had begun playing football as well, though his high school yearbook implied that basketball was his best sport. He graduated in 1932. Geraghty then attended Villanova University, majoring in journalism. He continued to play baseball and basketball, both of which were coached by George Jacobs. Standing tall and weighing , Geraghty was shorter than average for a basketball player, but he scored a great deal of points and was named the team captain as a senior. For the baseball team, he played third base, though he had to battle Frank Skaff for playing time. Brooklyn Dodgers (1936) While Geraghty was playing baseball for Villanova, scout Mel Logan recommended him to the Brooklyn Dodgers. Geraghty attended spring training for the Dodgers in 1936 and made a strong impression with manager Casey Stengel. Lonny Frey, the incumbent shortstop for the team, was error-prone and missed time in mid-March with an injury. At the close of spring training, Stengel decided to move Frey to second base and added Geraghty to the Opening Day roster. Jimmy Jordan made the first three starts of the year at shortstop; then, Geraghty played 15 straight games at the position. Making his MLB debut on April 17, he played all 10 innings of a game against the Philadelphia Phillies, recording two hits and a run batted in (RBI) in a 4–3 Dodger victory. He batted .429 in his first 10 games. On April 19, Jimmie Wilson of the Phillies kicked the baseball away from Geraghty as he stole second base. "He won’t pull that again on me. The next time I’ll just take that throw and tag him on the nose with the ball," Geraghty informed Stengel. Seven days later, also against Philadelphia, Geraghty became the first of a handful of players to reach first base on catcher's interference twice during a game. Phillies catcher Earl Grace wrongly calculated that the rookie Geraghty and an inexperienced umpire would not notice him block Geraghty's swing. A hand injury caused Geraghty to miss five games in May. Upon his return, he struggled to hit. He made just one start at shortstop after June 9, though he began getting playing time at other infield positions, such as second base and third base. After July 29, the Dodgers sent him to the Allentown Brooks of the Class A New York-Penn League. In 51 games with Brooklyn, he had batted .194 with 11