He is the 2nd person (Otto Graham) to win championships in two of the four major American sports: one with the Milwaukee Braves in the 1957 World Series and three with the Boston Celtics from 1959 to 1961.
[2] Conley attended Washington State University, where (as he told The Boston Globe in 2004) students "kidnapped" him during a recruiting visit in an effort to convince him to matriculate.
[2] Conley attended spring training in 1951 and was assigned to Hartford of the Eastern League by the request of former Braves star Tommy Holmes, who was managing the club.
[8] Holmes was promoted to manager of the Braves on June 25, and was replaced by future Baseball Hall of Famer Travis Jackson.
[12] In the beginning of the 1952 season, Conley, along with fellow rookies George Crowe and Eddie Mathews, was invited to spring training with a chance of making the roster.
Conley started and faced a lineup that included four future members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Roy Campanella, Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese and Duke Snider.
[16] Conley returned to the majors in 1954 with the Milwaukee Braves, going 14–9 in 28 games with a 2.82 ERA, making the National League All-Star team and finishing third in Rookie of the Year voting[16] behind Wally Moon and Ernie Banks, with Conley's Braves teammate Hank Aaron finishing fourth.
[16] In his lone postseason appearance in the 1957 World Series on Oct. 5 against the New York Yankees, Conley pitched 1+2⁄3 innings in relief of starter Bob Buhl, surrendering a two-run home run to Mickey Mantle as the Yankees went on to win the game 12–3; but with the Braves winning the series in seven games.
[1] Conley made his third and final All-Star game with the Phillies, going 12–7 with a 3.00 ERA,[16] with his season ending on August 19 after he was hit by a pitch while batting, breaking his hand.
[1] In three seasons with the Red Sox through 1963, Conley had a 29–32 record,[16] with the win total including the final start of his major league career on Sept. 21, 1963, going six innings against the Minnesota Twins in an 11–2 victory.
[19] In 11 seasons pitching for the Braves, Phillies and Red Sox, Conley posted a 91–96 record with 888 strikeouts and a 3.82 ERA in 1588.2 innings.
In the middle of his first season of professional baseball, Conley agreed to sign with the Wilkes-Barre Barons of the struggling American Basketball League (1925–55).
[22] Conley did not play in the Celtics' two playoff series that season, with the team losing 3–1 in the Eastern Division finals to the New York Knicks.
[23] After a five-year hiatus to focus on baseball with the Milwaukee Braves, Conley returned to the Celtics for the 1958–59 season, again seeing limited usage at about 13 minutes a game for a team that swept the Minneapolis Lakers 4–0 in the NBA finals.
The Celtics repeated as NBA champions with a 4–3 finals win over the St. Louis Hawks, with Conley roughly duplicating his regular-season averages during the playoffs.
[28] After his retirement from professional sports, Conley started working for a duct tape company in Boston, Massachusetts.
[33] In 2004, his wife released a biography of Conley called One of a Kind that chronicled his life in both baseball and basketball and related how his family dealt with his being gone for most of the year.