John Clarence "Nap" Kloza (September 7, 1903 – June 11, 1962) was a professional baseball player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. Listed at 5' 11", 180 lb., he batted and threw right-handed. Sometimes he is credited as ''Jack'' Kloza. Kloza is recognized as one of four

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), ...

leaguers born in Poland, along with

Moe Drabowsky Myron Walter Drabowsky (July 21, 1935 – June 10, 2006) was an American professional baseball pitcher, best-remembered for throwing scoreless innings of relief to win Game 1 of the 1966 World Series. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for ...

Henry Peploski Henry Stephen Peploski (), nicknamed "Pep", was a former professional baseball player who was an infielder in the Major Leagues in 1929. He played for the Boston Braves and is recognized as one of four Major Leaguers born in Poland, along with ...

and

Johnny Reder John Anthony Reder (September 24, 1909 – April 12, 1990) was a Polish-American sportsman who, during the 1930s, played soccer with Fall River F.C. and the New Bedford Whalers and baseball for the Boston Red Sox. In soccer, he played as a goalkee ...

. At age 28, it had been a long journey to the major leagues for Kloza. He debuted in 1925 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 cat ...

with the Blytheville Tigers of the Tri-State League, but spent nearly seven full seasons in the minors with eleven teams before reaching the majors in with the

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 ...

. While playing for the

Montgomery Lions The Montgomery Rebels was the name of several American minor league baseball franchises representing Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Iris ...

in 1926, Kloza led the Southeastern League with a .379

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

and nine

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 in 114 games. Then, in 1927 he hit .404 with 28 homers in 122 games for the Albany Nuts in the same league. After that, he slugged .347 with 28 home runs in 1930 for the Wichita Falls Spudders 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 ...

, and .319 with 22 homers for the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

of the

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 ...

in 1931, being promoted to the Browns late in the season. Kloza was hailed as a potential

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...

at that time, but his major league experience was cut short by illness, from which he never fully recovered his best playing strength, appearing in parts of two seasons. He was a .150 hitter in 22 games, driving in two runs and scoring five more without home runs. In 1933 Kloza returned to the minors, playing for the Brewers during four seasons before retiring at age 32. In a 12-year minor league career, he hit .312 with 153 home runs and a .532

slugging average In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, a ...

in 1217 games. Following his playing retirement, he promoted baseball activities for the youth. In 1944 he managed the

Rockford Peaches The Rockford Peaches were a women's professional baseball team who played from through in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. A founding member, the team represented Rockford, Illinois. The Peaches were one of two teams to pla ...

of the

All-American Girls Professional Baseball League The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was a professional women's baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley which existed from 1943 to 1954. The AAGPBL is the forerunner of women's professional league sports in the Uni ...

, guiding his club a 25–23 record while finishing third out of four opponents. Kloza was a longtime resident of

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

, where he died at the age of 58. He is part of the AAGPBL permanent display at the

Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a history museum and hall of fame in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests. It serves as the central point of the history of baseball in the United States and displays baseball-re ...

Cooperstown, New York Cooperstown is a village in and county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in the C ...

, opened in , which is dedicated to the entire league rather than any individual player.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kloza, Jack Major League Baseball outfielders St. Louis Browns players All-American Girls Professional Baseball League managers Minor league baseball managers Albany Nuts players Alexandria Reds players Birmingham Barons players Blytheville Tigers players Chattanooga Lookouts players Longview Cannibals players Louisville Colonels (minor league) players Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players Montgomery Lions players Nashville Vols players Wichita Falls Spudders players Major League Baseball players from Poland Sportspeople from Warsaw People from Warsaw Governorate Polish emigrants to the United States Congress Poland emigrants to the United States Baseball players from Milwaukee 1903 births 1962 deaths Burials in Wisconsin Polish baseball players