John Barney Wyrostek (July 12, 1919 – December 12, 1986) 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 leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...

. He played all or part of eleven seasons in the

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), ...

between 1942 and 1954 primarily as an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

, most often in

right Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical ...

center field A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the c ...

. He batted left-handed, threw right-handed, and was listed as tall and . Wyrostek was signed by 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 ...

out of his

East St. Louis East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

high school. His contract was purchased by the Pittsburgh Pirates late in the 1941 season, and he played parts of the next two seasons with the Pirates as a reserve outfielder. On September 30, 1943, Wyrostek was traded back to the Cardinals. After a stint in the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

, his contract was sold to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1946, at which point he became an everyday player. Wyrostek averaged eight homers a year in his career, and had only one season in which he hit over ten. In 1948, he had a total of 17 home runs with another career high, 76 RBIs, which he would tie later. His seven stolen bases on the year also tied a career-high. In 1950, Wyrostek hit .285 with 8 homers and 76 RBIs with the Reds. On September 4 of that year, Wyrostek drove in eight of the Reds' 13 runs in a doubleheader sweep of the visiting Cardinals. By 1951, Wyrostek was a good-hitting

who averaged about a .266 batting average. But that year, his batting average skyrocketed to .311. While his power numbers went down (2 HR, 61 RBIs), his batting average was good for sixth in the league and his 167 hits was 10th. He made his second and final All-Star team. In an 11-season career played with the Pirates, Phillies and Reds, Wyrostek batted .271 with 58

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 481

RBIs 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 ...

in 1221 games. He had 525 runs scored with 33 stolen bases and a solid .349 on-base percentage. He had 1,149 hits with 209 doubles and 45 triples in his 4,240 at bats.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wyrostek, Johnny 1919 births 1986 deaths Cincinnati Reds players Columbus Red Birds players Houston Buffaloes players Kinston Eagles players Major League Baseball center fielders Major League Baseball right fielders National League All-Stars New Orleans Pelicans (baseball) players People from Fairmont City, Illinois Philadelphia Phillies players Pittsburgh Pirates players Rochester Red Wings players Baseball players from East St. Louis, Illinois Springfield Cardinals players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players United States Army personnel of World War II