Tito Nanni

'Tito Angelo Nanni Jr. During his athletics career at Chestnut Hill, Nanni played baseball, basketball, and football. He was recruited by Wake Forest University and Boston College to play football, but Nanni opted to pursue a career in baseball.

Professional career

Seattle Mariners

1978–1980 Nanni was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the first round (sixth pick overall) of the 1978 Major League Baseball draft. Nanni committed to play baseball and football for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, but chose to enter professional baseball instead. When asked about being drafted sixth overall Nanni stated, "It was an honor [...] two days before the draft, I was talking to my coach and it was the first time I had heard anything about how high I was going to go. [...] So for two days all of a sudden I had to start thinking. What am I going to do? Here I'm thinking I'm going to go low and it wouldn't be a problem, because the money's not that good, and you're better off going to college. So I did a lot of thinking. Accounts by then-Mariners general manager, Dick Viertleib, later indicated that Kirk Gibson was supposed to be their first round draft choice, but the team's financiers did not want to pay the higher salary that Gibson was likely to ask for.

Nanni was signed on August 22, and was assigned to the Arizona League Mariners. The chief scout for the Seattle Mariners who signed Nanni, Mel Didier, was later fired because the Mariners claimed Nanni's $100,000 contract violated Major League Baseball regulations. Nanni began his professional career as a non-roster invitee to the Mariners spring training camp in 1979. On March 6, Nanni drove in the winning run for his team during an intra-squad scrimmage. Following spring training, he was assigned to the Class-A Alexandria Mariners of the Carolina League. He was sidelined for a month after jamming his finger on a bunt attempt. He batted .226 with 111 hits, 22 doubles, 1 triple, and 6 home runs. He led the league in strikeouts, with 123.

The next season, 1980, Nanni split time between the Class-A Wausau Timbers and the Class-A San Jose Missions. With the Missions, Nanni batted .299 with 113 hits, 22 doubles, 1 triple, and 13 home runs. Following his struggles with San Jose, the Mariners assigned Nanni to the Timbers, where he batted .310 with 106 hits, 24 doubles, and 22 home runs. His 22 home runs that year were tied for third on the Wausau club with Jim Presley. Nanni credited shortening his swing as the reason for his success in Wausau.

1981–1984 On March 27, 1981, after spring training, Nanni was assigned to the Triple-A Spokane Indians, however, he played only for the Double-A Lynn Sailors that season. With Lynn, Nanni batted .249 with 90 hits, 14 doubles, 1 triple, 7 home runs, 40 RBIs, and 20 stolen bases in 116 games. On March 11, 1982, the Mariners re-signed Nanni. That season, Nanni continued to play for the Double-A Lynn Sailors. On August 27, Nanni hit a game winning three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of a game against the Holyoke Millers. He batted .203 with 7 runs scored, 13 hits, 2 doubles, 2 triples, 1 home runs, 7 RBIs, and 2 stolen bases in 1234 games that season. He was first on the team in hits; tied for first in doubles; second in home runs, RBIs, and runs scored; and was third in triples.

In 1983, Nanni was promoted to the Triple-A Salt Lake City Gulls of the Pacific Coast League. He batted .240 with 100 hits, 18 doubles, 5 triples, 11 home runs, 57 RBIs, and 28 stolen bases in 122 games. He demanded a trade during the off-season, because as Nanni saw it, he did not fit into the Mariners organization due to their outfield depth.

Later career In 1985, Nanni spent spring training with the Chicago Cubs and on March 22, he was reassigned to their minor league camp. On April 2, before the start of the season, Nanni was traded to the California Angels for pitcher Ángel Moreno. California then assigned Nanni to the Double-A Midland Angels of the Texas League. He batted .263 with 44 hits, 6 doubles, and 4 home runs in 53 games with Midland that season. Nanni later wound-up in the Toronto Blue Jays organization where he was assigned to the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs. He finished out the 1985 season with the Chiefs batting .200 with 12 hits, 3 doubles, 1 triple, and 1 home run in 18 games.

Nani spoke to Ted Silary of the Philadelphia Daily News in 1985 on not living up to his potential since he was drafted sixth overall in 1978. He said, "As far as tools go [...] hey, that's why I was drafted so high. You ask anybody, I had every possible tool coming out of high school — hit, hit for power, run, throw, field. Still have them too. Know what my biggest problem has been? Consistency, concentration. I don't always tune into things as well as I should. [...] There have been periods of brilliance, times when I've looked like a superstar. But I've also looked like a Little Leaguer."

Personal and later life Nanni was born on December 3, 1959 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Tito Nanni Sr., an Italian American school administrator, and Rita Bryson Nanni, an Irish American homemaker. Tito Nanni Jr was the eldest of nine children. Nanni is the uncle of Ryan Nanni who played for the University of Delaware baseball team. He was the Philadelphia Daily News Player of the year, like his uncle, in 2005.

Following his retirement from baseball, Nanni moved to Utah. He was named by the Philadelphia Daily News'' to the 10-year All-City First Team, a selection of Philadelphia high school baseball players who were dominant from 1977 to 1987.