Frank Carpin

To many major leaguers, their baseball career and the statistics attached to it form their life’s work. To others it’s a steppingstone to a productive life beyond the game. Frank Carpin is one of the latter. The lefty pitched in 49 big-league games in 1965 and 1966 but went on to many decades of success in the investment business.

Carpin cites his baseball experience as being valuable in his brokerage career. It conditioned him and taught him to be proactive. “In this business, like in baseball, you must not fear failure,” he said in 2023. “If I lose, my client loses –but like pitching, I know I will have another chance to win.”1

***

Frank Dominic Carpin was born on September 14, 1938, in Brooklyn, New York. His parents were Francis Raphael “Frank” Carpini and Lucia (“Lucy”) Fusillo. Like many surnames, theirs was Americanized and shortened. The Carpini family was from the Gallo Matese region in Italy. Lucy was born in Castel del Monte. The Carpinis moved to Pennsylvania; as a college student, Frank took a summer job in New York City. There he met his future wife – specifically, at Gimbels department store, where Lucy was working in mail order. He never went back home. They soon married and started a family in Brooklyn. The Carpins had one other child: a daughter named Ann, born in 1943.2

It was in Brooklyn that young Frank was exposed to baseball. He began attending Dodger games in the early 1940s with his godfather, the night manager at the Lexington Hotel, who had time for day games at Ebbets Field. When the boy was seven years old, the Carpin family moved south to Richmond, Virginia. The elder Frank had taken a job as a houseware buyer for the Thalhimers Brothers chain of department stores. His son would be attached to Richmond for the rest of his life, but he continued his admiration for Jackie Robinson and fellow Italian-American Joe DiMaggio that began in New York.

Carpin began playing baseball in the Richmond sandlots and city league, playing mostly outfield. He also played football in junior high and followed the Army team in the news – his family was full of servicemen.

He then attended Benedictine High School, a private Catholic military prep school. The Benedictine monks set standards of order. It was a day school – as opposed to many military schools, where students boarded on site, he lived at home. There Carpin played basketball and was a standout baseball player, developing as a pitcher. He was discouraged from playing football by the coach, who was also the baseball coach and feared that the southpaw’s arm would get injured. Instead, Carpin became the football team’s equipment manager.

Beginning as a freshman, Carpin impressed on the diamond for Benedictine. He no-hit Hermitage High as a junior. He also played American Legion ball and in the Sertoma semipro league in the summer and began to turn heads, including that of scout Syd Thrift, future general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Before graduating high school in 1956, Carpin weighed his college options seriously. His first choice was to attend West Point, in view of his family legacy and the strong military influence from Benedictine. Another possibility was Wake Forest, which had won the College Baseball World Series in 1955. Syd Thrift had arranged to get Carpin a scholarship there. Other schools in the South were also considered, most notably Virginia Tech, where his father wanted him to go.

However, Carpin’s friend had an extra application form for Notre Dame, which Frank used. Ultimately, he was accepted, and he chose to enroll there in view of its reputation as a school and his Catholic upbringing – even though he did not receive a scholarship to play baseball with the Irish. Choosing Notre Dame is a decision that Carpin regards today as the best of his life.

Carpin planned to major in electrical engineering to fulfill a plan his dad had started but did not finish. However, he did not start college in the fall along with the other students. During the summer after his high school graduation, he was selected as one of 16 players on the All-American Legion Baseball Team. The team was to tour Latin America during the fall of 1956. Notre Dame did not normally allow starting in January – but the commander of the American Legion made a phone call to Father Edmund Joyce, the university’s executive vice president, who was a key figure in its athletic programs. Father Joyce made an exception for Carpin.3

During the Legion team’s Latin American tour, Carpin’s batterymate was June Raines, who played in the minors from 1959 through 1968. In Colombia, Carpin pitched a 22-strike out no-hitter and was relieved for after pitching 10 innings. He also pitched at Gran Stadium in Havana, Cuba; the team stayed at the famous Hotel Nacional de Cuba. A little over two years later, Fidel Castro took power.

The first time Carpin stepped on the Notre Dame campus was in January 1957, days before starting his studies. He soon joined the freshman baseball team – at the time a player could not be on the varsity squad until sophomore year. In typically Midwestern fashion, his first practice was in the snow – but his tenure at Notre Dame was not typical.

In 1957, Carpin went home and played in the Sertoma semipro league with the Richmond Rockets, for whom he hurled a 22-strikeout game, establishing a new league record.4 This broke his own previous Rockets record of 21. He would soon get his baseball scholarship at Notre Dame.

In the fall, Carpin returned to South Bend and made the varsity team through an impressive tryout in which he struck out 19. With the 1958 team, he set a school strikeout record of 102 that stood until 1999, when Aaron Heilman struck out 118 on his way to a nine-year major-league career.5 Carpin’s standout game was on April 16, 1958: he struck out 19 Indiana Hoosiers and hit the game-winning three-run homer in the 10th inning. This remains the most strikeouts in a single game in Notre Dame baseball history.6

Carpin wasn’t big – 5-feet-10 and 172 pounds when fully grown – but he had a live arm and bat. During 1958, he was one of the better two-way players:

• On the mound, he finished the regular season with a 6-0 record and 85 strikeouts in 57 2/3 innings. His strikeout total extended to 102 in 72.2 innings with two postseason games. His ratio of K/9 innings (12.63) remains Notre Dame’s single-season record.7
• Playing all three outfield spots, and batting second or third, he hit three homers and batted .355. He would bat ninth when pitching.

Thereafter, Carpin started to attend classes only in the fall and played minor league ball during the spring semester. He said, “I felt out of the mainstream.” But he moved up the ladder and began to focus on becoming a major league player.

On June 9, 1958, Carpin reported to South Dakota to play with the Mitchell Kernels in the competitive Basin League, a circuit which was attracting some of the best collegiate talent at the time. After several impressive starts, he received offers from the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees. His father began serving as a quasi-agent and negotiated with the Yankees for a sum of $33,650. The Carpins were haggling with Johnny Neun, who began working as a scout after his short tenure as Yankees interim manager in 1946.8  They eventually reached a deal and Carpin signed with the Yankees.

Shortly afterwards, Detroit Tigers general manager – and Notre Dame alum – John McHale offered Carpin $2,000 more. However, the young man felt that he had to honor the previous agreement with the Yankees, to which McHale replied, “I think your dad wants you to sign with the Yankees more than you do!”

Neun was excited because he had been watching Carpin since the latter’s legion ball days in Richmond. Carpin was back at Notre Dame in the fall to work on his backup vocational plan. It had to have been a big disappointment to the university – and longtime baseball coach Jake Kline – when the pitcher signed a Yankees contract in late July. (It had to have been a bigger disappointment to Notre Dame when freshman shortstop Carl Yastrzemski signed with the Red Sox five months later.9)

In the spring of 1959, Carpin joined the Greensboro (North Carolina) Yankees of the Class B Carolina League. There he led the team in innings pitched and compiled a 12-9 record with a 3.24 ERA. After spending the fall at Notre Dame again, on January 30, 1960, he married a hometown girl, Carolyn Taylor. She attended the Catholic all-girls schools in Richmond and was a class behind Frank.

In 1960, Carpin – aged 21 – was earning a degree, playing professional baseball, and getting ready to start a family. He was assigned to Binghamton (New York) in the Single-A Eastern League. That March, former Cardinals ace Howie Pollet (then the St. Louis pitching coach) said, “This boy has all the earmarks of a comer.” Yankees manager Casey Stengel said in turn, “I see no reason to believe that Pollet’s estimate of Carpin is too enthusiastic. In fact, there are a lot of pitchers in the American League who do not have his stuff and some with more experience than he but lack his poise.” Stengel even went so far as to offer a view that Carpin might develop into another Whitey Ford.10

Carpin had a solid season at Binghamton, going 11-8 with a 3.69 ERA. In 1961 he jumped past Double-A and was moved up to the Yankees’ Triple-A team in very familiar territory – Parker Field in Richmond. He was viewed as one of the top left-handed pitchers in the organization, along with Hal Stowe. However, Carpin began to struggle, mainly with his curveball. He also began experiencing some arm trouble in his elbow. To compensate, he developed a slider. He went 7-9, 3.52 but sat out much of the rest of the season.

On St. Joseph’s Day (March 19) in 1962, the Carpins’ first child was born: a son named Dominic. Unfortunately, Frank suffered through a poor 1962 season. After going 1-6, with a 4.71 ERA to start the year in Richmond, he was moved from his hometown to Amarillo in the Double-A Texas League. There, without the edge on his curveball, he went 2-8, with a 6.68 ERA.

The 1963 season began in Double-A again, with Augusta (Georgia) in the South Atlantic League. Playing for Rube Walker, Carpin made only six appearances with a 4.71 ERA before the Yankees released him to the Chicago White Sox. In a strange occurrence that could happen only in baseball, that night Augusta was playing the White Sox club in Augusta. Before the game began, Walker notified Carpin that he was going to the opposing team. Frank grabbed his stuff, walked across the two foul lines and joined his new team. He’d barely pitched for months, but Lynchburg manager Les Moss told Carpin, out of necessity, “You’re pitching tonight, you’re all we’ve got.” Carpin would hurl back-to-back shutouts in his third and fourth starts for Lynchburg and was feeling as good as ever.

With a renewed mental approach, Carpin threw 196 innings that season, winning 15 games. His pitching career was back on track. He observed, “It’s incredible what a change of environment can do sometimes.” Ever since, he has used this as an example of how one can effect positive change.

The Yankees soon brought Carpin back – but as a middle reliever. In 1964 he was in Richmond once again, by then with three children and a Notre Dame degree.11 He had the most appearances in the International League in 1964 (69, just two of which were starts) and sported a very respectable 2.78 ERA.

Things were going great for Carpin until he received a letter in the offseason. He was being demoted and reassigned to Augusta. Carpin turned to an old ally, Syd Thrift, who called Pirates manager Harry Walker. In the November minor league draft, the Pirates selected Carpin from the Yankees organization and invited him to spring training.

When Pittsburgh camp began in 1965, Carpin had renewed life as a pitcher and took advantage of it. He worked closely with pitching coach Clyde King and was effective in exhibition games. But despite the strong showing and encouraging words from teammates, Carpin began the season in Triple-A in Columbus (Ohio) of the International League. With the Jets, he was again sharp, going 4-0 and posting a strong ERA of 2.67 in 19 games.

When veteran Pirates reliever Elroy Face hurt his knee in May, his unavailability left a hole in the bullpen. Pittsburgh’s need for bullpen arms intensified when Tom Butters (the future Duke University athletic director) went on the disabled list on May 24. Butters was suffering from severe whiplash, sustained in an auto accident en route to spring training.12

On May 22, Columbus finished a series in Atlanta, where Carpin picked up the win in relief. The team then traveled to Toledo for a series. On May 24, prior to heading to the ballpark, Carpin was sitting on the sofa in the Webster Hall Hotel lobby when Jets manager Larry Shepard said, “How do you feel about going to Pittsburgh?” Carpin entered a phone booth to call his wife in Richmond to tell her to cancel her trip to Toledo. Frank Carpin had made it to the majors.

Carpin traveled to Pittsburgh to meet with Pirates general manager Joe L. Brown at Forbes Field. He reminded Brown of the “roster clause” in his contract – one which specified that that he would receive $6,250 if he made a major league team.

That night Carpin made his major league debut against the Chicago Cubs – and got the win (for the second night in a row). The victory came after he pitched the 11th inning, retiring future Hall of Famer Billy Williams with the go-ahead runner in scoring position, and the 12th, getting Cubs all-time great Ernie Banks to ground one back to him to start a force play.

The next day the team was off to Philadelphia. The Pirates were riding what turned out to be a 12-game winning streak, and the club started to view Carpin as their good luck charm. Teammates had sympathized with him when he was cut during spring training – but Carpin (wearing the number 20) was proving that he deserved to stay. Indeed, he remained with the Pirates for the remainder of the season, working out of a bullpen anchored by Al McBean, whom Carpin called “the funniest person I have ever known.”13

A highlight of Carpin’s career came when he met his childhood hero on June 26, 1965. During pregame batting practice, Jackie Robinson was on the field serving as backup color analyst for the Saturday game at Dodger Stadium. Carpin introduced himself and was able to chat with him.

On August 18, Carpin was in the midst of a baseball oddity – Al McBean was used as a pitcher twice in the same game, one of only 25 such occurrences in major league history (as of 2009).14 The Pirates were leading the Houston Astros 8-7 in the bottom of the ninth when Harry Walker brought Carpin in to face Joe Morgan in a lefty-on-lefty matchup. But rather than take McBean out of the game completely, Walker moved him to left field, replacing Willie Stargell. Carpin struck out Morgan – and then McBean returned to the mound. The Pirates held on to win. Carpin did his job, upholding the strategy.

Altogether that season, Carpin made 39 appearances for the Bucs, going 3-1 with a 3.18 ERA in 39.2 innings. His control could be shaky (24 walks in his limited time), but he minimized the damage, mainly by forcing batters to hit the ball on the ground with his sinking fastball.

Despite having become a major leaguer, in the offseason Carpin continued to develop his off-field career. He began working for the firm Abbott, Proctor & Paine in Richmond as a stock and commodities broker. He enjoyed the work and long-term stability it could provide.

That November the Houston Astros acquired Carpin in the Rule V draft. Astros general manager Paul Richards had seen the lefty when he managed the Orioles, and Houston manager Lum Harris also liked Carpin. But both were fired soon after Carpin was picked up, which meant an uphill battle to get a roster spot.  

Nonetheless, Carpin won a job in spring training. His deceptive motion drew attention that March: “[Carpin] takes the ball out of the glove earlier than most pitchers and he draws it slowly back, high behind his head. Then various parts of his body start moving forward, he jerks his head and finally releases the ball,” observed a Sporting News correspondent.15

However, Carpin’s stint with the Astros didn’t prove to be enjoyable. Adding to the disappointment of leaving the Pirates was his dislike for catcher John Bateman, who was known for his temperament. Another handicap was “Astroturf,” the artificial grass newly installed at the Astrodome. As a ground ball pitcher, Carpin did not like the fast action that it provided.

On May 5, against the Cubs at the dome, Carpin recorded another baseball oddity: that night he was the game’s winning pitcher without retiring a batter. Called in with two out in the top of the 13th and the score tied at 3-3, he began working against Billy Williams when Adolfo Phillips and Glenn Beckert pulled a double steal of second and third. Then Phillips attempted to steal home, but the pitch beat him to the plate and the tag was applied by catcher Bill Heath for the third out. The Astros won in the bottom of the frame when Jim Wynn drove in Joe Morgan and made Carpin the winning pitcher.  

The next night Carpin gave up three hits without retiring a batter. He was soon sent to the Astros’ Triple-A affiliate, the Oklahoma City 89ers. He spent most of the summer in the Oklahoma heat, posting respectable marks (3-5, 2.92 in 44 outings). After another call-up in August, he pitched in his last major league game on September 3 in Atlanta. Thereafter, manager Grady Hatton, concerned about the swelling in Carpin’s elbow, consulted with the team doctor and shut him down. Carpin worked in 10 games for Houston in 1966, pitching just six innings and recording a 7.50 ERA.

When the season was over, Carpin – with his fourth child on the way and aware of his arm soreness – notified the team of his retirement. In 49 big-league games, he posted a 4-1 (.800) record, throwing 45 2/3 innings, allowing 44 hits and 30 walks while striking out 29. His career ERA was 3.74. He had a .259 Opponents’ Batting Average (OAV) and .377 Opponents’ On-Base Percentage (OOB).

Carpin remembers many lesser-known Dodgers “giving him fits” but pitched right-handed pull hitters well. He had less success against “punch hitters” who could go to the opposite field. He always pitched Maury Wills inside. He never gave up an extra-base hit to Hank Aaron or Willie Mays.

One stat from Carpin’s short big-league career stands out: he never gave up a single home run. It shows that even though he wasn’t a star, he protected his team in his middle relief role. As in his subsequent investment career, he kept his team in position to win.

During the late 1960s, Carpin worked to expand his brokerage clientele while raising his young family. But it’s tough to keep a baseball man away from the sport. Soon he was pitching again in the Valley League, a low amateur/semipro circuit, with a team from the small town of Madison, Virginia. He had made a deal with the Madison Blue Jays to pitch for $50 per game – but only on Friday and Saturday home games. It was a nice way to continue to pitch and enjoy the game.

From 1969-1972 Carpin enjoyed stress-free baseball in low level semipro leagues around Richmond. He found his control to be better than ever and the bone chips in his elbow had apparently dissolved. An ump remarked how late his curveball was breaking. He was almost unhittable.

The guys on the Madison team really wanted to beat rivals from Waynesboro, another Virginia town 50 miles south. Carpin agreed to pitch an away game, and his teammates were soon wagering hundreds of dollars on a Madison victory. Carpin got them their win and soon the Valley League banned ex-pros from participating in official league play. The Valley League experience even caught the attention of an Orioles scout, who suggested a comeback. Carpin wasn’t interested – but that did not end his days on the mound.

In the 1980s, one of his sons (also named Frank), after playing high school ball at his father’s  alma mater, was playing in a similar semipro league. Carpin jokingly told the coach, “If you can’t win, I will come in and pitch for you.” Soon he was on the mound having a great time again. His son suffered a season-ending injury, but Carpin continued to show up without him – at age 48. However, he started to feel shoulder pain and quit, this time for good.

Carpin’s Catholic faith was prevalent in his early life and when playing baseball, which he credits mostly to his mother. A rite of passage for many young Catholics was consideration of the priesthood. Frank admittedly did so too, but the thought passed by the time he got to high school. His time at Notre Dame solidified his faith and he attended Mass weekly even through the rigorous travel schedule of professional baseball. He remembered Roberto Clemente being a very religious person. He also cites Clyde King and Bobby Richardson as being Christians.

On a related note, Carpin was always the first team member to go to bed and a lifelong early riser. During nightly hotel bed checks, team staff didn’t bother to knock on his door.

In 1970 the brokerage firm Carpin worked for was acquired by Paine Webber, Inc. He stayed with that company for 40 years (it in turn was acquired in 2000). Carpin’s first marriage ended in divorce in 1993. On November 18, 1995, he was remarried to Mary Alice Coyne, who also worked for Paine Webber.16 They divorced in 2008. He later began working for Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. as a financial advisor. Frank got married again in September 2024 and honeymooned at a Notre Dame football game.17

As of 2026, Carpin is still working – just with fewer clients. He has two of his original clients left, for whom he has now maintained investment portfolios for 59 years.18 He plays golf three to four times a week, usually on weekends because he is still going to the office (he maintains two, in Richmond and Florida). His children are all in Richmond still, but his nine grandchildren increasingly dispersed.

Carpin has regularly attended Notre Dame football games since 1981. In a spirit of reverence, he anticipates Midwestern fall days on the campus with the Golden Dome. He admits to following football more closely than baseball these days – but that is allowed for Notre Dame graduates.

Today Carpin looks back fondly on his short major league career – especially his time with the Pirates. “I showed up and did pretty darn well…We all got along great, there was no superhero stuff with Clemente or Stargell.” He noted, “When I left for Houston, I missed them greatly.”

“We Are Family” became the theme of the great 1979 Pirates team. Carpin felt the family-like atmosphere earlier during the 1965 season. When Clemente died, he was saddened. “It didn’t seem fair,” Carpin noted. Clemente’s great character was visible during the 1965 season and filtered throughout the entire team.  

Carpin had similar sentiment about meeting his other childhood hero: Joe DiMaggio. He reflects on DiMaggio as a kind man who surprisingly remembered his name when he saw him later in a San Francisco café. Perhaps it was an Italian connection.  

Carpin played before the advent of arthroscopic surgery, free agency, and ballooning salaries. In today’s era, perhaps his career would have been different. But he has no regrets. His proactivity during his time in baseball catapulted him into a full life that has yet to wind down (as of 2026).

Notre Dame peer – and former SABR president19 – Cappy Gagnon put it nicely: “Frank has had a fine career as an investment manager. But throughout his entire life he’s been a successful professional and an even better person.”

Last revised: March 15, 2026

Acknowledgments

The author first met Frank Carpin in the fall of 1989, as a youngster, at a Notre Dame football game. Special thanks to Mr. Carpin for his memories.

The author would also like to thank Cappy Gagnon for his assistance with this story, which was subsequently reviewed by Rory Costello and Bill Lamb and fact-checked by Larry DeFillipo.

Photo credit: Frank Carpin, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources listed in the Notes, the author utilized Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and LA84.org (Sporting News Contract Card archive).

Notes

1 Frank Carpin, telephone interview with author, February 2, 2023. Unless otherwise indicated, all Carpin quotes come from this interview.

2 Obituary, Ann Carpin Hooson, January 8, 2021 (https://www.springerandson.com/on-line-obituary/ann-carpin-hooson/, accessed January 31, 2026).

3 Another exception was Albert Perini, son of Lou Perini, owner of the Boston/Milwaukee Braves.

4 Jimmy Gleason, “Rockets’ Carpin strikes out 22 Irish,” Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 28, 1957: B-3.

5 Dan (author’s surname unavailable), “From ND to MLB: Frank Carpin,” January 14, 2011,  https://njbaseball.net/from-nd-to-mlb-frank-carpin/

6 “Heilman Ties BIG EAST Record With 18-Strikeout Game At West Virginia” https://fightingirish.com/baseball-welcomes-panthers-as-homestand-rolls-on/

7 Email correspondence, Cappy Gagnon, March 24, 2023.

8 Neun is also on the short list of men who have completed an unassisted triple play. which he executed on May 31, 1927, as a first baseman for the Tigers.

9 Email correspondence, Cappy Gagnon, March 24, 2023.

10 Dan Daniel, “Yankees Booming Southpaw Carpin as Classy Comer,” The Sporting News, March 30, 1960: 13.

11 B.A. in History, 1962, with minor in English.

12 Les Biederman, “Bucs Smiling Again as Maz Returns and Losing Streak Ends,” The Sporting News, June 5, 1965: 17.

13 Frank Carpin, telephone interview with the author, February 2, 2026 (hereafter Carpin interview #2).

14 Jim Weigand, “Pitchers with Two Appearances in One Game,” Retrosheet.org, November 14, 2009 https://retrosheet.org/Research/WeigandJ/Pitchers%20with%20Two%20Appearances%20in%20One%20Game.pdf

15 John Wilson, “Herky-Jerky Carpin Motion Fools Batters,” The Sporting News, March 19, 1966: 30.

16 “Celebrations – Weddings,” Roanoke (Virginia) Times, November 19, 1995: Extra-10.

17 Carpin interview #2.

18 Carpin interview #2.

19 Cappy Gagnon served as SABR President from 1984-1985 and was on the Board of Directors from 1987-1990. He is the author of Notre Dame Baseball Greats (Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2004).