Al ‘The Bull’ Ferrara, outfielder for 1960s Dodgers, dies at 84

Al Ferrara, an outfielder on three Dodgers teams that made the World Series and a longtime alumni ambassador for the team, died on Friday at the age of 84.

Ferrara was signed by the Dodgers prior to the 1959 season, and made his major league debut late in the 1963 season. The corner outfielder and pinch-hitter played sparingly in the 1965 and 1966 seasons. He was on the Dodgers roster for the 1963 World Series but did not play. Ferrara got into the 1966 World Series and singled in his only at-bat, as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning of Game 4.

In 1967, Ferrara led the Dodgers with 16 home runs and had his best season at the plate, hitting .277/.345/.467 with a 140 wRC+ in 122 games.

Taken by the Padres in the expansion draft, Ferrara had two solid years at the plate in San Diego (1969-70) before finishing out his career with the Padres and Reds in 1971. In eight major league seasons, Ferrara hit .259/.344/.423 with a 121 wRC+ and 51 home runs in 1,573 plate appearances.

Ferrara was a popular player with the nickname “The Bull,” and his life outside of baseball in many ways was even more interesting than his sports career.

Ferrara credits his grandmother Assunta Paulucci, who immigrated from Italy to New York, with getting Al to take piano lessons growing up. From Paul Hirsch’s SABR biography of Ferrara:

“I learned the classics. Mr. Morvillo insisted that I read music and play the pieces as they were written by Beethoven and Bach. I got pretty good and I learned to use piano to do what I wanted to do. I had a deal with my grandmother that after playing for an hour she would give me a quarter to go to the Bat Away at Coney Island. In those days you could hit about 25 balls for a quarter. After a while I got a reputation as a pretty good hitter and men would come around when I was hitting and put more quarters in the machine so I could hit for maybe a half-hour.”

“Finally, I got my grandmother to agree that if I were to become Mr. Morvillo’s number one student I could give up piano and play baseball. He would have showcase recitals at Carnegie Hall, and the number one student would play last. When I was 16, I went on last as the number one student, kissed my grandmother, and never touched the piano again.”

The Dodgers in the 1960s were the number one team in Los Angeles, and it wasn’t just the star players who ended up on television every now and then. Ferrara in the 1960s and 1970s acted on Gilligan’s Island, Riot on Sunset Strip, Baretta, Mansion of the Doomed, and Dracula’s Dog. He played two different villains on the Adam West Batman series — Trap Door and Atlas.

Ferrara in 1974 was a contestant on Match Game, in which he introduced himself as a former Dodgers baseball player and “freelance piano buyer.”

In recent years, Ferrara was a regular at Dodger Stadium for various events. Since 2009 he served as an alumni ambassador for the Dodgers and made appearances for the team in and around Los Angeles. Just this August he was back at Dodger Stadium for alumni weekend.

“We are saddened to hear the news of Al Ferrara’s passing today,” Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten said in a statement. “Not only was Al a memorable player for the Dodgers in the 1960s, but he tirelessly supported the Dodgers community efforts and was one of our most committed alumni supporters. We extend our sympathies to his family.”