Frank Papish
From BR Bullpen
Frank Richard Papish (Pap)
- Bats Right, Throws Left
- Height 6' 2", Weight 192 lb.
- Debut May 8, 1945
- Final Game June 27, 1950
- Born October 21, 1917 in Pueblo, CO USA
- Died August 30, 1965 in Pueblo, CO USA
[edit] Biographical Information
Lefthander Frank Papish was signed by the Chicago White Sox from the Rock Island Islanders of the class A Western League, after the young pitcher had gone 10-16 with a 4.93 ERA during the 1936 season. Frank would spend ten seasons in the minors before getting his ticket to the "Show" in 1945. Frank's best year came in 1940 with the Anniston Rams of the class B Southeastern League when he went 20-14 with a 3.31 ERA while pitching 269 innings for the dead last 61-82 Rams. Papish would also go 13-8 with the Little Rock Travelers with a 3.40 ERA in 1943, pitching 209 innings.
After a solid 15-16 record with the same Little Rock club of the Southern Association in 1944 where he appeared in 40 games and pitched 277 innings, the White Sox brought the 27-year-old Frank to Comiskey Park for the 1945 season. He would win 4 and lose 4 his first year up with a 3.74 ERA in 19 appearances. Papish was back in '46 after many major leaguers returned from the War and went 7-5 with a 2.74 ERA.
In 1947, he would pitch 199 innings on his way to a 12-12 record with a 3.26 ERA. "Pap" would fall to 2-8 in 1948 and wound up being traded to the Cleveland Indians for Ernest Groth and Bob Kuzava.
Frank didn't see much of the mound with the third place 1949 Indians, being used mostly in relief and appearing in just 25 games, pitching 62 innings and finishing with a 1-0 mark and a 3.19 ERA. The Pittsburgh Pirates would purchase Frank on December 14, 1949 and in 1950 the last-place Pirates would use him in just four games, with no decisions. In one of their unthinking moves, they shipped him down to the AAA Indianapolis Indians, where he went 11-3 with a 2.81 ERA for the rest of the season.
Papish would spend three more years in baseball, all in the high minors, with Indianapolis, Chattanooga and Memphis. He would finish up his minor league time with a 142-141 record and a 4.17 ERA, while pitching 2,376 innings. Frank had also spent most of six years in the majors, where he finished up with a 26-29 record and a 3.58 ERA. "Pap" had started when he was 18 years old and finished out when he was 35. Any way you look at it, at the time, that was just about half of his life. After baseball Frank became a deputy sheriff in Pueblo, CO, where he died August 30, 1965, at age 47.
