St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery, established in 1928 is a historic cemetery and has a few notable athletes interred on the grounds…
Sacramento Solons baseball greats Joe Marty and Tony Freitas rest here.
Joe Marty – Sacramento boy, he played High School ball at Christian Brothers High School’s during the late 1920s and early 1930s, Marty was born in 1913. He received a three-sport scholarship in baseball, football and basketball from St. Mary’s College of California in 1933.
In 1934, the San Francisco Seals, a Double-A minor league baseball team of the Pacific Coast League, acquired the rights to the then-20-year-old Marty.
Marty’s third season with the Seals attracted the attention of major league teams through his statistics as a league best .359 batting average, 215 hits and 17 home runs.
His five seasons in the majors included World Series appearances, one of which occurred in an Oct. 8, 1938 game, in which he became the first Sacramento native to hit a home run in a World Series game. He was the first Chicago Cubs player to homer during a night game in 1938.
He left baseball in 1941 to join the military.
Marty also enjoyed success as a Solons player for seven seasons, including the 1950 season when he held the role of player-manager.
Marty, also a local businessman, operated his bar, Joe Marty’s, at 15th Street and Broadway in Land Park. Marty, died Oct. 4, 1984
Tony Freitas - Left-handed pitcher Antonio “Tony” Freitas, Jr. was one of the most renowned Sacramento Solons players. Making his baseball debut in 1928 in class D, he would be remembered for his clutch performances in the Solons’ drive to winning their only pennant in 1942, earning him legendary status in the capital city.
Remembered as the all-time winningest left-handed pitcher in minor league history.
Winning at least 20 games in nine seasons, inducted into the Pacific Coast League Hall of Fame and the Sacramento Athletic Hall of Fame, named a member of the Pacific Coast League All-Century Team and was selected by the Society of American Baseball Research as the all-time best minor league pitcher. Freitas died in 1994.
Another notable athlete interred at St. Mary’s was Max Baer
Born Maximillian Adelbert Baer, the Ancil Hoffman-managed Baer, who fought in 84 professional fights, was not only a capital city boxing legend, but he was also inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1968, the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1984 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1995.
Baer’s greatest achievement was June 14, 1934, when he knocked out Primo Carnera at Madison Square Garden in New York and become the heavyweight champion of the world.
One of Baer’s most notable fights is his June 13, 1935, 15-round defeat against James J. Braddock. The match was celebrated in the 2005 film, “Cinderella Man. Max Baer died in 1959.
A bit of help? All three men were as solid as a "brick" in their individual sports.. Residents here have a choice of ground burial or entombment in a hole in a wall, where do you think this cache may be hidden? ... Your feet 'can remain' on the walkway to get to this cache... But you will need to look carefully... WATCH FOR MUGGLES...