Moe Drabowsky

Moe Drabowsky Topps baseball card – 1961 Series, #364

Pitcher

Born: July 21, 1935
Ozanna, Poland

Died: June 10, 2006 (aged 70)
Little Rock, Arkansas

Batted: Right

Threw: Right

MLB debut

August 7, 1956, for the Chicago Cubs

Last MLB appearance

September 19, 1972, for the Chicago White Sox

MLB statistics

Win–loss record

88–105

Earned run average

3.71

Strikeouts

1,162

Teams

Career highlights and awards

2× World Series champion (1966, 1970)

Myron Walter Drabowsky (July 21, 1935 – June 10, 2006) was a Major League Baseball (MLB) right-handed relief pitcher. He is one of only four players who played for both the Kansas City Athletics and Kansas City Royals.

Moe was born Miroslav Drabowski in Ozanna, a village in southern Poland, located near Leżajsk. His Jewish mother was an American citizen, and the two fled to the U.S. in 1938 when Adolf Hitler began mobilizing in Eastern Europe. His father joined them a year later, and the family settled in Wilson, Connecticut, a village in the town of Windsor, just north of Hartford.

Drabowsky went to the Loomis prep school, now Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, and later attended Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, playing on their varsity baseball team. He played summers in Canada, in the Halifax and District League, for Truro. He pitched a no-hitter for Trinity in which he struck out 16, and shortly thereafter accepted a $75,000 ($661,000 today) bonus to sign with the Cubs.

Drabowsky was scouted for the Chicago Cubs by former Cubs shortstop Lenny Merullo in 1956. He joined the Cubs' starting rotation in 1957 and posted a 13–15 record. His 170 strikeouts placed him second in the National League behind another rookie, Jack Sanford of the Philadelphia Phillies, who had 188. A sore arm cost Drabowsky his fastball in 1958, and over the next seven seasons he pitched for four different teams before the Orioles selected him from the St. Louis Cardinals in the Rule 5 draft on November 29, 1965.

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Wikipedia