Johnny Logan

John Logan, Jr. (March 23, 1926 – August 9, 2013) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a shortstop from 1951 to 1963, most prominently as a member of the Boston / Milwaukee Braves, where he was a four-time All-Star player and was a member of the 1957 World Series winning team. After his major league career, he played for one season in the Nippon Professional Baseball League as a member of the Nankai Hawks in 1964.

Early life Logan grew up in Endicott, New York, and attended Union-Endicott High School, where he was a five-sport star. Endicott has a little league field named after him. Logan was of Russian and Croatian descent. His father John Sr., was from Tsaritsyn, now Volgograd, and his mother, Helen Senko, was born in Croatia, but also lived in the borderland of Poland.

Logan was in the army, where he played baseball, in the latter portions of World War II. He was honorably discharged. While Logan was playing for the minor league Milwaukee Brewers on June 25, 1951, Kansas City Blues catcher Clint Courtney hit him in the face with an elbow while sliding hard into second base, knocking Logan's front two teeth out.

Career Logan debuted for the Braves in 1951. In 1953, around the time he became an everyday starter, he married Dorothy Ahlmeyer. She lived until 1989 and they had three sons. In the 1957 World Series, Logan hit the first home run of the series in a Game 2 victory over the New York Yankees.

Later life After he retired, Logan lived in Milwaukee. He was involved in the founding of the Milwaukee Braves Historical Association, and he often visited Miller Park for Brewers games. He died at a hospital in Milwaukee on August 9, 2013, age 87. He had suffered from problems with his circulation and his kidneys late in life, and he required a wheelchair. An infection was a contributing factor in his death.