Bob Borkowski

Robert Vilarian Borkowski
(Bush)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 182 lb.
• High School Kiser High School
• Debut April 22, 1950
• Final Game July 10, 1955
• Born January 27, 1926 in Dayton, OH USA
• Died November 18, 2017 in Dayton, OH USA

BR page

Biographical Information

"Bob was a good ball player with all the tools, plus a great attitude. All he ever wanted was to play. He used a small barrel bat but hit to all fields, and he was a real good hit-and-run man. He had good speed on the bases. A smart player, he looked like Kirk Douglas. Bob was a real family man." - Jim Greengrass, 2003

Before the 1946 season, Bob Borkowski signed as an amateur free agent with the Chicago Cubs. They shipped him to the Class D Elizabethton Betsy Cubs where he started as a pitcher, going 18-9 with a 3.46 ERA, and played 114 games in the outfield, hitting .384. This prompted the Cubs officials to switch him to a full-time outfielder. Bob 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. He 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. He was a backup outfielder for Cincy for three years before making his final stop in the majors with the Brooklyn Dodgers, to whom the Redlegs traded him for Joe Black on June 9, 1955. He was a .251 hitter in his six-year run in the majors. Bob spent three more seasons in the game, all in AAA with the Portland Beavers, Los Angeles Angels and the Buffalo Bisons, but after 1958 decided to call it a career. He played 13 seasons total, 1946 through 1958.

On September 22, 1954, Borkowski was involved in one of baseball's most bizarre protests. In the top of the 9th‚ the Redlegs had runners Wally Post on first and Gus Bell on second when Borkowski struck out on a wild pitch. Milwaukee Braves Catcher Del Crandall retrieved the ball and threw to third base in a futile try to catch Bell. Borkowski took off for first base, illegally‚ since first was already occupied and there were less than two outs. He drew a throw from third baseman Eddie Mathews‚ which hit him in the back and rolled into right field‚ and both Bell and Post scored. The umpires decided that Borkowski and Post were both out‚ the former for drawing an illegal throw. Milwaukee won, 3-1, and the Redlegs protested. Because the standings of five teams were affected by the outcome‚ National League President Warren Giles upheld the protest‚ even though he believed the umpires made the correct decision. The protested game‚ started from the point where Johnny Temple was batting with two outs in the 9th‚ was played two days later and the Braves won, 4-3.

Borkowski lived in Dayton, OH where he was employed in the parts department of a printing company until his retirement. He passed away there at the age of 91 in 2017.

Sources

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

Related Sites

• Bob Borkowski at the SABR Bio Project