A decade before Tony Conigliaro’s career was cut short by that fateful pitch from Jack Hamilton, the most tragic Boston Red Sox story was that of Harry Agganis. Born in Lynn, Massachusetts, this son of Greek immigrants was a legendary high school athlete. He was such a great high school quarterback that more than 20,000 people would show up to watch his games. He could have played quarterback for any college team in the country, but Agganis chose to remain home and play for Boston University where he became a collegiate All American in both football and baseball and earned the nickname, “The Golden Greek.”

Agganis was as big a Boston-area sports legend as there ever had been. He signed with Boston in 1952 and when he made his big league debut  two years later in 1954, Agganis was the most heralded first year player in the team’s history. He hit .251 during his rookie season with 11 home runs and 57 RBIs. His teammates loved him and everyone agreed he would evolve into a big league all star.

That prediction looked like it was coming true as the 1955 season opened. Agganis got off to a hot start that year and was averaging .313 in early May, when he complained of bad chest pains. Admitted to a local hospital, he was diagnosed with pneumonia, treated and released. But upon rejoining the team he had no energy and his persistent cough grew worse. Sent back to the hospital, his condition continued to deteriorate and it was also discovered that the very sick first baseman had a blood clot on his calf. On June 27, 1955, doctors wanted Agganis to sit upright in a chair. As nurses were positioning him to do so, the clot in his calf broke free and traveled to his lung. He was pronounced dead from the resulting pulmonary embolism, twenty minutes later. He was just 26-years-old.

You can learn more about Agganis’s life and career from this profile published by the Society for American Baseball Research.