Johnny Grodzicki

John Grodzicki (February 26, 1917 – May 2, 1998) was an American Major League Baseball pitcher. A native of Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, he pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1941, 1946 and 1947.[1] The right-hander stood 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) and weighed 200 pounds (91 kg).

A top pitching prospect before the outbreak of World War II, Grodzicki would pitch in 24 games (23 in a relief role) for the Cardinals, winning 2 and losing 2, with an earned run average of 4.43.[1] He allowed 31 hits and 34 bases on balls in 402⁄3 MLB innings pitched, with 20 strikeouts.

Grodzicki's baseball career was interrupted by four years of military service. He served in the United States Army's 17th Airborne Division and became a paratrooper. In combat in Germany on March 29, 1945, Grodzicki sustained shrapnel wounds to both legs. He was awarded a Purple Heart, and required surgery and extensive rehabilitation to resume his baseball career after the war's end.[2]

Grodzicki's professional playing career — spent entirely in the Cardinal organization — stretched from 1936 through 1952, including 11 years in minor league baseball. He later managed in the Redbird farm system, scouted for the Cardinals, then became a minor league instructor for the Detroit Tigers for over a dozen years. He then spent a season (1979) as the Tigers' MLB pitching coach.[3] He died at age 81 in Daytona Beach, Florida.[1]