Gene Conley

During baseball’s off-season, 6’9″ Gene Conley played basketball for the Boston Celtics. He won 14 for Milwaukee and finished second in NL Rookie of the Year balloting in 1954. In the 1955 All-Star Game, Conley struck out Al Kaline, Mickey Vernon, and Al Rosen in the top of the 12th. Moments later, Stan Musial homered for the NL, making Conley the winning pitcher. He won a career-high 15 for the Red Sox in 1962. That year, in a New York traffic jam, Conley and infielder Pumpsie Green deserted their team bus. Green reported to the team hotel the next evening, but Conley remained AWOL for nearly three days, unsuccessfully trying to fly to Israel. “I don’t know why I did it,” he later said.