Paul Pettit, MLBs First Ever $100,000 Bonus Player, Dies At 88

Paul Pettit, Major League Baseball’s first $100,000 bonus player, died at his home in Canyon Lake, California on September 24, 2020. He was 88.

The hard-throwing lefty phenom from Narbonne High was one of the most highly coveted high-school players of the late 1940s, with scouts from all 16 major league teams coming in droves to watch him pitch. To get a better look at Pettit against seasoned players, scouts arranged a flurry of games against semipro teams, which one scout said foreshadowed his future arm troubles.

“I felt they were putting too much pressure on the boy,” George Genovese wrote in his book Fate’s Take-Out Slide. “These men were setting up sometimes three games a week on top of his high school games. The arm can only take so much, and it worried me that Paul might get hurt.”

According to a 1950 issue of the Torrance Herald, Pettit pitched 578 innings during his high school career (including American Leagion and semipro games), striking out 945 in the process. While modern coaches would never let a high school pitcher get anywhere close to that volume, Pettit’s scholastic days were well before the advent of pitch counts and routine arm care.

Pettit’s dominance not only attracted MLB scouts, but one shrewd talent scout as well. Frederick Stephani, an independent movie producer signed Pettit to an $85,000 personal services contract, making Stephani one of the first de facto agents in baseball history.

When the Pittsburgh Pirates won Pettit’s services after his January 1950 graduation, they ran the six-figure deal through Stefani, using the loophole to skirt the bonus rule. This deal allowed the Pirates to send Pettit to the minor leagues instead of keeping him the required two-season major league minimum for bonus players at the time.

The Pirates were excited to get their top prospect prepared to tackle the major leagues, but their hopes were quickly extinguished when Pettit’s fastball lacked their advertised dominance. Towards the end of his high school season, he played center field and attempted to throw a runner out at home from his knees. His arm never fully recovered.

After a 2-7 rookie season with their Class-AA team in New Orleans, it was clear his high school overuse took an irreparable toll on his golden arm. During the third game of the season, Pettit felt a sharp pain in his elbow.

“I called the trainer out and I said, ‘I think I hurt my arm,’” Pettit said to WBUR’s Only A Game earlier this year. “And he says, ‘Well, try another one or two.’ And I tried one or two more, and I said, ‘That’s it. I can’t pitch anymore.’”

Petit pushed forward despite the injury, making the Pirates big league roster for two games in 1951, and then returning for 10 more in 1953. He played professionally until 1962, converting to a first baseman-outfielder in 1954. Even though he proved to be a dependable bat at Triple-A, with moderate power, the Pirates never brought him back to the major leagues after he changed positions.

After finishing his baseball career, Pettit spent 30 years as a high school teacher and baseball coach.

He wondered how his career would have been different the surgical advances of today were available when he first injured his arm.

“I think if I had known that I wouldn’t have made it as a hitter that I would have tried to stay a pitcher for a little longer,” Pettit said to the Baseball Hall of Fame. “I wish they had some of the surgeries then that they do now so they could have worked on my arm.