| Al Naples | |
| Position: | Shortstop |
| Bats: | Right |
| Throws: | Right |
| Birth Date: | 29 August 1926 |
| Birth Place: | Staten Island, New York, U.S. |
| Debutleague: | MLB |
| Debutdate: | June 25 |
| Debutyear: | 1949 |
| Debutteam: | St. Louis Browns |
| Finalleague: | MLB |
| Finaldate: | July 26 |
| Finalyear: | 1949 |
| Finalteam: | St. Louis Browns |
| Statleague: | MLB |
| Stat1label: | Games played |
| Stat1value: | 2 |
| Stat2label: | At bats |
| Stat2value: | 7 |
| Stat3label: | Hits |
| Stat3value: | 1 |
| Teams: | |
Aloysius Francis Naples (August 29, 1926 – February 26, 2021) was an American Major League Baseball shortstop who played for the St. Louis Browns in . He is one of about 200 players in major league history to be credited with exactly one base hit.[1]
Naples was born in Staten Island, New York and attended Georgetown University, where he majored in Latin,[2] from 1946 to 1949. He signed a professional contract with the St. Louis Browns in 1949[2] and made his major league debut, starting against the Boston Red Sox on June 26, 1949. Naples had one hit, a double to right field, against Boston ace Mel Parnell (who won 25 games that year, including Naples' debut).[2]
Naples sat on the bench for a month (the Browns already had Eddie Pellagrini and John Sullivan to play shortstop), then started one more game and was sent down to the Class B[3] Springfield Browns of the Three-I League. That year, Naples hit .232 with no home runs in 56 games for Springfield,[4] who finished last and folded after the season.[5] On October 21, 1949, Naples was released unconditionally by the Browns.[2]
He signed with the Browns' other Class B affiliate, the Wichita Falls Spudders of the Big State League for the 1950 season[2] but did not play for the Spudders that year[6] or for any other professional team afterwards;[7] at age 23, his professional baseball career was over.
Naples died on February 26, 2021, at the age of 94.[8]