Cleveland Indians.

Date of birth:  February 11, 1953 Port Jefferson, NY

Died: July 8, 2014 (61)

High School: Islip HS (Islip, NY)

VERYZER: The pronunciation of his name is VER-EYES-ER. It’s not a common name, so likely altered or added to at some point.

First Impression; Can you hear me now? Yeah my odd brain, when Verizon wireless came out, immediately clicked to this guys name, yeah I said my brain was odd. Anyway, if he didn’t ever do cell phone ads in the Cleveland area, or Detroit area, opportunity lost. It would have been a nostalgia play, as cell phones were not widely ‘affordable’ until the late 1990s.

Career stats player: Tom was a typical shortstop of the era, play defense, hit whatever you can and maybe once in a while pop out a high average season. That about sums it up for Tom V. As a full time player there were 2 seasons where he hit .271. Over his career he played in 996 games and had 687 hits, 14 of them HR.

All Time Stat: In 1000 plate appearances against lefties, he only hit 2 homers. 1980 in Detroit vs Bruce Robbins and in 1983 with the Cubs at Wrigley vs Atlee Hammaker.

Fun Fact: His career range factor of 4.841 per nine innings at shortstop ranks as the 25th best in Major League history.*

Ever a Future Star?  He had a good rookie card, 1975 Topps Rookie Infielders with fellow future manager Phil Garner, and Keith Hernandez and Bob Sheldon.

Rookie or final card? No

Hall of Fame? Number retired? N/A

Links to stories including Tom Veryzer.

*wikipedia