Fred Marolewski

Frederick Daniel Marolewski
(Fritz)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2½", Weight 205 lb.

• Debut September 19, 1953
• Final Game September 19, 1953
• Born October 6, 1928 in Chicago, IL USA
• Died February 28, 2023 in Palos Heights, IL USA

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Biographical Information

Fred Marolewski was a big first baseman from Chicago, IL who had a late season call-up to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1953 after hitting 23 home runs for the Houston Buffaloes of the Texas League. He appeared in one game on September 19th, but never got a plate appearance or made a fielding chance in the inning he got into. No hits, no runs, no errors. This was the sum total of Fred's major league career.

Fred had signed as an amateur free agent with the Cardinals before the 1948 season. He spent the next three seasons in the minors, having a good year in 1950 when he hit .269 with a league-leading 24 home runs for the Allentown Cardinals of the Interstate League. Uncle Sam then requested his services and he spent the next two years in the United States Military during the Korean War.

Marolewski spent a total of eight seasons in the minors. Along with the good year he had in 1953 for Houston, he almost duplicated it in 1954, again with the Buffaloes, hitting .255 with 18 round-trippers. 1956 saw him with two Texas League teams, the San Antonio Missions and the Oklahoma City Indians where he had combined numbers of 31 home runs and a .261 batting average. This is the year in which Ken Guettler hit 62 homers for the Shreveport Sports.

1957 was Fred's last season in pro baseball, ending it with San Antonio with a .247 average and 14 home runs. This gave the big guy handsome career figures of 144 round-trippers with a .262 average while appearing in 1,077 games. After baseball, Fred returned to his native Chicago and entered the insurance business, working for the Western-Southern Life Insurance Co., where he was employed until his retirement in 1988.

Sources

• Baseball Players of the 1950s
  
• Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball: Third Edition