A two-time All State first baseman at La Salle Academy, Slick Cariglia was a member of Holy Cross’ 1952 National Collegiate Athletic Association Baseball Champions.

Slick burst upon the local baseball scene when he helped a combined Warren and Bristol team capture the Boys Under Sixteen State Championship in 1943.

He earned honors as the Rhode Island American Legion Baseball pitcher of the year while playing for Warren Post’s State Runner-Up in 1946.

At La Salle Mike was named an All Class A and All State first baseman in both 1946 and 1947.  In both those years the Providence school won the Class A Championship, and in 1947 they thwarted Warren High’s attempt to win three consecutive state championships by downing the Redskins in the final game of the season.  In that game, five Warren Athletic Hall of Fame members competed, Buzz Barry, Ace Boulanger, and Harpo Tavares for Warren, and Slick and Johnny Karcz for La Salle.  If Jim Barry hadn’t been suspended from the Redskins, there would have an even half-dozen represented.  And perhaps a different result!

In the Warren Twilight League he was the All Star right fielder in 1947, hitting .435, and the All Star pitcher for the 1948 and 1949 champions Merchants.

He competed in the Warren versus Bristol Baseball Little World Series from 1946 to the final Series year of 1949.

Mike was a member of the 1948 Providence Journal Bulletin team that was nipped by a Brooklyn team featuring future major leaguer Billy Loes and a Fall River All Star squad that defeated Johnny Pesky, Phil Rizzuto, and other major leaguers in 1950.

A member of Holy Cross’ NCAA Baseball Champions in 1952, he played professionally, primarily in the Milwaukee Braves farm system, in 1951, 1954, and 1955. 

Slick later was a key cog in the Federal Engineers/Smith’s Drug fast-pitch softball team that won six titles in succession.

Picture from Hall of Fame archives (1946 American Legion Baseball team)