Frank Sacka

Frank Sacka

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 195 lb.

• Debut April 29, 1951
• Final Game September 13, 1953
• Born August 30, 1924 in Romulus, MI USA
• Died December 7, 1994 in Dearborn, MI USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Frank Sacka was a catcher (converted third baseman) eleven years (1946-1956), all in the minors except for two cups of coffee with the Washington Senators in 1951 and 1953. He was born on August 30, 1924, in Romulus, MI. Sacka's name was listed in the Mustered Out column of The Sporting News of January 31, 1946 as being discharged from the service and was listed as belonging to Toledo (but convention at the time placed all minor leaguers as belonging to Toledo, even before Klinger). He married Cecilia Marchel on February 9th that year.

Signed by the St. Louis Browns as an amateur free agent in 1946, he broke into Organized Baseball in 1946 at age 21 and played with the Paris Red Peppers in the East Texas League (1946); the Elmira Pioneers in the Eastern League (1947); the Springfield Browns in the Three-I League (1947-1948); and the Gloversville-Johnstown Glovers in the Canadian-American League (1948-1949). Before the 1950 season he was sent from the Browns to the Cleveland Indians. In 1950, he played with the Anderson Rebels in the Tri-State League.

On November 16, 1950 he was drafted by the Washington Senators from Cleveland in the 1950 Rule V Draft. He played for the Chattanooga Lookouts in the Southern Association (SA) that year after breaking into the big league with the Senatorss on April 29th,. He returned to Chattanooga (1952-1953) and was recalled by Washington at the end of that last season, and played his final major league game on September 13, 1953 at age 29.

He returned to the minors with Chattanooga (1954-1955) and the Atlanta Crackers (SA) (1956), ending his baseball career at age 32.

In 1946, his best year in the minors, he had 162 hits, 102 runs, 28 doubles, 8 triples, 30 home runs and 111 RBI at .302. In 1950, he had 160 hits, 90 runs, 28 doubles, 8 triples, 23 home runs and 124 RBI at .300. Overall in MLB, he had 9 hits (all singles), 3 runs and 6 RBI at (.265/.324/.265) in 14 games. Overall in the minors, he had 100 home runs and 616 RBI.

He had black hair and grey eyes and his ancestry was Polish. He died at age 70 in Dearborn, MI on December 7, 1994 and is buried at Michigan Memorial Park in Flat Rock, MI.

Career Highlights

• Led East Texas League in home runs (30), 1946
• Led East Texas League third basemen in errors (52), 1946
• Led Tri-State League catchers in putouts (651), Assists (92) and errors (18), 1950

Sources

Principal sources for Frank Sacka 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 (none) (WW), old Baseball Registers (1954) (BR) , old Daguerreotypes by TSN (none) (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) ; The Southern Association in Baseball, 1885-1961 by Marshall D. Wright; and independent research by Walter Kephart (WK) and Frank Russo (FR) and others.

Related Sites

• Frank Sacka on Retrosheet.org
• Frank Sacka at the Baseball Almanac
• Bio at the Baseball Page
• Frank Sacka at the Baseball Encyclopedia of Catchers
• and a full Bibliography from SABR's The Baseball Index (TBI)