Moe Drabowsky

Myron Walter Drabowsky (July 21, 1935 – June 10, 2006) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals, and Chicago White Sox. A noted practical joker, Drabowsky engaged in such antics as leaving snakes in teammates' lockers or phoning the opposing team's bullpen to tell a pitcher to warm up. He batted and threw right-handed.

Born in Poland, Drabowsky emigrated to America in 1938. He excelled as a pitcher in high school and college and was signed as a bonus baby by the Chicago Cubs. He debuted for the Cubs in 1956 and finished tied for second in the National League in strikeouts in his rookie season. In 1958, he gave up Stan Musial's 3,000th hit. An arm injury that year curtailed his effectiveness, and after a couple more seasons with the team, he was traded to the Milwaukee Braves. He played for the Braves, the Cincinnati Reds, and the Kansas City Athletics in 1961 and 1962 before remaining with the Athletics through the end of the 1965 season. During this period, he was sent to the minor leagues a few times, and while in the major leagues, he typically went back and forth between the starting rotation and the bullpen, except in 1963, the year he had his lowest earned run average (ERA) as a starter. Drabowsky also was the losing pitcher to Early Wynn in Wynn's 300th win that season. Following the 1965 season, he was selected in the Rule 5 draft by the Baltimore Orioles.

Once in Baltimore, Drabowsky was used almost exclusively as a relief pitcher. After three starts in 1966, he pitched only in relief for the rest of his career. He became a part of one of the best bullpens in the major leagues and posted ERAs of 2.80, 1.60, and 1.91 during his first three years with the club. The Orioles won the American League (AL) pennant in 1966, and in Game 1 of the 1966 World Series, Drabowsky relieved an ineffective Dave McNally with the bases loaded and one out in the third inning. Though he walked a batter to let in a run, he finished the inning with the Orioles leading 4–2, and he threw six scoreless innings after it to preserve the Game 1 victory. The Orioles swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in four games.

Drabowsky was selected by the Kansas City Royals in the expansion draft after the 1968 season. He won their first game in franchise history and led the AL in wins for relief pitchers, with 11. In 1970, he was traded back to Baltimore, where he won his second World Series, this one against the Reds. He pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1971 and 1972 before finishing out his career with the Chicago White Sox that year.

After his career, Drabowsky worked for an envelope company and a communications firm until the 1980s, when increased salaries for coaches allowed him to support himself in baseball. He was the pitching coach for the White Sox in 1986, then for several of their minor league teams. Later, he served as the pitching coach for the Cubs in 1994, before rejoining the Orioles as their minor league pitching instructor in Florida. He died June 10, 2006, at the age of 70.

Early life Moe was born Mirosław Drabowski in Ozanna, a village in southern Poland, located near Leżajsk. His mother was an American citizen. The two fled to the U.S. in 1938 when Adolf Hitler began mobilizing in Eastern Europe. His father joined them a year later, and the family settled in Wilson, Connecticut, a village in the town of Windsor, just north of Hartford. This made Drabowsky a bonus baby, meaning the Cubs would have to keep him in the major leagues for two full seasons or expose him to waivers. Eleven days later, pitching coach Dutch Leonard asked Drabowsky, "How would you like to do some throwing tonight?” "I'd like it," Drabowsky responded. “Then you’re starting against the Cardinals tonight.” Pitching into the eighth inning, Drabowsky held the St. Louis Cardinals to one run, picking up his first major league victory. Control problems affected him during the year, such as in a game against the Cincinnati Redlegs on June 2, when he hit four batters (including future teammate and Hall of Famer Frank Robinson twice) in innings, tying a major league record. He threw another shutout against Cincinnati on September 4, also in the first game of a doubleheader, giving up just two hits this time in a 1–0 victory. Drabowsky finished the year with a 13–15 record. Additionally, he led the league with ten hit by pitches. Entering July 11, Drabowsky had an 8–7 record and a 3.80 ERA. In a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates held that day, though, Drabowsky "heard something snap in [his] elbow." He gave up five runs in the next inning, skipped his next start, and failed to get out of the first inning in his next before having to take time off. "The arm responded to treatment at first,” said Drabowsky, “then I had trouble again. I strained my shoulder favoring the elbow. One thing led to another." At season's end, Drabowsky had posted a 9–11 record with a 4.51 ERA and 77 strikeouts. He gave up 19 home runs, three shy of the previous year's total, despite pitching 114 fewer innings. Drabowsky finished the season 5–10 in 31 games (23 starts), but his ERA dropped to 4.13, and his innings pitched rose to . However, he had seven fewer strikeouts than he had in 1958. However, used mostly in relief, he posted a 9.70 ERA through July 4. This got him a demotion to the minor leagues for the first time, as he was sent to the Triple-A Houston Buffs of the American Association. At Houston, Drabowsky won all five of his starts and had a 0.90 ERA before getting recalled to the Cubs in August. He pitched better for the Cubs in his return, posting a 4.03 ERA in his final 11 games. He finished the year pitching for the Louisville Colonels of the American Association, where in 20 games (nine starts), he had a 9–6 record but a 4.75 ERA, with 54 strikeouts in 106 innings pitched. On August 13, the Kansas City Athletics acquired him for cash. He appeared in 10 games (three starts) for Kansas City the rest of the year, going 1–1 with a 5.14 ERA. Back in the majors, he was used as a starter once again. He lost his first six decisions, then went 7–7 the rest of the year to finish 1963 with a 7–13 record. One of the losses from the losing streak was notable; it was the 300th win for Early Wynn, on July 13. Despite the losing numbers, he had a very good 3.05 ERA and topped one hundred strikeouts for the first time since his rookie year, making the 1963 season a resurgence. Drabowsky appeared in the most games of his career that season (53), starting 21 times and logging innings. He struck out 119, the most since his rookie season. However, his record was 5–13, and his ERA was 5.29, a jump from the 3.05 mark the year before. Drabowsky was not called back up, finishing the season in Vancouver. In 14 games (five starts) with Kansas City, he had a 1–5 record and a 4.42 ERA. With teammates Stu Miller, Dick Hall, and Eddie Fisher, Drabowsky was a part of one of the best bullpens of the 1960s.

Though Drabowsky was part of the Orioles' roster to begin the 1966 season, he was only used nine times in the team's first 37 games, and he had a 3.94 ERA. he walked Jim Gilliam to force in Lou Johnson for a run to cut Baltimore's lead to 4–2. That would be the last run the Dodgers scored in the entire series, however, as the Orioles would sweep them 4–0, the Orioles' next three wins coming on shutouts from Jim Palmer, Wally Bunker, and McNally. Drabowsky set a one-game World Series record for relievers by striking out 11 batters, and he tied Hod Eller's 47-year record of six consecutive fans in the 1919 World Series.

Over the next two seasons, Drabowsky continued to perform excellently in relief. In 1967, he was one of the few Oriole pitchers to repeat his success from the season before. Struggles by Stu Miller, who had gotten most of the Oriole saves a year before, allowed Drabowsky to be the team's primary closer. Drabowsky got off to a 6–0 start, with a mere six earned runs allowed through his first 25 games of the year. Beginning with his first loss July 28, Drabowsky would finish out the year with a 1–5 record, and his ERA would rise to 3.45 in his final 18 games. Still, Drabowsky finished the year 7–6, with a 1.60 ERA. He struck out 96 in 95 innings pitched and was tied for seventh in the AL with 12 saves, the only season in his career that he finished in the Top 10 of a league in saves. For the second year in a row, he posted an ERA under 2.00 (1.91).

Later career Back in Kansas City, Drabowsky negotiated with his new club for a raise before signing his contract on February 28, 1969. He won the first-ever game in Royals' history, pitching a scoreless 12th on April 8 against the Minnesota Twins in a 4–3 victory. The win was the first of many for Drabowsky that season; he led all AL relief pitchers in 1969 with 11 victories. Additionally, he saved 11 games and finished 37 games (7th in the league). He threw 98 innings in 52 appearances and had a 2.94 ERA. On June 15, he saw on the out-of-town scoreboard that the Orioles' pitchers had struggled late in a game against the Milwaukee Brewers and speculated that the team would be wanting some bullpen help. "I always knew I'd come back to the Orioles someday," he said. He made 21 appearances for the Orioles the rest of the season, finishing the year with a 5–4 record, a 3.52 ERA, and 59 strikeouts in 69 innings pitched in 45 games between Kansas City and Baltimore. He threw a scoreless ninth inning in Game 4, but the Orioles lost that game 6–5. However, that was the Orioles only loss of the series, and Drabowsky won another World Series ring as the Orioles defeated the Reds in five games. He got into 51 games his first season with St. Louis, going 6–1 with a 3.43 ERA, eight saves, and 49 strikeouts in innings pitched. When the Cubs first signed him, he was a hard-thrower, which helped him tie for second in the league in strikeouts as a rookie. Despite control issues, Drabowsky was supposed to be a future star for the team. Moving to the Cubs' organization in 1993, he served as the team's minor league pitching instructor for a year, then was the Cubs' pitching coach in 1994.

Practical joker Drabowsky was well known as a prankster whose jokes involved, among other things, being rolled to first base in a wheelchair after claiming to be hit on the foot by a pitch while with the Cubs. (Teammate Dick Drott obtained the wheelchair and pushed Drabowsky to first—and was ejected from the game. ) Frequently, he would make prank phone calls with the bullpen phones. While on the road at Anaheim Stadium in California, he once ordered a takeout meal from a Chinese restaurant—in Hong Kong.

Snake pranks were a specialty of Drabowsky's; while he was with the Orioles, he cultivated relationships with a number of pet shops around Baltimore. The stores would loan him their snakes, and Drabowsky managed to scare such famous players as Brooks Robinson, Paul Blair, and Yogi Berra. "There is no bigger flake in organized baseball than Drabowsky," Bouton said.

Polish heritage Chicago columnist Mike Royko stated in his annual Cubs quiz, April 11, 1968, that Drabowsky "is still considered the best pitcher that Ozanna, Poland, ever produced." In 1987, Drabowsky took a trip there with Hall of Famer Stan Musial to hold a baseball clinic in Kutno. Though Poland was his birthplace, he needed an interpreter to communicate with the players. "Talent in the raw, this is," Drabowsky characterized the Polish ballplayers with his usual wry sense of humor. "Very raw. Very, very raw. Extremely raw." He and Musial brought the participants baseball equipment donated by the MLB Commissioner's office, training the players on the fundamentals of the game. Drabowsky was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.

Personal life In 1957 Drabowsky met his first wife, Elisabeth Johns, a flight attendant for United Airlines, while traveling with his teammates. They were married in 1958 and had two daughters: Myra Beth and Laura Anne. After 35 years of marriage, Moe and Elisabeth divorced, and Drabowsky got remarried in 1992. During his playing career, he worked as a stockbroker in the offseason.

Drabowsky died in Little Rock, Arkansas following a long battle with multiple myeloma at age 70 on June 10, 2006. First diagnosed with the disease in 2000 and given six months to live, he survived longer than expected, continuing to coach while undergoing stem cell treatments.