Bob Borkowski

Robert Vilarian Borkowski

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 182 lb.

• Debut April 22, 1950
• Final Game July 10, 1955
• Born January 27, 1926 in Dayton, OH USA

BR page

[edit] Biographical Information

Before the 1946 season Bob Borkowski signed as an amateur free agent with the Chicago Cubs. In turn they shipped the 20 year old off to the class D Elizabethton Betsy Cubs where he started off as a right armed pitcher, won 18 games and lost 9 with a 3.46 ERA and also played 114 games in the outfield, hitting .384. This prompted the Cubs officials to switch him to a full time outfielder.

Borkowski had been in the minors for four years when he won the Southern Association batting title with a .376 average for the Nashville Vols in 1949, and came up to Chicago in 1950. Bob hit .276, but was traded to the Cincinnati Reds after the 1951 season along with Smoky Burgess for Johnny Pramesa and Bob Usher.

On September 22, 1954, Borkowski was involved in one of baseball's most bizarre protests. In the top of the 9th‚ the Redlegs have runners Wally Post on first and Gus Bell on second, when Bob Borkowski strikes out on a wild pitch. Braves Catcher Del Crandall retrieves the ball and throws to third base in a futile try to catch Bell. Borkowski takes off for first base, illegally‚ since first is already occupied and there are less than two outs. He draws a throw from third baseman Eddie Mathews‚ which hits him in the back and rolls into right field‚ and both Bell and Post score. The umpires decide that Borkowski and Post are both out‚ the former for drawing an illegal throw. Milwaukee wins 3-1 and the Redlegs protest. Because the standings of five teams are affected by the outcome‚ Warren Giles will uphold the protest‚ even though he believes the umpires made the correct decision. The protested game‚ started from the point where Johnny Temple is batting with two outs in the 9th‚ will be played in two days and the Milwaukee Braves will win 4-3.

Borkowski was a backup flychaser for Cincinnati for three years before making his final stop in the majors with the Brooklyn Dodgers, when on June 9, 1955, the Redlegs traded him for Joe Black. He was a .251 hitter in his six year run in the majors.

Bob would spend three more seasons in the game, all in AAA ball, with the Portland Beavers, Los Angeles Angels and the Buffalo Bisons but after 1958 no one came calling and Bob decided to call it a career. He had been on the circuit for 13 seasons, 1946 through 1958.

Borkowski lives in Dayton, OH where he was employed in the parts department of a printing company.

Career Batting Statistics

[edit] Sources

Baseball-Reference.com
Baseball Players of the 1950s
SABR MILB Database:page

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