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Atlanta Braves history: Johnny Antonelli the first Bonus Baby

By Fred Owens

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 23, 1954: Members of the New York Giants pose for a team portrait on September 23, 1954 at the Polo Grounds in New York, New York. (L to R) (front row) Johnny Antonelli, Sal Maglie, Whitey Lockman, Larry Jansen, coach Fred Fitzsimmons, secretary Ed Brannick, manager Leo Durocher, coach Frank Shellenback, coach Herman Franks, Davey Williams, Hank Thompson, tean physician Dr. Anthony Palermo; (second row) clubhous custodian Ed Logan, Hoyt Wilhelm, Dusty Rhodes, Willie Mays, Don Mueller, Alvin Dark, Monte Irvin, Bill Taylor, Bobby Hofman, Joe Garagiola, Ruben Gomez, trainer Frank Bowman; Paul Giel, Joe Amalfitano, Don Liddle, Billy Gardner, Al Worthington, Foster Castleman, John "Windy" McCall, Alex Konikowski, Al Corwin, Marv Grissom, Ray Katt, George Spencer, Wes Westrum, Jim Hearn. (Photo by: Olen Collection/Diamond Images/Getty Images)
NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 23, 1954: Members of the New York Giants pose for a team portrait on September 23, 1954 at the Polo Grounds in New York, New York. (L to R) (front row) Johnny Antonelli, Sal Maglie, Whitey Lockman, Larry Jansen, coach Fred Fitzsimmons, secretary Ed Brannick, manager Leo Durocher, coach Frank Shellenback, coach Herman Franks, Davey Williams, Hank Thompson, tean physician Dr. Anthony Palermo; (second row) clubhous custodian Ed Logan, Hoyt Wilhelm, Dusty Rhodes, Willie Mays, Don Mueller, Alvin Dark, Monte Irvin, Bill Taylor, Bobby Hofman, Joe Garagiola, Ruben Gomez, trainer Frank Bowman; Paul Giel, Joe Amalfitano, Don Liddle, Billy Gardner, Al Worthington, Foster Castleman, John "Windy" McCall, Alex Konikowski, Al Corwin, Marv Grissom, Ray Katt, George Spencer, Wes Westrum, Jim Hearn. (Photo by: Olen Collection/Diamond Images/Getty Images) /
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The Atlanta Braves franchise then in Boston, signed baseball’s first bonus baby Johnny Antonelli (left in picture) in 1948. (Photo by Mark Rucker/Transcendental Graphics, Getty Images) /

Atlanta Braves history has its share of can’t miss prospects, who don’t pan out. Some lack talent, while others were victims of unintended consequences.

What follows is a baseball epitaph for a man who made history for the Atlanta Braves franchise and MLB.

On June 29, 1948, the Atlanta Braves franchise signed the first bonus baby in baseball history, 18-year old lefty Johnny Antonelli. He was projected as the top of a rotation starter he finally became, but not for the Braves.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before. In 1947 baseball decided that in an attempt to improve competitive balance, it needed rules to prevent rich teams like the Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox, and Cardinals from signing every good prospect and using the reserve clause hide them in the minors forever. They settled on something called the bonus rule.

The original bonus rule worked in the same way the Rule 5 draft does today. Players receiving a large signing bonus had to stay on the Major League roster for a full season. The rule lasted three seasons, but rose from the ashes in 1952, this time with a two-year requirement.

On page 125 of the Dickson Baseball Dictionary, the author defines and quantifies the result of the Bonus Baby rules.

"“Bonus Baby: A free-agent player signed under the bonus rule of 1953-1957. Such players were usually 18 or 19 years old, so full of talent and promise that they overshadowed their high school or college teammates and had professional teams scrambling to sign them; however, many bonus babies had failed careers as they were not ready for baseball at the major-league level and their talent rusted in idleness on the bench”"

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