Former Red Sox outfielder Billy Conigliaro has passed away at age 73, the team announced Wednesday.
Conigliaro played 347 Major League games across five seasons, including 247 in three seasons with the Red Sox from 1969-71. He won a World Series with the Oakland Athletics in 1973.
Conigliaro was born in Revere and graduated from Swampscott High School in 1965. That summer, the Red Sox made him their first-ever draft pick when they selected him fifth overall in MLB's inaugural draft.
Conigliaro played two seasons with his older brother, Tony, in Boston in 1969 and 1970, with the two often sharing the same outfield. After Tony suffered a heart attack and stroke in 1982, Billy devoted much of his life to caring for his brother until Tony's death in 1990.
Billy Conigliaro helped to keep his brother’s legacy alive by serving on the committee for the Tony Conigliaro Award, an annual honor given to a “Major Leaguer who has overcome adversity through the attributes of spirit, determination, and courage that were trademarks of Tony C.”