Alexander James Konikowski (June 8, 1928 – September 27, 1997) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

player, a right-handed

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 ...

who appeared in 35

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Basebal ...

for the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

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), ...

over three seasons (; ; ). Born in Throop, Pennsylvania, Konikowski stood tall and weighed . Konikowski signed his first professional contract at the age of 16 during World War II, and spent all but 11 games of his 310-game

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

career (1944–1951; 1954–1956) in the Giants'

farm system In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

. He debuted with the Giants in June 1948 as a

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue (medical), fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection (sports), ejection, or for other strategic ...

and received his only MLB starting assignment on the season's final day, allowing eight runs in

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is bot ...

against the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

champion

Boston Braves The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. This article details the history of the Boston Braves, from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta. During it ...

. The 1948 campaign was Konikowski's busiest MLB season, as he appeared in 22 games and pitched in innings and collected all five decisions that year. He was credited with his only big league save that season, on July 31, as he preserved a 14–9 win for

Larry Jansen Lawrence Joseph Jansen (July 16, 1920 – October 10, 2009) was an American right-handed pitcher and coach in Major League Baseball. A native of Oregon, he played minor league baseball in the early 1940s before starting his Major League career ...

against the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

. Although he appeared in only three Major League games in 1951 and ten more in 1954, those were important years for the Giants, as they captured the NL pennant each season. Konikowski was recalled from the Triple-A Ottawa Giants in September 1951 and hurled four scoreless innings in three late-season games — all rare Giant losses during their famous surge that forced a three-game championship playoff with their archrivals, the

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association (19th century), American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the ...

. He also pitched a scoreless ninth inning in Game 5 of the

1951 World Series The 1951 World Series matched the two-time defending champion New York Yankees against the New York Giants, who had won the National League pennant in a thrilling three-game playoff with the Brooklyn Dodgers on the legendary home run by Bobby Th ...

, a 13–1 Giant defeat, although one out was recorded when the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

' Gene Woodling tried to stretch a triple into an inside-the-park home run. Konikowski missed 1952 and 1953 while serving in the military during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. Then, in the midseason of 1954, he worked in ten games for the Giants as a reliever and was largely effective, until he was treated roughly in a July 18 outing against the Cincinnati Redlegs.1954-7-18 box score from Retrosheet
/ref> He got into only one more MLB game before finishing his career in the minors. As a Major Leaguer, Konikowski allowed 58

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

and 29

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

in innings of work, with 20 strikeouts.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Konikowski, Alex 1928 births 1997 deaths Baseball players from Pennsylvania Erie Sailors players Jersey City Giants players Major League Baseball pitchers Manchester Giants players Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players New York Giants (NL) players Ottawa Giants players People from Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania Portland Beavers players Trenton Giants players