Michael Joseph Bielecki (born July 31, 1959) is a former professional

baseball player Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding te ...

who pitched in the Major Leagues for five different teams.

Major league career

Pittsburgh Pirates

After graduating from

Dundalk High School Dundalk High School (DHS) is a four-year public high school in the United States, located in Baltimore County, Maryland. The school opened in 1959. Starting in 2010, DHS was rebuilt and combined with Sollers Point Technical High School. The new b ...

, Bielecki attended

Loyola College in Maryland Loyola University Maryland is a private Jesuit university in Baltimore, Maryland. Established as Loyola College in Maryland by John Early and eight other members of the Society of Jesus in 1852, it is the ninth-oldest Jesuit college in the U ...

for the 1977 –78 academic year. He pitched for the

Greyhounds The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurge ...

for only one season due to the university discontinuing its intercollegiate baseball program in the autumn of 1978. Bielecki was drafted by the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

in the first round, with the eighth pick of the 1979 amateur draft (secondary phase). He made his debut on September 14, 1984. Bielecki spent the next four seasons with the Pirates, only playing full-time in 1986, finishing that season with a 6-11 record and a 4.66

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 ...

Chicago Cubs

In 1989, Bielecki won a career high 18 games for the Cubs and finished ninth in

Cy Young Award The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball (MLB), one each for the American League (AL) and National League (NL). The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Hall ...

voting. He was nicknamed "BOOM BOOM" Bielecki by Steve Stone for the two-run single he collected against the

in a game on April 13, 1991. Bielecki pitched the first night game ever at

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago Wh ...

, on August 9, 1988.

Cleveland Indians

In 1993, as an Indian, Bielecki had been invited to join Steve Olin,

Tim Crews Stanley Timothy Crews (April 3, 1961 – March 23, 1993) was a Major League Baseball pitcher who played six seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers from to . Crews was part of the Dodgers team that won the 1988 World Series. At the end of the 1992 ...

and

Bob Ojeda Robert Michael Ojeda (born December 17, 1957) is an American former professional baseball player, coach and television sports color commentator. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a left-handed pitcher from to , most notably as a member ...

on a fishing boat in

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

, but declined. The subsequent crash of the boat killed Olin and Crews, and nearly killed Ojeda. Bielecki didn't stay long in Cleveland; he ended the season pitching for the Baltimore Orioles AAA farm team.Little Lake Nellie: A decade later , MLB.com: News
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California Angels

In 1995 Bielecki pitched for the California Angels, and had a 5.97 ERA in 22 appearances with the team.

Atlanta Braves

In 1991 Bielecki was acquired by the Braves along with Damon Berryhill. With only two days left in the season, in 1992 he was named the fifth starter for the Braves but his season ended in August due to an elbow injury. In 1994 he returned to the Braves. Appeared in the 1996 World Series as a member of the Braves. His final game was on August 16, 1997.

References

External links

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Pura Pelota (Venezuelan Winter League)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bielecki, Mike 1959 births Living people Baseball players from Baltimore American expatriate baseball players in Canada Águilas del Zulia players Atlanta Braves players Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players California Angels players Chicago Cubs players Cleveland Indians players Greenwood Pirates players Gulf Coast Pirates players Hawaii Islanders players Iowa Cubs players Lake Elsinore Storm players Lynn Pirates (1983) players Major League Baseball pitchers Navegantes del Magallanes players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Pittsburgh Pirates players Shelby Pirates players Rochester Red Wings players Valencia Matadors baseball players Vancouver Canadians players