finalyear bats death_date death_place birth_place debutyear finaldate statvalue position finalteam statlabel debutdate birth_date article_title debutteam name throws
1963 left 24 november 1991 little rock , arkansas shickshinny , pennsylvania 1948 september 29 .242 58 213 catcher st. louis cardinals batting average home runs runs batted in september 29 4 november 1927 carl sawatski
 chicago cubs carl sawatski right
carl sawatski

carl ernest sawatski -lrb- november 4 , 1927 -- november 24 , 1991 -rrb- was an american professional baseball player and executive .
in the major leagues , he was a catcher for the chicago cubs -lrb- 1948 , 1950 and 1953 -rrb- , chicago white sox -lrb- 1954 -rrb- , milwaukee braves -lrb- 1957 -- 1958 -rrb- , philadelphia phillies -lrb- 1958 -- 1959 -rrb- and st. louis cardinals -lrb- 1960 -- 1963 -rrb- .
he also was an influential figure in minor league baseball .
a left-handed batter who threw right-handed , sawatski the player stood -lrb- 178 cm -rrb- tall and weighed 210 pounds -lrb- 95 kg -rrb- .
the native of shickshinny , pennsylvania , helped the braves win the and the national league pennants .
in 11 seasons , he played in 633 games and had 1,449 at bats , 133 runs , 351 hits , 46 doubles , 5 triples , 58 home runs , 213 runs batted in , 2 stolen bases , 191 walks , .242 batting average , .330 on-base percentage , .401 slugging percentage , 581 total bases , 2 sacrifice hits , 13 sacrifice flies and 38 intentional walks .
during the 1957 world series against the new york yankees , sawatski had two appearances as a pinch hitter -lrb- games 3 and 6 -rrb- and struck out twice , but milwaukee prevailed in seven games to win the world title .
sawatski was a prodigious minor league hitter .
he batted .352 and slugged 34 homers in the class d north atlantic league in 1947 .
then , two seasons later , he led the double-a southern association with 45 homers and batted .360 , second in the league .
after his playing career ended , sawatski served as the general manager of the arkansas travelers of the double-a texas league , a cardinal affiliate , from 1966 -- 1975 .
he then was elected president of the texas league itself from 1976 until his death , in little rock at the age of 64 .
during his presidency , the league prospered during the renaissance of minor league baseball that began in the 1980s .
in a 1976 `` esquire '' magazine article , sportswriter harry stein published an `` all time all-star argument starter , '' consisting of five ethnic baseball teams .
sawatski was the catcher on stein 's polish team .
