The Tony Conigliaro Award is a national award instituted in 1990 by the Boston Red Sox to honor the memory of their former star Tony Conigliaro. It is given annually to a Major League Baseball player who best overcomes an obstacle and adversity through the attributes of spirit, determination and courage that were trademarks of Conigliaro. His promising career was tragically shortened when he was hit in the face by a pitch at Fenway Park on August 18, 1967. After missing the rest of the 67 season and all of 1968, he made a dramatic comeback in 1969, homering on opening day, he hit 20 home runs in 1969 easily winning the "Come Back Player of the year Award", the following season he had career highs in home runs 36, and RBIs 116, but vision problems continued to persist, his performance fell off and he was never the same player. After a final comeback attempt in 1975 Tony retired at age 30.

A special panel is composed of the media, representatives of the commissioner and the two leagues' offices. Tony's brothers Billy and Richie, and a fan, make the selection. Announcement of the award is made at the annual major league winter meetings in December and the formal presentation takes place at the Boston Baseball Writers Association dinner in January.

This is the list of the players honored with the Tony Conigliaro Award, including the specific adversities they had to overcome:

Year	Player	Adversity overcome
1990	Jim Eisenreich	Tourette syndrome
1991	Dickie Thon	A 1984 beaning very similar to the one that shortened Conigliaro's career
1992	Jim Abbott	Born without a right hand
1993	Bo Jackson	Hip replacement surgery in 1992
1994	Mark Leiter	Lost 9-month-old son to Werdnig-Hoffman disease during offseason
1995	Scott Radinsky	Hodgkin's disease
1996	Curtis Pride	Born deaf
1997	Eric Davis	Diagnosed with colon cancer early that season
1998	Bret Saberhagen	Serious shoulder injuries
1999	Mike Lowell	Testicular cancer
2000	Kent Mercker Tony Saunders	Cerebral hemorrhage Broke arm while throwing a pitch
2001	Graeme Lloyd Jason Johnson	Arthroscopic shoulder surgery in 2000, and the death of his wife Cindy from Crohn's disease Type 1 diabetes that required Johnson to wear an insulin pump on the field
2002	José Rijo	Serious elbow injuries that sidelined him for five years
2003	Jim Mecir	Born with two club feet
2004	Dewon Brazelton	Reconstructive knee surgery and Tommy John surgery while in high school
2005	Aaron Cook[1]	Blood clots in both lungs
2006	Freddy Sanchez[2]	Born with a club foot (right) and a severely pigeon-toed foot (left)
2007	Jon Lester[3]	Diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2006
2008	Rocco Baldelli[4]	Diagnosed with a mitochondrial disorder that causes chronic muscle fatigue

[edit] See also

• Baseball awards

[edit] Resource

• 2004 Boston Red Sox Media Guide

[edit] References

1. ^ "Cook inks two-year pact with Rockies". http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060113&content_id=1295521&vkey=hotstove2005&fext=.jsp. Retrieved 2008-04-10. 
2. ^ "Freddy Sanchez wins 2006 Tony Conigliaro Award". http://boston.redsox.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20061206&content_id=1752676&vkey=pr_bos&fext=.jsp&c_id=bos. Retrieved 2008-04-10. 
3. ^ Lester gets the honor - Extra Bases - Red Sox blog
4. ^ "Baldelli wins Conigliaro Award". http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/articles/2008/11/25/baldelli_wins_conigliaro_award_1227671023/. Retrieved 2008-11-26.