Carl Furillo "the Reading Rifle" - Reading, PA - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

Carl Furillo was a local boy who made good, in fact, he made very good. Not only was he a .344 hitter with the Dodgers, he was also noted for his strong and accurate throwing, earning his nickname "the Reading Rifle" when he played in the minor league. While in the minor league, he played in Sanford, Florida, alongside Jackie Robinson. He moved up to the major league with the Dodgers, and played with them when they were in Brooklyn and when they moved to Los Angeles. However, there is a sad side to his story as his career was cut short when he was released after suffering a torn calf muscle. Carl sued the Dodgers, accusing them of releasing him to avoid a higher pension that players who played more than 15 years were entitled to. He did win a small award and retired from the game.

After retirement, he moved to New York City and worked installing elevators and finally returned to Reading where he worked as a night watchman. He died in 1989 from heart failure after suffering from leukemia and is buried in the Forest Hills Memorial Gardens.

April 17,2020: Edited to add the link to a new and very interesting article about the life of Carl Furillo. (visit link)

Description: From his Wikipedia article: In his 15-year career, Furillo batted .299 with 192 home runs, 1910 hits, 1058 RBI, 895 runs, 324 doubles, 56 triples, 48 stolen bases, a .458 slugging average and 514 walks for a .355 on-base percentage. As an outfielder, he had 3322 putouts, 151 assists, 34 double plays and 74 errors for 3547 total chances and a .979 fielding percentage. If he had one more hit in his career, he would have statistically had a .300 batting average. Date of birth: 03/08/1922 Date of death: 01/21/1989 Area of notoriety: Sports Marker Type: Headstone Setting: Outdoor Visiting Hours/Restrictions: Closed dusk to dawn Fee required?: No Web site: [Web Link]

Visit Instructions:
To post a visit log for waymarks in this category, you must have personally visited the waymark location. When logging your visit, please provide a note describing your visit experience, along with any additional information about the waymark or the surrounding area that you think others may find interesting.

We especially encourage you to include any pictures that you took during your visit to the waymark. However, only respectful photographs are allowed. Logs which include photographs representing any form of disrespectful behavior (including those showing personal items placed on or near the grave location) will be subject to deletion.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.