Angelo Giuliani, 91; Major League Catcher, Scout for the Twins

Angelo Giuliani, 91, a former major league baseball catcher and the Minnesota Twins scout who signed Kent Hrbek, died Friday in Minneapolis of unspecified causes. He had been retired since 1987.

Giuliani was a scout with the Washington Senators before the team moved to Minnesota in 1961 and was renamed the Twins. That year, Giuliani created the team’s youth clinics, which are still in operation. He often said his proudest moment was opening day in 1984, when Minnesota’s lineup included four players he had signed to contracts -- Hrbek, Tim Laudner, John Castino and Jim Eisenreich.

In his own playing career in the 1930s and ‘40s, Giuliani played parts of seven seasons as a catcher for the St. Louis Browns, the Washington Senators and the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was behind the plate the day Joe DiMaggio had his first at-bat in 1936 and was on the field when Lou Gehrig gave his famous farewell speech at Yankee Stadium in 1939. At bat, Giuliani hit .233 over 243 games with 69 RBIs.