Harry Agganis

Born in Lynn, Massachusetts, Agganis was a star football player at Boston University, primarily at quarterback. After a sophomore season in 1949, when he set a school record by tossing fifteen touchdown passes, he entered the Marine Corps. Agganis played for the Camp Lejeune (N.C.) football and baseball teams. He received a dependency discharge from the Marines to support his mother and returned to college to play in 1951-52. Agganis became the school's first All-American in football.

Agganis set another Boston University mark by passing for 1,402 yards for the season and won the Bulger Lowe Award as New England's outstanding football player. Coach Paul Brown of the Cleveland Browns thought he could be the successor to Otto Graham and drafted the college junior in the first round of the 1952 NFL draft, offering him a bonus of $25,000. Boston Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey outdid Brown, however, and signed Agganis to play Major League Baseball for the Red Sox as a first baseman for $35,000.

Following his 1953 college graduation, Agganis played with the Triple-A Louisville where he hit .281 with 23 home runs and 108 RBI. He made his major league debut on April 13, 1954. Agganis had a modest rookie campaign, though he did lead American League first basemen in assists and fielding percentage.

In 1955, Agganis was off to a good start, but on June 2, he was hospitalized with pneumonia after complaining of severe fever and chest pains. Though he rejoined the Red Sox ten days later, he fell ill again in Kansas City on June 27 and was flown back to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he died of a pulmonary embolism. Ten thousand mourners attended his wake.

Agganis was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1974. Gaffney Street, near the former site of Braves Field in Boston, was renamed Harry Agganis Way in his honor on November 11, 1995. In 2004, the Agganis Arena on the campus of his alma mater was named in his honor.

Ken Hill

Kenneth Wade Hill (born December 14, 1965 in Lynn, Massachusetts) is a former starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who pitched for 14 years with seven teams. He pitched in the 1995 World Series as a member of the Cleveland Indians. He also appeared in the 1994 All-Star Game in Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium.

Hill was called up by the injury-plagued St. Louis Cardinals in 1989, had a good first start, and went downhill from that point. He finished that season with a 7-15 record and a decent 3.80 ERA. He wouldn't see a decent season until 1991, going 11-10 with a 3.57 ERA. In November 1991, he was traded to the Montreal Expos for first-baseman Andres Galarraga. It was as a member of these Expos that Hill found his groove.

In both 1992 and 1994, Hill won 16 games, going 16-9 with a 2.68 ERA in 1991 and 16-5 with a 3.32 ERA in 1994. He was also an All-Star in 1994, pitching 2 innings in relief and walking one batter, and finished second in Cy Young voting to Greg Maddux. Hill was brought back to the Cardinals, where he suffered the same fate he endured in his first tour of duty with the Cardinals, only winning 6 games, losing 9, and posting a 5.06 ERA. Hill was traded to the Cleveland Indians for David Bell, Rick Heiserman, and Pepe McNeal. He did well for the Indians, going 4-1 in the remainder of the regular season and 2-1 in the postseason.

He filed for free agency in the 1995 postseason, being signed by the Texas Rangers, tied for the team lead (along with Bobby Witt) with 16 wins and led the Rangers to the postseason. It was in 1997 that Hill suffered an injury, sending him to the DL and effectively ending his playing career. He also played for the Anaheim Angels, traded in 1997 for Jim Leyritz. He performed poorly over the next two years, going 13-17 and finally being relegated to the bullpen in 1999. He was released in August 2000, signed by the Chicago White Sox, for whom he promptly gave up eight runs in three innings, and was then released two weeks later.

He accepted a non-roster invite by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2001, and appeared in five games for them before being released.

Tony Conigliaro

Anthony Richard Conigliaro (January 7, 1945 - February 24, 1990), nicknamed "Tony C" and "Conig",[1][2] was a Major League Baseball outfielder and right-handed batter who played for the Boston Red Sox (1964-67, 1969-1970, 1975) and California Angels (1971). He was born in Revere, Massachusetts and was a 1962 graduate of St. Mary's High School (Lynn, Massachusetts). 

In his 1964 rookie season, Conigliaro batted .290 with 24 home runs and 52 RBI in 111 games, but broke his arm in August. Tony Oliva won American League Rookie of the Year honors.

In his 1965 sophomore season, Conigliaro led the league in home runs (32).

He was selected for the All-Star Game in 1967. In that season, at age 22, he became the youngest player to reach a career total of 100 home runs.[3]

On August 18, 1967, the Red Sox were playing the Angels at Fenway Park. Conigliaro, batting against Jack Hamilton, was hit by a pitch on his left cheekbone, and was carried off the field on a stretcher. He sustained a broken cheekbone and severe damage to his left retina. The batting helmet he was wearing did not have the protective ear-flap that has since become standard.

A year and a half later, Conigliaro made a remarkable return, hitting 20 homers with 82 RBI in 141 games, earning Comeback Player of the Year honors. In 1970, he reached career-high numbers in HRs (36) and RBI (116). After a stint with the Angels in 1971, he returned to the Red Sox briefly in 1975, but was forced to retire because his eyesight had been permanently damaged.

Conigliaro batted .267 with 162 home runs and 501 RBI during his 802-game Red Sox career. With the Angels, he hit .222, 4, 15, in 74 games. He holds the MLB record for most home runs (25) hit by a teenage player.

Jim Hegan

James Edward Hegan (August 3, 1920 — June 17, 1984) was an American catcher and coach in Major League Baseball who spent almost 40 years in a major league uniform. As a catcher, the team he is most identified with is the Cleveland Indians. He played in Cleveland from 1941 to 1957, making the American League All-Star team five times and playing in the 1948 and 1954 World Series. His last year was in 1960 with the Chicago Cubs. His son, Mike, an All-Star first baseman who played in the majors from 1964-77, now is a radio broadcaster for the Indians.

Jim Hegan was born in Lynn, Massachusetts. He had a .228 batting average in his career. When his active career ended in July 1960, Hegan became the bullpen coach for the New York Yankees, serving through the 1973 campaign. He then moved with manager Ralph Houk to the Detroit Tigers for five years, through 1978. He finished his career in uniform back with the Yankees as a coach, and was serving as a scout for the Yanks when he died in Swampscott, Massachusetts, of a heart attack at the age of 63.

It should be noted that the great Yankee catcher of years before, Bill Dickey, once said "If I had been able to catch like Hegan I wouldn't have needed to hit." This quote is from either Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract or from Palmer and Thorne's Total Baseball.

Hegan caught more twenty win seasons than any catcher, all-time.