Alfred Thomas Papai (May 7, 1917 – September 7, 1995) was an American

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

who played between the and seasons for the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

(1948, 1950),

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they p ...

(1949),

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

(1950) and

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

(1955). Listed at , 185 lb., Papai batted and threw right-handed. He was born in

Divernon, Illinois Divernon is a village in Sangamon County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,172 at the 2010 census, and 1,119 at a 2018 estimate. It is part of the Springfield, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area. History A post office has been ...

. A

knuckleball A knuckleball or knuckler is a baseball pitch thrown to minimize the spin of the ball in flight, causing an erratic, unpredictable motion. The air flow over a seam of the ball causes the ball to change from laminar to turbulent flow. This cha ...

er 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 An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

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 A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...

, eight complete games, four saves, 70 strikeouts, 138 walks, and innings of work. Papai also enjoyed a brilliant minor league career as the pitching staff ace for the

Houston Buffaloes The Houston Buffaloes, Houston Buffalos, or Buffs were an American minor league baseball team, and were the first minor league team to be affiliated with a Major League Baseball, Major League franchise, which was the St. Louis Cardinals. The clu ...

of the

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

, 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 The Venezuelan Professional Baseball League or Liga Venezolana de Béisbol Profesional (LVBP) is the professional baseball league in Venezuela. The league's champion takes part in the Caribbean Series each year. History Early years Baseball exp ...

during the 1951–52 and 1952–53 seasons, compiling a 15–16 mark with a 2.25 ERA in 47 appearances. Papai died in Springfield, Illinois, at the age of 78.

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Retrosheet
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Papai, Al 1917 births 1995 deaths Allentown Cardinals players Baseball players from Illinois Boston Red Sox players Chicago White Sox players Corpus Christi Giants players Houston Buffaloes players Indianapolis Indians players Knuckleball pitchers Lynchburg Cardinals players Major League Baseball pitchers Memphis Chickasaws players Oklahoma City Indians players Patriotas de Venezuela players Rochester Red Wings players St. Louis Browns players St. Louis Cardinals players Springfield Cardinals players Worthington Cardinals players People from Sangamon County, Illinois

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