Rick Lancellotti

Rick Lancellotti was a prolific hitter during his career in minor league baseball, which included a stop at the Buffalo Bisons, a city that would later become his home.

Lancellotti was born in Rhode Island and grew up as a baseball standout in New Jersey, batting and throwing left-handed.

Lancellotti’s journey took him across 15 different leagues in 7 different countries, and 4 continents. During the course of his professional baseball career, the outfielder-first baseman led four different professional baseball leagues in home runs, including the Triple-A Pacific Coast League (1986), the International League (1991), and the Japan Central League (1987). In 1979, he was named the Eastern League MVP after an impressive 41 home runs and 107 RBIs for the Bisons.

He hit a total of 334 home runs; 276 in his minor league career plus another 58 in Japan. Lancellotti also played in a total of 36 MLB games with the San Diego Padres (1982), San Francisco Giants (1986) and Boston Red Sox (1990).

After retiring from professional baseball, Lancellotti returned to Buffalo, New York, where he established the Buffalo School of Baseball in 1993. As the founder of the first indoor year-round baseball/softball facility of its kind in Western New York, he has trained thousands of aspiring baseball and softball players, leaving an indelible mark on the local sports community.

Lancellotti was elected to the Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame in 1995.