Former major league outfielder Al Ferrara passed away a couple of weeks ago; he was 85 years old. My most lasting memory of Ferrara comes from having seen his name in the credits after watching a rerun of Gilligan’s Island entitled “High Man on the Totem Pole” that listed him, Jim Lefebvre, and Pete Sotos as Natives.

According to the website IMDb, “The castaways find a headhunter’s totem pole on the island. The head on the top of it bears an uncanny resemblance to Gilligan–which comes in handy when the headhunters return to the island.” And, yes, like most episodes of Gilligan, it was as stupid as the description sounds.

Lefebvre and Ferrara were teammates on the Los Angeles Dodgers at the time, and Lefebvre was the 1965 National League Rookie of the Year. Sotos was not a major league player. According to his brief bio on IMDb, he is known for Get Smart (1965), McCloud (1970) and Gilligan’s Island (1964). (The episode of Gilligan’s Island in which Sotos appeared was from 1967.)

Among his other credits, Ferrara also appeared in three episodes of the Batman television series starring Adam West as the Caped Crusader that ran from 1966-1968. Ferrara portrayed a character named Trap Door in “The Black Widow Strikes Again” and “Caught in the Spider’s Den” in episodes 55 and 56 of Season Two in 1967. He played Atlas in “Minerva, Mayhem and Millionaires” in the final episode of the series in 1968.

It was not unusual for baseball players, especially Dodgers, to appear in supporting roles or to make cameo appearances in television shows. Sandy Koufax appeared as a character named Ben Cassidy in Shotgun Slade in 1959, a policeman on 77 Sunset Strip and a doorman in Bourbon Street Beat in 1960, and himself in Michael Shane in 1961.

While serving as a coach for the Dodgers in the 1960s, Leo Durocher made appearances as himself in nonsensical episodes of three different sitcoms: The Beverly Hillbillies in 1963, Mr. Ed in 1964, and The Munsters in 1965. In these episodes Durocher tries to sign pitching prospect Jethro Bodine and a power hitter named Herman Munster and takes secondhand batting tips from a talking horse.

Don Drysdale appeared, mostly as himself, in 16 episodes of 13 different television series:  Lawman, The Millionaire, The Rifleman, Leave it to Beaver, Alcoa Premiere, Our Man Higgins, The Donna Reed Show, Cowboy in Africa, The Flying Nun, Then Came Bronson, The Brady Bunch, Lucas Tanner, and The Greatest American Hero.

Drysdale delivered my favorite cameo appearance by a baseball player in a 1962 episode of Leave it to Beaver. In “The Long Distant Call,” Beaver conspires with his dimwitted pals Gilbert and Alan to place a long-distance call to Drysdale, intending to split the cost of the call. But once the call is connected, they have to wait for Drysdale to get out of the shower, and the call winds up costing a lot more than they expected–a whopping $9.00. The next day at school, after the morons brag to their buddies about the call, their conversation with Drysdale makes the paper. They get in big trouble with their parents, and the Warden makes the boys to do yard work for him after school for a week for punishment and restitution.

Al Ferrara played eight seasons in the major leagues, five of them with the Dodgers. His best year was 1967 when he hit .277 with 16 home runs and 50 runs batted in–and appeared in one episode of Gilligan’s Island and two episodes of Batman.