John Leovich

Infobox MLB retired
name =John Leovich
position =Catcher
birthdate =birth date|1918|5|5
deathdate =death date and age|2000|2|3|1918|5|5
bats =Right
throws =Right
debutdate =May 1
debutyear =1941
debutteam =Philadelphia Athletics
finaldate =May 1
finalyear =1941
finalteam =Philadelphia Athletics
stat1label =Batting average
stat1value =.500
stat2label =Hits
stat2value =1
stat3label =Doubles
stat3value =1
teams =Philadelphia Athletics (by|1941)

John Joseph Leovich (May 5, 1918 – February 3, 2000) was an American professional baseball catcher. He was born in Portland, Oregon. He played college baseball and college football for Oregon State University. He was a letterman in football in 1939 and 1940, and in baseball in 1940.cite web|url=http://alumni.oregonstate.edu/stater/issues/stater0004/sports.html|title=Former major leaguer Leovich dies|publisher=Oregon Stater|accessdate=2008-03-21]

In college, he played in the first-ever Pineapple Bowl in 1940 against the University of Hawaii following the 1939 football season.cite web|url=http://www.osubeavers.com/pdf7/39516.pdf?ATCLID=153842&SPSID=27968&SPID=1952&DB_OEM_ID=4700|title=Bowl Game History|publisher=OSUBeavers.com|accessdate=2008-03-21] He played as left end in the game, resulting in a 39-6 win. Leovich was signed to a contract by Connie Mack. This became an issue when athletic director Percy Locey claimed that the A's "stole" Leovich, which was resolved when Mack claimed that he did not know Leovich was in college, and he was signed by a scout. [cite news|first=Stan|last=Baumgartner|authorlink=Stan Baumgartner|title=Mack Gives Staff 'Will to Win' Drill|publisher=The Sporting News|page=1|date=1941-02-20] Leovich was also looking over an offer to play for the Detroit Tigers at this time, but eventually chose the Athletics because they had a minor league team in Portland, and was familiar with some of the players and coaches.cite book|first=George|last=Rose|title=One Hit Wonders: Baseball Stories|year=2004|publisher=iUniverse|isbn=059531807X|pages=15-16]

He played his first and last game for the Philadelphia Athletics on May 1, 1941 against the Cleveland Indians. In two major league at-bats against Bob Feller, he hit a ground out to shortstop Lou Boudreau and a double to right field. He finished with a career batting average of .500.cite web|url=http://www.baseball-reference.com/l/leovijo01.shtml|title=John Leovich Statistics|publisher=Baseball-reference.com|accessdate=2008-03-21] Shortly after playing in this one career game, he was optioned to the Montreal Royals of the International League. He played for the Portland Beavers the following season. [cite news|title=Portland Still Seeks to Cement Big Holes|publisher=The Sporting News|page=2|date=1942-04-02]

After being released on October 20, he served in the United States Coast Guard in World War II. [cite web|url=http://baseballinwartime.co.uk/those_who_served/those_who_served_atoz.htm|first=Gary|last=Bedingfield|title=All Major League Players Who Served with the Armed Forces in WWII|accessdate=2008-03-21] He also owned and operated Captain John's Restaurant in Lincoln City, Oregon until his retirement in 1979. He died on February 3 2000 in Lincoln City.

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