Rudy Minarcin

Rudolph Anthony Minarcin [Buster] (March 25, 1930 – October 15, 2013) was an American pitcher in Major League Baseball who played from 1955 through 1957 for the Cincinnati Redlegs and Boston Red Sox (1956–57). Listed at , , he batted and threw right-handed.

Born in North Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, Minarcin was a two-sport star at Vandergrift High School, being the captain for both baseball and football teams.

During his junior and senior years, Minarcin pitched eight one-hitters, won 10 straight games, and was a member of the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) championship team in 1948. He also was a quarterback for the football team at Vandergrift and received more than 30 scholarship offers, including one from Notre Dame,

Minarcin spent four seasons in the minors from 1948 to 1951 before being drafted into the army. Taken by the Cincinnati Reds in the 1949 Rule V draft, he posted a 13–8 record and a 2.86 earned run average for Double A Tulsa Oilers in 1950. The next year he was promoted to Triple A Buffalo Bisons, and he responded with a 16–12 record and a 3.20 ERA in 33 games, with an even heavier workload of 242 innings pitched, which included two 13-inning complete games.

Minarcin received an honorable discharge in 1954 and joined Cincinnati for spring training. He persevered to make the big team rosted but twisted his knee in an April exhibition game and was instead placed on the disabled list. Eleven days later, he tossed a complete game against the eventual 1955 World Series champion Brooklyn Dodgers. After that he brought his record to 4–1, but there was only one more win for him for the rest of the season. He finished with a 5–9 mark, one save and a 4.90 ERA in 41 games, 12 as a starter.