Al Papai

Alfred Thomas Papai (May 7, 1917 - September 7, 1995) was a pitcher in Major League Baseball who played between the by|1948 and by|1955 seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals (1948, 1950 ["end"] ), Boston Red Sox (1950 ["start"] ), St. Louis Browns (1949) and Chicago White Sox (1955). Listed at 6' 3", 185 lb., Papai batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Divernon, Illinois.

A knuckleballer specialist, Papai was one of 29 players to pitch for both St. Louis clubs. In his only major league full-season he went 4-11 with a 5.06 ERA for the helpless Browns. In parts of four seasons, he posted a 9-14 record with a 5.37 ERA in 88 appearances, including 18 stars, eight complete games, four saves, 70 strikeouts, 138 walks, and 239 ⅔ innings of work.

Papai also enjoyed a brilliant minor league career as the pitching staff ace for the Houston Buffaloes of the Texas League, posting 20-win seasons for them (1947, 1951-53). He went 21-10, with a 2.45 ERA for the 1947 Dixie Series Champion Buffs and 23-9, with a 2.44 ERA for the 1951 Texas League kings. He also pitched in the Venezuelan Winter League during the 1951-52 and 1952-53 seasons, compiling a 15-16 mark with a 2.25 ERA in 47 appearances.

Papai died in Divernon, Illinois, at the age of 78.

Fact

*Papai became the hard-luck losing pitcher in the only no-hitter pitched in the Caribbean Series history (*), a 1–0 gem thrown by Cuban team hurler Tommy Fine against the Venezuelan team (February 21, 1952). In the series, Papai went 1-1 with a 0.56 ERA in 16.0 innings.

Quote

*In a pre-game beauty contest at Houston's Buff Stadium in 1951, Papai once escorted a young "bathing beauty" named Kathryn Grandstaff to home plate during the event that she eventually won. Grandstaff went on from there to win much more beauty acclaim, eventually moving to Hollywood and changing her name to Kathryn Grant for acting purposes. On the day she married Bing Crosby, Al Papai was quoted as wryly commenting: "Just think. - I was the one who gave her the start that made her what she is today". [http://community.webshots.com/slideshow/meta/556957210YGsXdz?r=tRbNN&startIndex=19 ]

External links

* [http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=17443 Baseball Fever]
* [http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Al_Papai_1919 Baseball Library]
* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/p/papaial01.shtml Baseball Reference]
* [http://books.google.co.ve/books?id=4ZifOsJ0-C0C&pg=PA359&lpg=PA359&ots=stdIihR2nZ&dq=al+papai+cuban+baseball&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html&sig=ACfU3U2teyXy0AvQx-SK_QcfLDQlhYFctQ Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History]
* [http://www.oddball-mall.com/knuckleball/ Knuckleball Headquarters]
* [http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/P/Ppapaa101.htm Retrosheet]
* [http://community.webshots.com/slideshow/meta/556957210YGsXdz?r=tRbNN&startIndex=19 Texas League Champion Buffs]