Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Bertoia, Reno
Parallel form(s) of name
- Bertoia, Pierino; Bertoia, Rino
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1935-2011
History
Pierino “Reno” Bertoia (1935-2011) was a professional baseball player and educator from Windsor, Ontario. Born in San Vito, Italy, to Libero and Rina Bertoia, Reno was eighteen months old when his family immigrated to Canada; he and his sister Julie grew up in Windsor. At Assumption College High School Reno played several sports but became known as a local baseball star. He accepted a baseball scholarship to the University of Michigan, but was quickly signed by the Detroit Tigers (in 1953, at the age of 18). He played third base for the Tigers until 1959, when he was traded to the Washington Senators (which became the Minnesota Twins in 1961); he also played for the Kansas City Athletics before retiring from the major leagues in 1962. Bertoia briefly joined a Japanese baseball team before fully retiring as a player in 1964.
During his time with the Detroit Tigers, Bertoia earned a degree at Assumption University across the river in Windsor. After retiring from baseball he scouted for both the Tigers and the Toronto Blue Jays, but devoted most of his energy to a fulfilling second career as a History teacher at his alma mater of Assumption College High School. In 1982 Bertoia was elected to the Windsor-Essex County Sports Hall of Fame; in 1988 he was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and the University of Windsor Alumni Sports Hall of Fame. After retiring from teaching in 1992 he enjoyed a rich social life and repeated travel to Italy.
Reno Bertoia was father to three children with his first wife, Rosalie: Carl, Ruth, and Gina. After his divorce, Reno married second wife Joan Daly, and became step-father to her three children: Beth, Jennifer, and Christopher.
Sources: Obituary of Reno Bertoia, Windsor Chapel Funeral Home, April 2011 https://windsorchapel.com/tribute/details/2349/Reno-Bertoia/obituary.html; “Reno Bertoia,” Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, https://baseballhalloffame.ca/hall-of-famer/reno-bertoia/ [no date]; Jerry Nechal, “Reno Bertoia,” Society for American Baseball Research, https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/reno-bertoia/ [no date], (all accessed 28 November 2023).