RIP Tito Francona.
 

First major league game I attended was Sept. 5, 1960 in Detroit when the Indians played the Tigers. I'm pretty sure Tito played that day.

A friend of mine sent me this picture last year. His dad, Bob Allen, played for the Indians in the early 1960s, and this is from one of the team's family days that they held.
I knew of Terry but not really Tito until I started collecting vintage last year. I've learned more and more about Tito in the past 6 months.

https://i.imgur.com/8RrdhcV.jpg?1

Sixty years ago, I saw my first major league game, an exhibition between the Cardinals and White Sox in Pensacola, Fla. After the game, I saw other kids gathered around a pair of buses and discovered they were getting autographs from the players. I had nothing with me to sign, so I found a discarded popcorn box, ripped off one side and passed the piece of cardboard through a window of each bus. It came back with two signatures from each bus, Tito Francona and Lu (sic) Aparicio from the White Sox bus and Wally Moon and Phil Clark from the Cardinals. What a coincidence that Francona and Moon should leave us the same week 60 years later. Believe it or not, though I do not collect autographs, I still have that chunk of cardboard.
Bob Rich@rd$on

Doubleheader that day, Francona went 3 for 4 with a home run in the first game, 0 for 3 in the second game.

As an Indians fan, he has left behind one helluva legacy. A common player in the '50s and '60s when he played or the Tribe, his son is anything but common in the eyes of Indians fans. The way Terry involved his dad in the community, Indians fans were able to connect well with the whole family. They've embraced Cleveland. For those of you that don't know, Tito and Terry released their own pasta sauce last year that has been sold locally. Not sure if it's still in stores, but you can buy it online.

https://www.franconapastasauce.com/shop

I obviously never saw Tito play, but I did see him in person throw out the first pitch in the 2016 World Series.

RIP Tito.