013 came my first solo venture, Spring Training in Bradenton and Sarasota. This is a pictorial history of spring training in those two Florida cities. The spring of 2014 brought forth the 1967 Red Sox, The Impossible Dream Season. The title speaks for itself, and it also is a pictorial history. Many of the photos in this book were never published before. The spring of 2015 brought 1975 Red Sox, American League Champions. Another pictorial effort, this will be about the Red Sox championship season of 1975 and the World Series that restored baseball in America. The spring of 2016 brought 61 Motivational Stories for Every Coach of Every Sport. My first JFK effort was in 2017 with John F Kennedy in New England, which was followed by JFK From Florida to the Moon (2019) and JFK At Rest in Arlington (2020). Jackie's Newport came about in 2019 and in 2023 came both Yankees in the Hall of Fame and Dodgers in the Hall of Fame. I was fortunate enough to consult with sculptor Franc Talarico on the “Jimmy Fund” statue of Ted Williams which stands outside both Fenway Park and Jet Blue Park Fenway South, in Fort Myers Florida. That story is contained in the near 300 posts which are contained herein. Throughout the years this blog has morphed from an exclusive Red Sox focus, to a broader baseball perspective to a blog about life, with baseball a large portion of it. This year, 2024, I have reactivated this blog which lay dormant for quite some time. Welcome aboard, pass the word and feel free to contact me about anything you read or ideas you may have for a topic. Email me at fenwaypark100@gmail.com.
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