Don Plarski

Donald Joseph Plarski

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 6", Weight 160 lb.

• Debut July 20, 1955
• Final Game August 2, 1955
• Born November 9, 1929 in Chicago, IL USA
• Died December 29, 1981 in St. Louis, MO USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Outfielder Don Plarski spent his first three years (1948-1950) in pro baseball with the Enterprise Boll Weevils of the class D Alabama State League. He averaged 118 games each season and hit .242 his first year, .265 his second and got into the .300+ area with a .304 mark in 1950 while helping his team to the league pennant.

Shortly thereafter, Don was inducted into the military and spent the next two years (1951-1952) with the United States Army during the Korean War. Upon his return, he joined up with the West Palm Beach Indians of the class B Florida International League, hitting .244 in 136 games.

1954 found Don first with the Savannah Athletics of the class A South Atlantic League for 20 games and then he appeared in 55 games for the Tallahassee Rebels of the Florida International League; Plarski hit .282 for the Rebels and was dealt to the Philadelphia Athletics in August.

The 5' 6" outfielder came up to the Athletics on July 20, 1955. The regular centerfielder was Harry Simpson and the future Hall of Famer Enos Slaughter was the team's right fielder. Don was there for an eight-game stay, picking up one base hit in eleven at-bats, his final appearance in the show coming on August 2nd.

He was back in the minors with the class C Pocatello Bannocks of the Pioneer League and the Columbia Gems of the class A South Atlantic League in 1956 and in the split-season affair, he hit .257 in 101 games. Don chose to leave the game at this point in time, leaving behind him a seven-year minor league batting average of .261, with 13 home runs in 779 games.

Don became a sports editor for the Daily Inter-Lake in Kalispell, MT, before joining the staff of the Alton Telegraph in Illinois. At the Telegraph, he was sports editor from 1963 until his death at age 52 on December 29, 1981, in St. Louis, MO. The winner of several sportswriting awards, he was also a highly regarded fast-pitch softball umpire who has been elected to the Illinois Softball Hall of Fame.

Sources

• Baseball Players of the 1950s
  
• Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball
  

Related Sites

• BR Minors page