The White Sox announced on Wednesday that Dario Lodigiani, a well-known former major-league player, coach and long-time scout for the organization, passed away Sunday night at Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa, California at age 91.
Lodigiani is best remembered for discovering or signing players like Cy Young pitcher Jack McDowell and current Sox GM Ken Williams.
“Dario, along with Jerry Krause and Bart Johnson, was a key figure in bringing me to the White Sox organization in 1982, Williams said in a statement. It’s hard to believe so much time has passed, and that he is gone now. Dario will never be forgotten by me or my family. What a wonderful man, and he will be missed.
Lodigiani split time between the Philadelphia As (1938-40) and the Sox (1941, 42, 46), playing six seasons in the major leagues before returning to the minors until 1954 after an elbow injury. During his baseball career, he took time off in 1943-45 to enter the U.S. Army Air Corps.
