For the past 60 years, The Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame has honored and inducted over 780 incredible men and women who have made a lasting impact in Pennsylvania through extraordinary athletic achievement and contributions. Whether these activities have been achieved on or off the field, we honor them. Through our future virtual museum, we educate and celebrate their achievements for years to come.
The Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame’s 2025 Induction Ceremony and Dinner is Saturday, October 18, 2025 at the Sheraton Hotel-Pittsburgh Station Square.
Ronald Andrew Necciai
Living
Year Inducted:2014

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Ron, a native of Gallatin, was born June 18, 1932. He is a 1950 graduate of Monongahela High School, where he was a member of the Big 5 Football Conference championship team in 1949. He lettered in football, basketball, and baseball with the Wildcats. His nickname in the Valley recalls Jack Young of Fayette City was “Snake-eye Necciai” in reference to his baseball pitching career. He could “really bring it.” Talk about “hanging loose in the batter’s box.”
His professional baseball career was with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization and included stops at Class D Salisbury in the North State League, North Carolina (half a season); Bristol, Virginia; Class AA New Orleans, Louisiana; Waco, Texas; Hollywood, California; and in the Major Leagues with the Pirates. His first professional manager George Deithorn converted Ron from a first baseman to pitcher. Pirates general manager Branch Rickey visited Salisbury and told Necciai to get his pitching act together and he would promote him. At Salisbury Ron was erratic striking a batter out, then walking one. His record initially was 0-5. He was going to quit but got an extra job as the driver of the bus for an extra one-hundred per month. Fellow Mon Valley Donora native Ron Barbao was his roommate in Salisbury. At New Orleans Rip Sewell was his manager. Frank Thomas hit 30 homeruns there. “Every time Thomas hit a home run Jake Nowak’s store would give Frank either a free pair of slacks or blazar. He had every color and style.” In 1952, performing with the Carolina League All-Star Team, he was the starting and winning pitcher, striking out five of the six batters he faced. He led the Carolina League in strikeouts, 172 in 126 innings, and an earned run average at 1.57 that season. He was 6'3" and weighed 185 pounds.
On the evening of May 13, 1952, the first-place Bristol Twins of the Class D Appalachian League were playing their closest rivals, the Welch (West Virginia) Miners, at Shaw Stadium in Bristol, Virginia. Bristol’s starting pitcher was Ron Necciai, nicknamed “Necktie,” a nineteen-year-old with a wicked curve. He had a fastball that had broken a schoolmate’s ribs. He developed an ulcer. He was worried before the game began that he didn’t have his stuff, but one after another, inning after inning, the Miners came up and were struck out. After a while, Necciai’s ulcer hurt so much that he called for time, and the batboy brought a glass of milk out to the mound. He kept striking them out 27 strikeouts and no hits. No one in professional baseball history had ever done that before; none has done it since. He struck out 24 batters in his next start. A few weeks later, when he struck out only 14 he was worried that he had let down the fans. He was the first pitcher ever to strike out five men in one inning. A pitcher can receive credit for more than three strikeouts in one inning if a catcher does not record the putout. In the case of Ron Necciai, his catcher was charged with two passed balls allowing runners to advance to first base that inning. In each case however, Necciai received credit for the strikeout! He holds the record of 14 consecutive strikeouts in one game. The National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues has called the 27-strikeout game “the greatest individual performance in the history of baseball.” At Bristol, he struck out 109 batters in 42 2/3 innings and fanned 427 batters in the 390 innings in which he pitched during his career.
Branch Rickey declared him the equal of Christy Mathewson and Dizzy Dean. The Pittsburgh Pirates brought him North to play in the majors with an MLB debut on August 10, 1952. He was nicknamed “Rocket Ron” now, but he gave up seven runs to lose his first game. His season record was 1 win, 6 losses.
The following year, 1953, he was drafted into the Army and was in constant pain from his ulcer, could not keep food down, and lost twenty-five pounds. The Army gave him a medical discharge. He returned to the Pirates’ farm team, strained his arm, and finally had to give up any hope of pitching. He became a salesman of hunting and fishing equipment. As soon as he stopped playing baseball, his ulcer vanished. Necciai also worked as a partner in the firm of Hays, Necciai & Associates.
He and his wife, the former Martha Myers, have been married since 1955 and are the parents of a daughter, Mrs. Ralph (Susan) Sabatini, and two sons, Mark and Kirk. The couple resides in Belle Vernon and Florida. Ron was a member of the Ringgold School Board upon its formation in the late 1960s and 1970s. He is a participant in the Pittsburgh Pirate Alumni Association.
William "Billy" Myers
Deceased
Year Inducted:1975

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Started professional baseball career with Waynesboro in the BlueRidge League and played in the minors until 1934. After playing in the minorsfor Giants until 1934 he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds and played for the Reds from 1935 till 1940. Playin for the Reds in the 1939 and 1940 World Series. He was traded to the Chicago Cubs in 1941 at which time he ended his playing career.
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