Bob Kuzava
From BR Bullpen
Robert Leroy Kuzava (Sarge)
- Bats Both, Throws Left
- Height 6' 2", Weight 204 lb.
- Debut September 21, 1946
- Final Game September 29, 1957
- Born May 28, 1923 in Wyandotte, MI USA
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[edit] Biographical Information
Bob Kuzava pitched 17 seasons, 1941 to 1960, ten in the Major Leagues and ten in the minors, losing three years to the Military. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II where he rose to the rank of Sergeant (1943-1945) (BR).
Kuzava was signed by the Cleveland Indians as an amateur free agent by scout Jack Bracken in 1941. He pitched for the Indians, Chicago White Sox, Washington Senators, New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals from 1946 to 1957. With Charleston in the Mid-Atlantic League in 1942, he was 21-6 with an ERA of 1.72. After the War, he tried unsuccessfully to crack the Indians' rotation but was shipped back to the minors. Traded to the White Sox, he went 10-6 as a rookie in 1949. By mid-1951, he was a Yankee spot starter and long reliever, going 11-7. In the final game of the 1951 World Series, he retired the New York Giants with the bases loaded to record a save, and in Game Seven of the 1952 Series, he set down the last eight Brooklyn Dodgers for another. The latter performance was especially notable: lefthanders weren't supposed to be able to beat the Dodgers, who featured a righthanded lineup with the exception of Duke Snider, especially not in Ebbets Field. But manager Casey Stengel played his hunch and proved correct.
In a rare 1953 start, on August 8, he lost a no-hitter against the White Sox with one out in the ninth (MC): he gave up only Bob Boyd's double in the ninth, then on August 17, he shut out the Athletics 9-0, allowing 11 hits along the way. Those were the last two of seven career shutouts.
[edit] Notable Achievements
- Won three World Series with the New York Yankees (1951, 1952 & 1953)
[edit] Sources
Principal sources for Bob Kuzava 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 {{{WW}}} (WW), old Baseball Registers {{{BR}}} (BR) , old Daguerreotypes by TSN {{{DAG}}} (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) {{{MORE}}} and independent research by Walter Kephart (WK) and Frank Russo (FR) and others.
