Chris Cannizzaro kept a Western Union telegram framed on a wall of his Rancho Penasquitos home.

The telegram was from Bowie Kuhn, the commissioner of major league baseball, and it informed the Padres catcher that he had been named to the 1969 National League All-Star team.

It read, in part: “While I am certain that you already heard of these events, it gives me great pleasure formally to invite you as a member of the All-Star team to attend the commissioners reception and Centennial dinner.”

It was one of the proudest baseball moments for Cannizzaro, an original member of the Padres who was the first All-Star in franchise history. He was honored by the Padres in a pregame ceremony over the summer during the run-up to the 2016 All-Star Game hosted at Petco Park.


Cannizzaro, who had been suffering from lung cancer and COPD, died late Thursday night at the age of 78.

“He taught me a lot about pitching and how to be a professional baseball player,” said former Padres pitcher Randy Jones, who was teammates with Cannizzaro on the Padres’ 1974 team. “He was hard-nosed, old school. He fit me perfectly, to tell you the truth.

“When we got done playing, I started doing some baseball camps. He was always one of my coaches, probably for 18 years doing baseball camps for kids, Chris was always there. We had a great time giving back to the kids, teaching them how to play, and laughing. It was always really good with Chris.”

Opening Day Padres pitcher Dick Selma (left) and catcher Chris Cannizzaro talk with manager Preston Gomez at San Diego Stadium, where the major league Padres later played their first game. (Dan Tichonchuk/UT )


During a 13-year career in the major leagues from 1960-74, Cannizzaro was regarded as a hard-nosed defensive catcher with a strong arm who batted .235 over 740 games spread among six teams.

Cannizzaro played for the original Mets — and one-of-a-kind manager Casey Stengel — after being drafted off the St. Louis Cardinals during the 1961 expansion draft.

He joined the Padres during spring training in ’69 after being traded from Pittsburgh just days before the expansion franchise’s inaugural season began. Cannizzaro was behind the plate on opening night, catching for starter Dick Selma in a 2-1 win over the Astros at San Diego Stadium.

He spent two full seasons with the Padres before being traded to the Cubs early in the 1971 season. Cannizzaro returned to the Padres in 1974 for his final season in the majors.


“We wasn’t afraid to take charge,” Jones said. “Like young (pitchers) could be stubborn, might say, ‘My curveball’s my best pitch.’ He’d say, ‘Well, you better learn how to use the fastball.’ Chris Cannizzaro would make you learn how to use it, and he’d stay on you. He’d push you. That’s old school, and you needed that. I always enjoyed that. He loved to compete and play.”

In 1969, as the All-Star Game approached that year, speculation centered on either Padres outfielder Ollie Brown (batting .269 with 12 home runs and 41 RBIs) or first baseman Nate Colbert (.253, 14 HR, 34 RBIs) being the team’s representative in the game.

Cannizzaro was batting .245 with two homers and 25 RBIs. But it seemed the National League needed a catcher to fill out its roster, so he was the one who got the call.

During an interview with the Union-Tribune over the summer, Cannizzaro recalled being told he was an All-Star.


“(Padres manager) Preston Gomez told me and then everybody came up and congratulated me,” said Cannizzaro, who was on the road with the Padres in San Francisco when he found out.

Being named to the All-Star team is front-page news these days. Forty-seven years ago, it merited but a one-sentence mention in The San Diego Union.

Although it did include this quote from Cannizzaro: “My wife was so thrilled I couldn’t get her to stop crying.”

Cannizzaro roomed with knuckleballer Phil Niekro in Washington, D.C. He remembered warming up Cardinals left-hander Steve Carlton, the NL’s starting pitcher, before the game, then watching from the bench as the Reds’ Johnny Bench started for the NL. Cannizzaro never did get into the game.


“I was hoping I would get to play, but it was a thrill just to be on the team,” Cannizzaro said after the game. “It was something I’ll never forget.”

Five decades later, Cannizzaro felt much the same way.

“It was a lifetime experience,” he said, “and I treated it as such. I was thankful.”

When his major league career ended, Cannizzaro spent the 1975 season as a player-manager for the Triple-A Hawaii Islanders before switching full-time to coaching.


He worked on the major league coaching staff of the Atlanta Braves from 1976-78. Cannizzaro served as the team’s bullpen coach, although he stuck around in the dugout for a game in 1977 when Braves owner Ted Turner decided to manage the team that night.

Cannizzaro coached in the Angels organization after leaving the Braves. He was named manager of the organization’s Single-A Redwood Pioneers in 1981.

Among Cannizzaro’s players for the Pioneers was Mark Smelko, a San Diego native who played baseball at San Diego State with Cannizzaro’s son, Aztecs second baseman Chris Cannizzaro Jr.

Smelko was well acquainted with the senior Cannizzaro by then. As a youngster, Smelko watched Cannizzaro work behind the plate with the Padres.


“Watching him throw,” Smelko said. “Oh, my gosh, he could throw.

“I appreciated the way he played the game. He’d stick his nose in and get run over and that kind of stuff. He was just a hard-nosed player who respected the game.”

Smelko’s appreciation for Cannizzaro grew when he managed Smelko in the minors.

A decade later, Smelko was coaching baseball at Monte Vista High when he bumped into Cannizzaro at the La Mesa Oktoberfest. The chance encounter led Cannizzaro to joining the Monarchs staff, where he coached from 1996-98.


“With as many things as he had been through, he made our teams and our kids and our coaching staff better,” Smelko said. “His greatest line was, ‘If you sleep with dogs, you get fleas.’ You start thinking about it and it’s like, ‘Yeah, you don’t do the right thing, bad things are going to happen,’

“The other thing he would say after games, win or lose, is, ‘Turn the page.’ He was very important to us.”

Cannizzaro stayed involved with baseball locally at the college level as well. He worked on staff at USD for head coach Rich Hill, another one of his son’s teammates at SDSU, from 1999-2006.

“It was an unreal experience for our players to have a veteran of major league baseball and a true ‘baseball guy’ around them all the time,” Hill said. “In this day and age in our game we’re surrounded by young assistant coaches all the time and he provided that elder leadership, that wisdom, that grandfatherly guy who was invaluable.


“And he was a true character of the game, believe me.”

In a story on mlb.com a decade ago, Cannizzaro spoke about what baseball meant to him.

“Life is good when you have a baseball uniform on,” he said. “It is so special to be able to teach kids how to win and to me teaching is winning.

“As long as you have a reason to learn you will love baseball, and I always will ’til the day I die.”


Cannizzaro is survived by his wife Janice, sons Chris Jr. and Ken, daughter Kimberlee, stepdaughters Marcia, Tricia and Jennifer and 11 grandchildren.

Services are private, but a public memorial is being planned for February.

kirk.kenney@sduniontribune.com / on Twitter: @sdutkirKDKenney