SWEET HONEY! Former Major League Catcher Johnny Romano Carried A Stout Bat For The Cleveland Indians By Todd Newville

Former major leaguer Johnny Romano has a fun and unique hobby. He enjoys flying radio-controlled model airplanes these days near his retirement home in Florida. He likes to fly them high and far.

There was a time, though, when those terms also referred to his ability as a hard-hitting all-star catcher for the Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox. Romano was pretty good defensively behind the plate and he could certainly handle a pitching staff with a deft hand. With a bat, though, he was even better.

Johnny Romano, shown putting on his shin guards, was an American League all-star catcher for the Cleveland Indians in 1961 and '62.

He liked to hit the baseball high and far, too. Romano (now 71) always had the ability to hit with power. In a decade dominated by good pitchers, a solid-hitting catcher was certainly a valuable commodity on any major league team during the 1960s. For a while, Romano proved to be as good as any backstop in the big leagues. Nicknamed “Honey” by his uncle, Romano was born in Hoboken, N.J. He had the ideal physique for a catcher - standing 5-foot-11 and weighing a stocky 205 pounds. Romano used his solid build to his advantage when it came to hitting. But, according to Romano, his prowess at the plate was probably due more to genetics than anything. His father (John, Sr.) was a former semi-pro baseball player and longshoreman in New Jersey. “I was a very good power hitter,” Romano said. “It was born in me. My father was a catcher. He used to play semi-pro. At the time, they wanted him to go professional. But, back in those days, he was making more money playing semi-pro and working off the piers than he would playing professional ball.

“Whenever they had exhibition games against Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, my father used to catch in those games. They used to call him ’Cannonball’ because he had that kind of an arm.”

By the time he was 19, Romano was playing in the minor leagues after signing with the Chicago White Sox organization. In 1954, he hit .355 with eight home runs and 29 RBI in 27 games for Dubuque (Iowa) in the Class D Mississippi-Ohio Valley League.

In ’55, Romano batted .321 for Waterloo (Iowa) in the Class B Illinois-Iowa-Indiana League. That season, he also led the “Three-I” League with 108 runs scored and 124 ribbies in 118 games. His 38 homers that year set a league standard. In ’56, Romano hit .284 in 33 games for Memphis in the Southern League and .241 in 81 games for Vancouver in the Pacific Coast League.

By 1957, Romano was playing for Chicago’s Triple A affiliate at Indianapolis in the American Association. He had another solid year at the plate as he hit .272 with 15 homers and 62 RBI. But, something was still missing from Romano’s package as a complete player. That’s when the Chisox sent former major league catcher Walker Cooper to manage Indy in ’58. Cooper caught 18 seasons in the National League - most notably for the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Giants, where he hit .305 with 35 homers and 122 RBI in 1947. Cooper’s expertise as a former catcher did wonders for Romano. Under his tutelage, Romano became a much better backstop.

Johnny Romano (shown on his 1960 Topps baseball card) was nicknamed "Honey" by his uncle. His father (John, Sr.) was a semi-pro player who caught exhibition games against the likes of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.

“When I first went down to the minor leagues,” Romano said, “I played for about two or three years for former infielders as managers. The White Sox sent down Walker Cooper to manage their Triple A team. He was the backup catcher plus he was the manager. He taught me quite a bit about catching. My weak point was learning what to do and how to catch. I was always a catcher but when you’re in the minor leagues, you don’t always play for someone who knows what’s going on as far as catching goes.

“You catch every day and you think you’re doing it right. But, when Walker Cooper came down there (to Indianapolis) he straightened me out. The White Sox said the only thing that was holding me back from not going to the big leagues was not knowing how to catch. Walker Cooper helped me very much in that regard.”

Johnny Romano hit 129 home runs in his 10-year major league career and had a 22-game hitting streak for the Indians in 1961.

With Cooper as Indy’s skipper in ‘58, Romano continued to carry a big stick as he hit .291 with 25 home runs, 29 doubles, and 89 RBI. As expected, his catching abilities improved dramatically. Cooper’s help that year enabled Romano to punch his ticket to the majors. Romano played four games for Chicago in late September of ‘58. Then, he performed admirably as a rookie off the bench for manager Al Lopez during the 1959 season. He hit .294 with five home runs and 25 RBI in 53 games for the Chisox, who won their first American League pennant in 40 years with a 94-60 record. Romano particularly excelled as a pinch-hitter in ‘59, going 8-for-13. Like Cooper, Lopez was a former big league catcher - one of the best in history, in fact. He’s in the Hall of Fame based on his managerial record of 1,410 victories and a .584 winning percentage. But, Lopez also caught 1,918 games during his 19-year playing career.

When he retired as a player in 1947, he held the major league record for most games caught. Since then, Lopez has dropped to sixth behind Carlton Fisk (2,226), Bob Boone (2,225), Gary Carter (2,056), Tony Pena (1,950), and Jim Sundberg (1,927). For many years, though, Lopez was a standard by which other catchers were measured.

“The two guys I attribute my catching success to would be Walker Cooper and Al Lopez,” Romano said. “When I went to the big leagues, my manager was Al Lopez who was a great catcher in his own rite. Those two guys were very instrumental in me being a good catcher. They helped me out quite a bit.”

The White Sox faced the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1959 World Series. Nicknamed the “Go-Go Sox,” Chicago relied on great defense, speed and solid pitching. Second baseman Nellie Fox earned MVP honors in the Junior Circuit that year as the Chisox led the league with a .979 team fielding percentage, 113 stolen bases, and a team ERA of 3.29. The Dodgers, though, won the Series in six games.

“We had a great little team,” Romano said. “We played good defense and we had the pitching. In the World Series, I was the No. 1 pinch-hitter at the time. The only time I got to play that whole World Series was when I pinch-hit one time. But, I helped get them there. That was nice. “Some of us who were rookies thought it was easy to make the World Series after that. We thought it was nothing to get in it. But, we also had guys who had been trying 15 or 20 years to get into the World Series. We did it our first year and we didn’t think anything of it. It spoiled us but soon we found out it’s a little more difficult than that.” The White Sox already had Gold Glove-winning catcher Sherm Lollar firmly established behind the plate. Lollar was one of the best catchers Romano ever saw play - along with Yogi Berra and Elston Howard of the Yankees, Gus Triandos of the Orioles, and Bill Freehan of the Tigers.

Maury Wills of the Los Angeles Dodgers slides past Johnny Romano to score a run during the eighth inning of the 32nd All-Star Game on July 10, 1962, in Washington. The National League beat the American League 3-1 that day.

Lollar (a seven-time all-star) won three Gold Gloves and had a lifetime .992 fielding percentage. He also was a .264 hitter over 18 seasons. Romano, though, convinced Lopez to let him play a little as a rookie in ‘59 by letting his bat do the talking.

“When I came to the big leagues,” Romano said, “I had a difficult time getting into the lineup because, at that time, Al Lopez only played veteran ballplayers. I was a rookie and he had that reputation of playing only veteran ballplayers. It was very difficult for me to get into the games.

“One night, he ran out of pinch-hitters and we were playing Baltimore. He called down to the bullpen and sent me up there to hit. With two men on, I batted against (lefthander) Billy O’Dell. The second pitch I hit into the upper deck. The next night, about the eighth inning, they brought in O’Dell again. (Lopez) called me in again to pinch hit and I hit it in the exact same spot in the upper deck. I hit two home runs in a row off (O’Dell) and, from then on, when we played against a lefthanded pitcher, Lollar went to first base and I caught. That was great.”

Romano was involved in a rare play while catching for the White Sox in ‘59. One of the rarest kinds of triple plays is the type where all the outs were made by tagging out the batter or runners on base - rather than by a combination of force outs or doubling up runners who stray too far off base after the ball is caught. In the history of baseball, there have been only 13 such triple plays where all the outs were made by tagging.

Johnny Romano held the record for most home runs by a Cleveland Indians catcher (91) until it was broken by Sandy Alomar, Jr.

On Sept. 27, 1959, the White Sox were playing the Tigers at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. In the bottom of the third inning, Detroit had Tom Morgan on third base and Harvey Kuenn on first as Gail Harris stepped to the plate. He grounded the ball to pitcher Bob Shaw. Shaw threw the ball over to third baseman Bubba Phillips, who tagged Morgan in a rundown between third and home for the first out. Phillips then raced across the infield and tagged Harris, who had rounded first base too far during the rundown. Meanwhile, while all that was going on, Kuenn had rounded third and was headed for home. Phillips threw the ball to Romano, who then threw it to shortstop Luis Aparicio covering third. Aparicio slapped the tag on Kuenn trying to slide back into third for the third out. The White Sox had a plethora of young talent and not enough room on the roster. In addition to Romano, first baseman Norm Cash, outfielder Johnny Callison, and catcher Earl Battey were all promising youngsters. After the ’59 season, all of them were traded.

Callison ended up with the Philadelphia Phillies and later became an all-star. Battey went to the Washington Senators and became a three-time Gold Glove winner. Cash and Romano (along with Phillips) were traded to the Cleveland Indians on Dec. 6, 1959, for outfielder Minnie Minoso, catcher Dick Brown, and pitchers Don Ferrarese and Jake Striker.

In 1960, Romano hit .272 for the Tribe with 16 homers and 52 RBI. In ’61, Romano was named to the American League’s All-Star team by hitting a career-high .299 with 21 homers, 29 doubles, and 80 ribbies. He ranked eighth in the AL in hitting and 10th in doubles.

Romano’s on-base-plus-slugging percentage (.860) ranked 10th in the AL. He also had a 22-game hitting streak in 1961. That was a Cleveland team record for catchers until it was broken by Ray Fosse with 23 games in 1970. Sandy Alomar, Jr., now has the club mark for catchers with a 30-game streak in 1997.

“I didn’t even know I had a record,” Romano said. “I wasn’t going for any records when I played. It wasn’t important and I didn’t put pressure on myself to do those things. We just went out there and played hard every game. But, I didn’t play that last game (during the ’61 season) because I didn’t know I was hitting that high. Otherwise, I would have tried to hit .300.” In 1962, Romano hit .261 and set career highs with 25 homers and 81 RBI. His .479 slugging percentage ranked 10th in the American League and his on-base-plus-slugging mark (.842) ranked ninth. Romano also had nine sacrifice flies - tying Minnesota’s Rich Rollins, Kansas City’s Jerry Lumpe, and Howard for second. Only Jim Gentile and Brooks Robinson of the Orioles (10 each) had more sac flies. Romano was named an AL All-Star again in ’62 - an honor he holds very dear to his heart. From 1958-69, managers, players and coaches voted on the starters for the All-Star Game. Not until 1970 was the voting returned to the fans.

Johnny Romano handled many young and promising hurlers for the Cleveland Indians who later proved to be great pitchers such as "Sudden" Sam McDowell and Tommy John.

“It wasn’t a popularity contest in those years,” Romano stated. “Each ballplayer had one vote. Those guys are the ones that voted me in as the catcher. It was the actual baseball players that played against me that voted for me. And, getting voted in by your peers was a big honor. You look today and most of it is just a popularity contest.”

In ‘63, Romano hit just .216 with 10 homers. He broke his hand when he was hit with a pitch against the Baltimore Orioles during the first game of a doubleheader on May 26. At the time of the injury, Romano was hitting .269. He was on the shelf until July 2.

Cleveland catcher Johnny Romano tags out the Yankees' Mickey Mantle in a close play at the plate in 1962.

“I was just about to go to the All-Star Game again,” Romano said. “It was a fastball at my face. I stuck my hand in front of it to stop it and the ball shattered my hand. They put a cast on it and I was supposed to have it on for six weeks. Two week later, they took the cast off because they wanted me to handle our young pitchers.” The Indians evidently figured that a one-handed Romano was a lot better than no Romano at all. They valued his knowledge and his handling of promising young pitchers which Cleveland had a few of during Romano’s tenure with the team. Sam McDowell was 19 when he broke in with the Indians in 1961 and eventually ended up with 2,453 strikeouts in his 15-year career. Tommy John debuted with Cleveland in ’63 when he was 20. He ended up winning 288 games in 26 major league seasons. Both benefited with Romano behind the plate early in their careers.

“The catcher has to remember everything,” Romano said. “You had to make sure that you didn’t pitch to guys the same way no matter who you played. You had to change and do different things all the time. Before each game, we’d go over every batter with the starting pitchers.

“We’d go over how we would pitch each individual guy in the lineup. I would tell our pitchers what I thought and how we should pitch them. If they had any comments, they would jump in. Handling pitchers was the big thing. Our staff was very young with Cleveland. You had to instill in them the confidence they would have in you as their catcher. It was difficult sometimes.” But, Romano did his job and did it well for the Tribe. He rebounded from his fractured hand by hitting .241 with 19 homers in 106 games in 1964. The Indians, though, traded Romano (along with John and outfielder Tommy Agee) back to the White Sox on Jan. 20, 1965, as part of a three-team deal that also involved the Kansas City Athletics. In ‘65, Romano hit .242 with 18 round-trippers for Chicago and followed that with a .231 average and 15 homers in ’66. The White Sox traded Romano with minor leaguer Lee White to the St. Louis Cardinals on Dec. 14, 1966, for outfielder Walt “No Neck” Williams and pitcher Don Dennis.

Johnny Romano broke in with the Chicago White Sox and pinch-hit once during the 1959 World Series before becoming an all-star backstop for the Tribe.

In 1967, Romano closed out his 10-year major league career by hitting .121 for the Cards, who released him after they won the World Series by beating the Boston Red Sox in seven games. For his career, Romano hit .255 with 129 home runs, 417 RBI, 355 runs scored, and 112 doubles in 905 games. Of those, 810 of them were behind the dish where his lifetime fielding percentage was .990.

Romano is one of seven catchers listed among the top 100 greatest Indians in history - an honor bestowed upon him when the club celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2001. He hit 91 homers as a Cleveland catcher, which was a team record for backstops until Alomar (92) broke it.

“There were a lot of great ballplayers for over 100 years in Cleveland,” said Romano, who has been married to his wife Irene for 49 years. “That was a great honor.”

Johnny Romano (shown on his 1966 Topps baseball card) played for the White Sox, Indians, and Cardinals during his 10-year career. He hit .299 in 1961 for Cleveland and finished 8th in the American League that year in batting.

Romano roomed with Phillips and third baseman Max Alvis while with the Indians. Phillips hit .255 in 10 seasons with the Tigers, White Sox and Indians. Alvis played eight seasons in Cleveland, hitting 20 or more homers three times for the Tribe and making the AL All-Star team in 1965 and ’67. “My roommates were great,” said Romano, who has three sons (John Richard, Allen, and Robert). “Bubba Phillips was my good friend and Max Alvis and I got along very well. I enjoyed them.” Romano played against several great ones. But, Harmon Killebrew in particular was an opponent that really impressed him. The former Minnesota Twins slugger blasted 573 career homers and had 40-plus in a season eight times. Killebrew (who was MVP in 1969) led the American League in circuit blasts six times. “I really liked Harmon and I’m glad he’s in the Hall of Fame,” said Romano, who has six grandsons and one granddaughter. “We just knew each other from playing but we always got along real well.”

After retiring from baseball, Romano sold swimming pools for a while and worked for the government in Bergen County, N.J. He’s lived in Naples, Fla., for the last nine years and (while not a fisherman) he enjoys spending time on the water in his two boats. Flying his radio-controlled planes sounds as if that’s his real passion these days, though.

“I fly them almost everyday,” Romano said.

The higher and farther they fly, the bigger the thrill for Romano. Must be a good reminder for him of the days when he used to do the same against opposing American League pitchers and their unsuspecting offerings.