MLB Daily Thread: Echoes of the Past II: The Cardinals' Little Poland

[Misterfamous]

Ray Jablonski, Eldon Repulski, and Carl Sawatski had more in common than their Polish ancestry. Much, much more.

They were all born in 1927. They all hailed from hard scrabble, low rent, off-the-wall towns: Stickney, Illinois; Salk Rapids, Minnesota; Shickshinny, Pennsylvania. They were all overweight, slow, and .260 hitters with leathery complexions. Each had his best years with the Cardinals in mid-century. And for some mysterious reason their names were always abbreviated in newspaper box scores:

J'b'ski 3B​

R'p'ski RF​

S'w'ski C​

Remember?

Then there were their nicknames: Jabbo, Rip, Swats. Right away you knew these guys liked to fight. Of course, if your real name were Eldon, you might want to be called Rip, too. Still, these friendly fellows had better reputations in most bars than they had on the field.

Jabbo was an especially ornery sort. He had this thing for rookies. Jabbo's idea of a good time was to challenge a rookie to arm wrestle. Then in the midst of the match he would reach across the table with his free hand and grab the rookie's nose firmly between his thumb and forefinger. And Jabbo would NOT let go. After a couple of seconds of that, even you might tend to get fractious.

Yeah, ole Jabbo, had a real sense of humor, all right.

Ah, yes. Oh, for those carefree days of our youth when you could take the trolley to Sportsman's Park, buy a segregated bleacher seat--whites left field, blacks right field--for 50 cents, and watch the likes of Jabbo, Rip, and Swats trying to turn on a Don Newcombe fast ball. Geez, what a gas that was!

It is the fate of such players to be remembered--if they are remembered at all--in terms of others. "Say what?" you say. It's a principle simple enough to understand.

Who was the regular Cardinal third baseman before Ken Boyer? (1964 NL MVP; career BA of .287; 1100+ RBI) Why, Jabbo Jablonski (never an MVP candidate; career .268; 438 RBI). Who else?

Who used to carry three-time MVP (and four-time runner up) Stan Musial's glove in late innings? None other than Rip Repulski (career BA of .269 with 106 HR and 416 RBI).

And who was the Cardinals' starting catcher before Tim McCarver? (1501 career hits and 645 RBI) Swats Sawatski, of course (351 career hits and 213 RBI).

See what I mean?


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Note: I am not the author of this series, though it is unpublished and the rights presumably exist elsewhere. He is, by all rights a lover of the game, and a good writer. If anyone is interested in the source, please let me know.