- John Paciorek
Infobox MLB retired
name=John Paciorek
position=Outfielder
bats=Right
throws=Right
birthdate=birth date and age|1945|2|11
city-state|Detroit|Michigan
debutdate=September 29
debutyear=by|1963
debutteam=Houston Colt .45s
finaldate=September 29
finalyear=by|1963
finalteam=Houston Colt .45s
stat1label=Batting average
stat1value=1.000
stat2label=Home runs
stat2value=0
stat3label=Runs batted in
stat3value=3
teams=
*Houston Colt .45s (1963)John Francis Paciorek (born
February 11 ,1945 , in Detroit,Michigan ) is an Americanbaseball player with three career Major Leagueat-bat s, all for the Houston Colt .45s in 1963.He is famous for having arguably the greatest one-game career in baseball history. Paciorek, who had been called up when rosters expanded in September, got into the final game of the 1963 season, on September 29 as the right fielder. He came to the plate five times, hitting three singles and drawing two walks, for a perfect career batting average and on base average of 1.000. As if that wasn't enough, he also scored four runs and drove in three RBI during the game.
Back injuries forced Paciorek to have surgery in 1964, causing him to miss the entire 1965 season. He then played in the minors until 1969 but was never again to play in the big leagues. John now teaches at Clairbourn School in San Gabriel, California, and has four sons and four daughters: Jon Paul, Pete, Mack, Joey, Amy, Christie, Becky, and Kimmy; and four grandchildren: Kody, Jack, Luke, and Payton.
His brother Tom played for six major league teams during the 1970s and 1980s, and another brother Jim, played 48 games for the 1987 Brewers.
Note
Of the twenty-one people in major league history with career batting averages of 1.000, Paciorek was the only one to have as many as three at-bats until José Morales of the Twins joined that group on September 8, 2007. It should be noted that Morales is still young enough to possibly play again and lose his 1.000 career BA.
References and external links
* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/p/paciojo01.shtml John Paciorek career summary at Baseball-reference.com]
* [http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B09290HOU1963.htm Box score for Paciorek's game]
* [http://www.astroland.net/paciorek.html Web page with a brief bio and Paciorek's complete minor league stats]
* [http://www.dugoutcentral.com/blog/?p=1497 An Interview With John Paciorek at Dugout Central]
* [http://www.dugoutcentral.com/blog/?p=1482 John Paciorek's Amazing One Game Career]
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