Richard David Kryhoski (March 24, 1925 – April 10, 2007) 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 ...
first baseman
A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...
. He played in
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), ...
(MLB) for four different franchises between 1949 and 1955. Listed at and , he batted and threw left-handed.
The Record (Bergen County)
''The Record'' (also called ''The North Jersey Record'', ''The Bergen Record'', ''The Sunday Record'' (Sunday edition) and formerly ''The Bergen Evening Record'') is a newspaper in New Jersey, United States. Serving Bergen, Essex, Hudson and P ...
'', January 1, 2008, backed up by the
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
as of May 19, 2008. Accessed March 30, 2011. "Dick Kryhoski, 82, on April 10. The only Leonia native to make it to the big leagues, Kryhoski played first base for the world champion '49 Yankees." He attended
Upsala College
Upsala College (UC) was a private college affiliated with the Swedish-American Augustana Synod (later the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church) and located in East Orange in Essex County, New Jersey in the United States. Upsala was founded in ...
in
East Orange, New Jersey
East Orange is a City (New Jersey), city in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 69,612. The city was List of municipalities in ...
. Kryhoski had a promising baseball career before injuries, deep slumps, and frequent trades forced his premature retirement. He served in the military during World War II, in the Pacific theater.
Signed by 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 ...
as an amateur free agent in 1946, Kryhoski hit .396 with 19
home run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
s and 85
runs batted in
A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...
American Association American Association may refer to:
Baseball
* American Association (1882–1891), a major league active from 1882 to 1891
* American Association (1902–1997), a minor league active from 1902 to 1962 and 1969 to 1997
* American Association of Profe ...
, he hit .294 (160-for-545) with 30 doubles, seven triples, 13 home runs and 87 runs batted in. In 1949 he hit .328 with five home runs and 50 runs batted in with the
Pacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...
Oakland Oaks, joining the New York Yankees late in the season.
The Yankees won the
1949 World Series
The 1949 World Series featured the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Dodgers, with the Yankees winning in five games for their second defeat of the Dodgers in three years, and the 12th championship in team history. This victory would start a record ...
when Kryhoski was a rookie with them. During the off-season, he was traded by New York to the
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...
in exchange for
Dick Wakefield
Richard Cummings Wakefield (May 6, 1921 – August 25, 1985) was a left fielder in Major League Baseball for 9 seasons with the Detroit Tigers (1941, 1943–1944, 1946–1949), New York Yankees (1950), and New York Giants (1952). Wakefield was ...
Kansas City Athletics
The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 seas ...
(1955). One of his most productive seasons came in 1951 with the Tigers, when he hit .287 with 12 home runs and 57 runs batted in, batting third in the batting order. In 1953, he shared with
Roy Sievers
Roy Edward Sievers (November 18, 1926 – April 3, 2017) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a first baseman and left fielder from through . A five-time All-Star, Sievers was the American L ...
the first base job for the Browns in the last year of the team's existence. On July 16 of that year, the Browns tied, by then, a majors record with three successive home runs belted by
Clint Courtney
Clinton Dawson Courtney (March 16, 1927 – June 16, 1975), nicknamed Scrap Iron, was an American professional baseball catcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1951), St. Louis Browns / Baltimore Orioles (1952 ...
, Kryhoski and
Jim Dyck
James Robert Dyck (February 3, 1922 – January 11, 1999) was a third baseman and left fielder in Major League Baseball who played for four different teams between 1951 and 1956. Listed at , 200 lb., Dyck batted and threw right-handed. He was ...
, in the first inning of an 8–6 victory over the Yankees.
In a seven-season major league career, Kryhoski was a .265 hitter (475-for-1794), 45 home runs and 231 runs batted in over 569 games, with 203 runs, 85 doubles, 14 triples, five
stolen base
In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...
s, and a .314
on-base percentage
In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...
. As a first baseman, he collected 3768
outs
In baseball, an out occurs when the umpire rules a batter or baserunner out. When a batter or runner is out, they lose their ability to score a run and must return to the dugout until their next turn at bat. When three outs are recorded in a ha ...
double play
In baseball and softball, a double play (denoted as DP in baseball statistics) is the act of making two outs during the same continuous play. Double plays can occur any time there is at least one baserunner and fewer than two outs.
In Major Leag ...
total chances
In baseball statistics, total chances (TC), also called ''chances offered'', represents the number of plays in which a defensive player has participated. It is the sum of putouts plus assists plus errors. ''Chances accepted'' refers to the total ...
for a .990
fielding percentage
In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...
.
Kryhoski died at his home in
Beverly Hills, Michigan
Beverly Hills is a village in Oakland County of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a northern suburb of Metro Detroit and is about north of the city of Detroit. As of the 2010 census, the population was 10,267. Located within Southfield Towns ...