Johnny Antonelli, the All-Star left-handed pitcher who helped propel the 1954 New York Giants to a World Series championship and remained one of the National League’s leading pitchers during the Giants’ early years in San Francisco, died on Friday at his home in Rochester, N.Y. He was 89.

Scott Pitoniak, who collaborated with him on “Johnny Antonelli: A Baseball Memoir” (2012), said the cause was cancer.

Coveted by many major league teams for his blazing fastball, Antonelli became one of baseball’s first “bonus babies” in the summer of 1948 when, right out of high school in Rochester, he signed with the Boston Braves for $52,000 (the equivalent of about $566,000 today).

Antonelli never spent a day in the minors, since players with large bonuses could be claimed by another team if farmed out. He was used sparingly by the Braves in his first three seasons with them, then spent two years in the Army and returned to post a 12-12 record when the team moved to Milwaukee in 1953.