CHICAGO (AP) – More than 70 years after he hoped to make his major league debut, a World War II veteran fulfilled his goal of pitching at Wrigley Field.
Tony Gianunzio walked to the mound Sunday and threw out the first ball before the Chicago Cubs hosted the Kansas City Royals.
Wearing a Cubs cap, the 92-year-old Gianunzio threw from just in front of the rubber. His pitch reached the plate on a couple of bounces, with Cubs reliever pitcher Justin Grimm serving as his catcher.
“It feels just like 1942 when I could do it,” Gianunzio said. “I could throw that ball beyond 90 miles an hour and I had a curve like nobody else had one.”
Gianunzio was a teenage pitching prospect and being looked at by the Cubs when he joined the U.S. Coast Guard. He was a gunner’s mate in the service and didn’t return to baseball after the war.