Larry Novak

Lawrence Glenn Novak

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 6' 1", Weight 195 lbs.

• Born October 18, 1931 in Pocahontas, IL USA
• Died August 16, 2010 in Michigan City, IN USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Outfielder Larry Novak began his professional career with the Philadelphia Phillies organization in 1950 with the class D Lima Phillies of the Ohio-Indiana League where he posted a more-than-respectable .317/?/.467 with 44 extra base hits. He was moved up to the class C Northern League for 1951 to play for the Grand Forks Chiefs. He slashed .268/.354/.461; in spite of fewer at bats and fewer hits, he increased his total of doubles, triples, and home runs. He missed 1952 and 1953, presumably for military service.

He was back in the Phillies chain in 1954 - his age 22 season - and spent most of the year with the Terre Haute Phillies of the class B Illinois-Indiana-Iowa League, but also saw action in 9 games at the AAA level in the International League with the Syracuse Chiefs (where he had 1 hit in 7 at bats - .143). For Terra Haute, he hit .308 and again provided good power, but extra base hit statistics aren't available in completion. He split 1955 between two levels - he played 63 games with the class A Schenectady Blue Jays of the Eastern League (.298/.394/.409), and saw action in 36 games back with AAA Syracuse (.296/.360/.347). He spent the entirety of 1956 in AAA, but with the Phillies new affiliate at that level, the Miami Marlins, where he hit .261/.318/.418.

In 1957, he moved to the Brooklyn Dodgers chain in an unknown transaction after 54 games with AAA Miami. He spent the rest of the year with the Montreal Royals in the Dodger's chain, also in the AAA International League; stats are incomplete and not available for his stints with each team, but he hit ~.241?/~.324/~.377. The Dodgers moved west to Los Angeles in the ensuing offseason, but Novak remained in their minor league system for 1957, splitting time between the class A Macon Dodgers (South Atlantic League) and AA Victoria Rosebuds (Texas League), hitting a combined .252/.321/.439.

He moved on to the Cincinnati Reds chain for the 1959 season, and spent the next two full seasons at their AAA level back in the International League - 1959 with the Havana Sugar Kings, and 1960 with the Sugar Kings and the Jersey City Jerseys (the team itself moved on July 13). He struggled his first year, slashing .216/.271/.330, and only played 63 games in 1960 while posting a .287/.383/.382 slash line in his age 28 season. He began 1961 back in Jersey City, but after 48 games and a .244/.324/.358 slash line, he moved out of affiliated ball and spent the remainder of the season in the Southern Association with the Mobile Bears, one of two unaffiliated teams in that AA league. He only saw action in 8 games and collected 4 singles in 23 at bats (.174 average and slugging percentage). 1962 would be his final season, and it would be in the Mexican League. He played in 38 games for the Tigres Capitalinos, hitting .279/.345/.434.

Novak was a contestant on The Price is Right on the episode originally broadcast June 20, 1984. Johnny Olson called him to "Come on Down" prior to the fourth pricing game that day, but he did not make it out of Contestant's Row. Incidentally, the wife of a different ballplayer - Larry Ray's then-wife, Kimberly - was also a contestant on that episode and was on stage to play a pricing game before Novak was called out of the audience. The conversation in which Novak revealed he was a former professional baseball player might never have happened had Kimberly not previously been on stage, as host Bob Barker led off the discussion by saying that they had a ballplayer's wife on the show, and that Larry looked like he could have been an athlete himself.