Born in the Bronx, he broke into big-league baseball in an unusual way. "I was 14, selling newspapers near the Polo Grounds with 24 cents in my pocket," he once recalled, "when a couple of tough kids came at me. I put up my dukes, and two Giants coaches saw me handling myself pretty good. They complimented me and asked if I could catch. I lied -- I said I could. They gave me a mitt and told me to help their pitchers in practice. "After a couple of hours, they handed me $5, as much as I made in a month hustling newspapers. That did it. From then on, I dreamed and worked only toward my goal of becoming a Giants catcher."