Baseball | February 07, 2021

LOS ANGELES – USC Baseball alum, author and founding member of the Trojan Baseball Alumni Association, Carl P. Maggio, passed away peacefully at his home in Phoenix, Ariz. last week. He was 86.
 
Maggio played for the Trojans from 1955-56, helping to lead USC to two CIBA Championships and a College World Series appearance.
 
Maggio was born March 7, 1934 in El Centro, CA to the late Paul and the late Lena (Spidale) Maggio, and grew up in Southern California, playing high school baseball at Loyola HS before attending USC on a baseball scholarship. He won an American Legion National Championship in 1951, playing alongside the legendary Sparky Anderson, about whom he would later author a book called Sparky and George: The Unlikely Patron Saint of Baseball. Maggio also authored the book Swinging for the Fences: How American Legion Baseball Transformed a Group of Boys Into a Team of Men.
 
Following his time at USC, Maggio served in the U.S. Navy and played in the Canadian Baseball League for a time. The majority of Maggio's business career involved his leadership in a major Real Estate Firm in Southern California, where he also trained and motivated staff members. His interests included acting, both in college movies and in the film industry, and he was an avid photographer and traveler.
 
Maggio retired to Sedona, Ariz. in his later years and faithfully served on the Board of Directors for the Trojans Baseball Alumni Association.
 
He is survived by his son Paul Maggio and wife Marisa Wiewall; daughters Joela Maggio and husband Daniel Eder, and Ami Maggio and husband Jason Chang; grandchildren Cecilia and Corinna Maggio, Emma, Addy and Rachel Eder, and Ellina and Meilee Chang. He is also survived by his sister Phyllis and her husband Tom Fish.