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Art Lopatka
From BR Bullpen
Arthur Joseph Lopatka
- Bats Both, Throws Left
- Height 5' 10", Weight 170 lb.
- School University of Chicago
- Debut September 12, 1945
- Final Game July 1, 1946
- Born May 28, 1919 in Chicago, IL USA
- Died March 10, 2007 in Elk Grove Village, IL USA
[edit] Biographical Information
After graduating from Chicago's Austin High School in 1938, Art Lopatka then attended the University of Chicago and was a 1942 graduate. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II and then signed with the St. Louis Cardinals organization (TSN 7/14/46, 5/4/47 & 9/8/48).
A pitcher, Lopatka broke into Organized Baseball in 1942 at age 23 and played with the Decatur Commodores in the Three-I League in 1942, the Lynchburg Cardinals in the Piedmont League in 1943, and the Columbus Red Birds of the American Association in 1944 and 1945.
Lopatka was 26 years old when he reached the big leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals. After finishing out the 1945 season in St. Louis, he was selected off waivers by the Philadelphia Phillies on the following April 5 and played his final MLB game on July 1. On February 27, 1948 he was released by the Phillies.
In 1949, his best year in the minors, he was 11-9 with a 3.49 ERA. Overall in the minors, he was 34-42.
Later in life, Lopatka was an auto salesman. He died in 2007 at age 87.
[edit] Sources
Principal sources for Art Lopatka include newspaper obituaries (OB), government Veteran records (VA,CM,CW), Stars & Stripes (S&S), Sporting Life (SL), The Sporting News (TSN), The Sports Encyclopedia:Baseball 2006 by David Neft & Richard Cohen (N&C), old Who's Who in Baseballs (none) (WW), old Baseball Registers (none) (BR) , old Daguerreotypes by TSN (none) (DAG), Stars&Stripes (S&S), The Baseball Necrology by Bill Lee (BN), Pat Doyle's Professional Ballplayer DataBase (PD), The Baseball Library (BL), Baseball in World War II Europe by Gary Bedingfield (GB) ; The American Association: Year-By-Year Statistics for the Baseball Minor League, 1902-1952 by Marshall D. Wright; and independent research by Walter Kephart (WK) and Frank Russo (FR) and others.
