"I played six positions. When I was younger, I was kind of, I guess, disappointed that I never got an opportunity [to play regularly]. I think I got myself labeled as a guy that could come off the bench and play. Not everybody can do that. By me playing so many different positions, they could carry another pitcher. That was another advantage of keeping me on the bench. I was fortunate because I played on winning ballclubs. I didn’t play on too many losing ballclubs. In my early days with the Cardinals, yeah, but after that I was always on a contender. I have no regrets. It was a great life." - Phil Gagliano (Bill Nowlin. SABR Baseball Biography. Phil Gagliano)

Memphis, TN born Philip Joseph Gagliano (December 27, 1941 – December 19, 2016) was an MLB infielder for 12 years (1963 to 1974). Phil Gagliano grew up in a baseball-oriented family. Though his grandparents on his father’s side of the family hailed from southern Italy (Sicily and Calabria), and on his mother’s side from the Tuscany region, the second-generation Americans took to baseball whole-heartedly.

Phil’s father, Ralph, who was a director of purchasing at a wholesale food business in Memphis, Tennessee, played second base for a local semipro baseball team. Phil’s uncle Tony Gagliano, who coached Phil through high school and American Legion baseball, signed with the New York Giants as a pitcher and spent time in Class D for Portageville, Missouri in 1935, before injuring his arm. Phil had three younger siblings – each spaced five years apart – Ralph, Elizabeth, and Paul; the two brothers also starred at baseball - Ralph Gagliano appeared in one Major League Baseball game for the Cleveland Indians on September 21, 1965.

Phil attended Christian Brothers High School (Memphis, TN), and is one of four Christian Brothers High School baseball alums to have played in the World Series along with Lou Chiozza, Tim McCarver, and current Los Angeles Dodger Logan Forsythe.

He became a good utility player during his early career with the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs. His most productive season was 1965, during which he played in 122 games, hitting eight home runs and 59 RBI. In his later years, he developed into a pinch-hitter, gaining a .354 batting average in that role for the Boston Red Sox and .366 for the Cincinnati Reds. He died at his home in Hollister, Missouri on December 19, 2016, at the age of 74.

Phil won two World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1964 and 1967 (though he did not play in the 1964 World Series.)

(excerpted from SABR, BR Bullpen, Baseball Almanac & Wikipedia)