Joe Verbanic

The New York Yankees teams of the late 1960s and early 1970s under manager Ralph Houk struggled to find an identity after their long stretch of dominance in the American League ended in 1965. Following the departure of franchise legends, several young talents emerged in this period of transition. The Yankees looked to the future with the promise of Stan Bahnsen, Bobby Murcer, Thurman Munson, and Roy White.

One name often overlooked from this time is Joe Verbanic, promoted not long after Whitey Ford’s retirement, who was seen as a real find and potential long-term solution in the Yankees’ rotation. The Western Pennsylvania native, who played in parts of four major-league seasons with two teams, was unfortunately plagued with arm trouble and retired before the age of 30.

Joseph Michael Verbanic Jr. was born on April 24, 1943, in Washington, Pennsylvania, about 28 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. His parents, Joseph Sr. and Armena, were immigrants from Croatia, then part of Austria-Hungary.1 His father was a coal miner and steel worker. Joe Jr., the youngest of nine siblings, moved with his family in the early 1950s from Washington to Raccoon Township in Beaver County, not far from Aliquippa, the home of J&L Steel.

Western Pennsylvania is not typically considered a baseball hotbed. Though all-time greats such as Stan Musial and Honus Wagner hailed from the region, football often overshadows America’s pastime. Aliquippa’s Mike Ditka and Beaver Falls’ Joe Namath, gridiron legends, also played baseball in their youth in the Beaver Valley, where they crossed paths with Verbanic on the diamond.2

Verbanic attended Hopewell High School, becoming its first alumnus to reach the major leagues. George “Doc” Medich followed, debuting in pinstripes as a September call-up in 1972. That same season, Verbanic was attempting a comeback with the Eugene Emeralds, Philadelphia’s Triple-A team.

For his first three years of high school baseball, Verbanic played around the infield. In 1961, his switch to the mound proved highly successful, earning him the team’s MVP award.3 That summer, he starred in American Legion play for Hopewell Post alongside Ron Allen, brother of Hall of Famer Dick Allen (then known as “Richie”).4 Verbanic also played basketball at Hopewell, although he stood just six feet even and weighed 155 pounds when full-grown..

Verbanic’s exceptional performances drew the attention of several major-league teams. After graduating in 1961, he attended tryouts at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood with 40 other hopefuls. His pitching impressed, but he declined a contract offer from the Pirates.5 Bob Bailey, another standout that day, later signed with Pittsburgh as a bonus baby.

Scouted by Philadelphia’s Joe Bird, Verbanic signed a more favorable contract with the Phillies, despite additional offers from the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox, as well as interest from an Arizona college.6 For Verbanic, signing out of high school was an obvious choice, as professional baseball offered an escape from Aliquippa’s steel mills.7

In 1962, Verbanic joined the Miami Marlins of the Class D Florida State League. It was a real culture shock for a kid who grew up out in the country. However, the Marlins’ manager, Andy Seminick, a former Phillies All-Star catcher, also hailed from Washington County, Pennsylvania. Verbanic appeared in 11 games, pitching 24 innings in relief.

Remaining with the Marlins in 1963, he improved markedly, lowering his ERA from 4.13 to 2.60. Rick Pezdirtz of The Miami News called him “the hottest pitcher in the Class A Florida State League.” (The circuit was reclassified following the elimination of Classes B through D.)8

In 1964, Verbanic was promoted to the Eugene Emeralds of the Northwest League. Al Lightner of the Oregon Statesman praised his efforts out of the pen, stating, “One of the big reasons why the Eugene Ems walked away with the Northwest League’s first half pennant is named Joe Verbanic. His forte is relief pitching, a most valuable item with any baseball club nowadays.”9 Typically pitching the seventh through ninth frames, Verbanic logged fewer innings but improved his record to 6-3 with a 2.59 ERA.

Verbanic skipped Double-A, advancing to the Phillies’ top affiliate, the Arkansas Travelers, in 1965. There, he posted an elite 1.88 ERA over 67 innings, though the team finished fifth in the Pacific Coast League’s Eastern Division. Invited to his first big-league camp in 1966, Verbanic started the season with the San Diego Padres, the Phillies’ new Triple-A team, where he went 8-1 with a 2.67 ERA and 1.000 WHIP in 22 games, which included nine starts.

Though he didn’t break camp with the big club, some in the organization believed he was ready. Philadelphia farm director and future manager Paul Owens told Allen Lewis of The Sporting News, “In my ten years with the Phillies, I’ve never seen a harder working kid.”10 Second baseman Cookie Rojas also praised Verbanic.

The slim right-hander, threw an overhand curveball, sinker, and changeup with strong control.11 That summer, he made his major-league debut for the Phillies, wearing #26, on July 20 against Houston at the Astrodome. Replacing starter Bob Buhl in the third inning, he recorded his first strikeout against pitcher Ron Taylor.

In his second career game, after entering in the sixth inning, Verbanic struck out Willie Mays at Candlestick Park. Mays went down swinging in the seventh, though the Giants won 4-1. Verbanic earned his first victory against the Pirates on July 31 in the second game of a doubleheader, escaping a ninth-inning jam before the Phillies won in the 10th.

In his rookie campaign, Verbanic pitched 14 innings of relief, going 1-1 with an ERA of 5.14 in 17 appearances, recording seven strikeouts against 10 walks. That year under manager Gene Mauch, the Phillies – who’d infamously collapsed in the 1964 pennant race – finished fourth in the National League with an 87-75 record.

During the offseason, Verbanic was dealt, with cash, to the Yankees on December 10 for veteran pitcher Pedro Ramos. He learned of the trade in Puerto Rico, where he spent several offseasons playing winter ball for the Caguas Criollos. Through January, Verbanic had a record of 5-8 with a 2.69 ERA in 87 innings.12 Caguas fell to the Ponce Lions in seven games in the league’s semi-final series.13

Verbanic began the 1967 regular season with the Syracuse Chiefs, the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate. Shortly after Whitey Ford’s retirement on Memorial Day, Verbanic was called up to the majors. He made the first start of his big-league career at Yankee Stadium, wearing #52, on June 3 against the Detroit Tigers.

Verbanic was impressive, pitching six and two-thirds strong innings of one-run ball, while earning a 6-1 victory over Detroit. In his next start, on June 8, he threw a complete-game shutout against Gil Hodges’ Washington Senators. Verbanic struck out five and walked one, allowing a hit in each of the first three innings before giving up just one more the rest of the way.

The Yankees gave him a comfortable lead with which to work, scoring five runs in the second inning. Verbanic also recorded his first big-league hit, a double off Joe Coleman in the second inning that brought in two runs. He followed this up with a single off Dick Lines in his next at-bat.14

After the game, his batterymate Jake Gibbs told Bob Kurland of The Record, “The big thing about Joe is that he throws strikes. He has a good sinker off his fastball and tonight his curve was also getting them out.”15 Just two outs were made in the outfield.

Military duty often kept Verbanic away from the ballpark. A Sporting News report that summer noted that the Yankees’ bullpen became overworked and collapsed while he was in the service.16 Verbanic wound up serving six years in the U.S. Army Reserve, receiving an honorable discharge.17

Verbanic pitched in the longest game by innings in Yankees history, a six-hour-plus, 20-inning contest. It took place against their arch-rival, the Boston Red Sox, at Yankee Stadium on August 29, in the second game of a twi-night doubleheader. He pitched four scoreless innings in relief from the 12th to 15th, though he walked five batters and struck out just one. The game ended in the bottom of the 20th, when John Kennedy scored on Horace Clarke’s single to right.

Still primarily a reliever, Verbanic made six starts in 28 appearances, posting a 4-3 record and a 2.80 ERA over 80 1/3 innings. The Yankees, however, finished with the second-worst record in the American League, ahead of only the Kansas City Athletics.

Verbanic spent the entire 1968 season in the majors, starting a career-high 11 games and making 40 appearances. He performed well with an increased workload, earning four saves in relief of AL Rookie of the Year Stan Bahnsen, including a four-inning scoreless outing against the Red Sox on May 19. On July 7, he transitioned back to starting, highlighted by a complete game on September 1 against the Indians at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, in which he allowed one run and one walk while striking out two. This victory brought the Yankees back to .500 at 68-68, with Verbanic’s won-lost record also breaking even at 5-5.

In his next start, on September 10, Verbanic threw a complete-game shutout against the White Sox in the second game of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium. For the year, he went 6-7 with a 3.15 ERA and 40 strikeouts over 97 innings. While Verbanic at times displayed brilliance, 1968 was another disappointing season in the Bronx. Mickey Mantle played his final game on September 28, marking the end of an era. Verbanic’s fortunes, too, took a turn for the worse.

An enigmatic injury, later diagnosed as a rotator cuff issue, kept Verbanic sidelined for nearly all of 1969. He pursued various therapies and treatments without success, including consulting a specialist in Miami and spending a week at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where doctors could not identify the issue.18 In May, it was announced that he was placed on the disabled list.19 Verbanic pitched in the Florida Instructional League later that year after months of rehab, posting an ERA of 1.38 in 13 innings across four appearances, including three starts.

By 1970, Verbanic was back with the Yankees for spring training in Fort Lauderdale. Despite the challenges ahead, his determination was unwavering.

“They had him on cortisone, pills, X-Ray. That poor kid tried everything. The only thing that seemed to help was rest,” manager Ralph Houk confided to the Daily News, highlighting the exhaustive efforts taken.20

Yet Verbanic’s resolve remained fierce. He declared to Jim Ogle, Yankees beat writer for The Sporting News, “I’ll never quit, they’ll have to tear the uniform off me, but I’ll never quit. I don’t care how long it takes, the arm will come back.”21

Despite his optimism, Verbanic remained hampered by lingering injury. He underperformed in seven relief appearances for the Yankees in April and May of 1970 before returning to Triple A-Syracuse. His final major-league appearance came on May 9 against the Angels at Anaheim Stadium, where he pitched five innings in relief of Mike Kekich, allowing two runs, walking one, and striking out four in an 11-3 loss.

That season, Verbanic saw more action with Syracuse, starting 13 games for the Chiefs, who won the International League pennant with an 84-56 record, the city’s first since the 1897 Syracuse Stars.22 The Chiefs also beat the Omaha Royals four games to one to win the Junior World Series.

In 1971, Verbanic served as an instructor at the Florida Baseball School in Fort Lauderdale and attended the Yankees’ minor-league spring training.23 Returning to Syracuse, he made only five appearances for the Chiefs before the Yankees released him in July. Hoping for a comeback, he signed with the Phillies, his original team, in January 1972 and joined their Triple-A affiliate, by then in Eugene.

Verbanic returned to form with the Emeralds, posting a 3.49 ERA over 67 relief innings. Eugene led the Pacific Coast League’s West Division in 1972 but lost the championship series to the Albuquerque Dukes, the Dodgers’ top farm club, three games to one. This marked the end of Verbanic’s playing career.

Verbanic later served as the pitching coach and then manager of the Emeralds, helping the team to consecutive Northwest League titles in 1974 and 1975.24 Afterward, he left baseball to focus on family and his business, All Pro Fire Protection, based in Eugene, which he owned and operated from 1979 to 2018.

Joe and his wife, Beverly, still reside in Eugene. They have two children: a daughter, Kerry, and a son, Michael. Kerry (Sobol) spent more than 20 years as an executive at Nike. As of 2025, she lives in Beaverton, Oregon, home of Nike’s world headquarters. She has one daughter, Isabella (24), who graduated from Colorado University. Mike has worked in sales for technology companies for the past 25 years. He lives in Tigard, Oregon with his wife Colette and has two daughters Samantha (20) and Luci (15).

In 1999, Joe Verbanic was inducted into the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame alongside fellow Hopewell alumnus Curt Singer, an offensive tackle who played for three NFL teams over four seasons.

Reflecting on his career, Verbanic considered meeting the challenges of rising to the majors and sustaining a big-league career his greatest accomplishment.25 He succeeded at every level. Verbanic showed flashes of brilliance with baseball’s most storied franchise, the New York Yankees – a remarkable feat that countless American kids dream of in their backyards.

Last revised: November 18, 2025

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Gregory H. Wolf and Rory Costello and checked for accuracy by SABR’s fact-checking team.

The author conducted an interview over the phone with Joe Verbanic on March 17, 2025, and relied primarily on this in preparing his biography.

Special thanks to Janet Zigerell of the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame.

Photo credit: Joe Verbanic, Trading Card Database.

Sources

Other sources included Baseball-Reference.com, the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame, the National Baseball Hall of Fame (player file), Newspapers.com, ProQuest, The Sporting News archive and Retrosheet.org.

Notes

1 Interview with Brian Kopycinski on March 17, 2025.

2 Interview with Brian Kopycinski on March 17, 2025.

3 Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame player biography.

4 Allen Lewis, “Frosh Verbanic Blooms as Phil Bull-Pen Flash,” The Sporting News, April 16, 1966: 41.

5 Interview with Brian Kopycinski on March 17, 2025.

6 National Baseball Hall of Fame player file.

7 Interview with Brian Kopycinski on March 17, 2025.

8 Rick Pezdirtz, “Marlins’ Verbanic Cuts ERA From 4.12 to 0.00,” Miami News (Miami, Florida), May 11, 1963: 9.

9 Al Lightner, “Verbanic Was Big Asset For Champ Ems,” Oregon Statesman (Salem, Oregon), June 30, 1964: 11.

10 Allen Lewis, “Frosh Verbanic Blooms as Phil Bull-Pen Flash,” The Sporting News, April 16, 1966: 41.

11 Interview with Brian Kopycinski on March 17, 2025.

12 “Puerto Rican Pearls,” The Sporting News, January 28, 1967: 38.

13 Tom Van Hyning, “Caguas Criollos: José Cardenal and Ferguson Jenkins to Félix Millán and Jerry Morales (Part IV),” Beisbol 101: December 19, 2020. https://beisbol101.com/

14 United Press International, “Whitey Ford’s Replacement Becomes New Yankee Hero,” Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), June 9, 1967: 33.

15 Bob Kurland, “Bullpen Specialist Blooms As Starter,” The Record (Hackensack, New Jersey), June 9, 1967: 57.

16 “Bombers Recall Bouton Despite 2-8 Int Record,” The Sporting News, September 2, 1967: 12.

17 National Baseball Hall of Fame player file.

18 Wayne Segall, “Joe Verbanic Sees Future With Yanks,” Sun-Tattler (Hollywood, Florida), March 23, 1971: 13.

19 Associated Press, “On Disabled List,” The Gazette and Daily (York, Pennsylvania), May 2, 1969: 22.

20 Dick Young, “This Year Ralphie Has the Depth,” Daily News, March 21, 1970: 31.

21 Jim Ogle, “Arm Miseries Fade, Verbanic’s Hopes Rise,” The Sporting News, March 7, 1970: 10.

22 Bill Reddy, “Chiefs Wait 73 Years to Celebrate,” The Sporting News, September 19, 1970: 31.

23 Wayne Segall, “Joe Verbanic Sees Future With Yanks,” Sun-Tattler (Hollywood, Florida), March 23, 1971: 13.

24 Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame player biography.

25 Interview with Brian Kopycinski on March 17, 2025.