Ervin Frank "Four Sack" Dusak (July 29, 1920 – November 6, 1994) 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 ...

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 ...

, infielder and

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 ...

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 nine seasons spanning 1941 to 1952 for 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 ...

and Pittsburgh Pirates. Born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, he threw and batted right-handed, stood tall and weighed . Dusak signed with the Cardinals' organization in 1938 and got his nickname from a poem a fan wrote after he hit a

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 ...

in the minors. He spent the 1941 season among three Cardinal farm clubs: the Class B

Mobile Shippers Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ...

, Class A1

Houston Buffaloes The Houston Buffaloes, Houston Buffalos, or Buffs were an American minor league baseball team, and were the first minor league team to be affiliated with a Major League Baseball, Major League franchise, which was the St. Louis Cardinals. The clu ...

(who won 103 games), and the top-level Rochester Red Wings,

batting Batting may refer to: * Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs * Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ...

a composite .318 with 23 long balls. He earned cups of coffee in the majors with the Cards in and , and missed the 1943 to 1945 seasons while serving in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

in the

Pacific Theater of World War II The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the Theater (warfare), theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, ...

. Dusak then returned to the Cardinals from to , primarily as an outfielder, playing some games at second base and third base. On July 7, 1946, he hit a game-winning, three-run home run to beat the Brooklyn Dodgers and to move his club within a half game of 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 ...

lead. Brooklyn and St. Louis would finish the 1946 regular-season in a dead heat, forcing a tie-breaker series that delivered the Cardinals' ninth pennant since 1926. Dusak played a key role in the clinching second game of the series, hitting a

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * ...

and an RBI

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

to help propel the Redbirds to the 8–4 triumph. They went on to win the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

, with Dusak appearing in four Fall Classic games, getting four at bats, and hitting a

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

in Game 2. Dusak saw his most big league action in , hitting .284 in 111 games. When his batting average dropped, he turned to pitching, appearing in 23 games, all in

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

, but ended his career primarily as a position player with the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 413

MLB 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), ...

games played over all or part of nine major-league seasons, Dusak batted .243; his 251 hits included 32 doubles, six triples and 24 homers, with 106 RBI. He drew walks well, with a lifetime .334 on-base percentage that was 91 points higher than his batting average. On the mound, he posted an 0–3 won–lost record and 5.33

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

; in 54 innings pitched, he allowed 51 hits and 44 walks, with 26 strikeouts. After retiring in 1952, Dusak was an insurance agent for 21 years and worked in a bowling alley for a decade. He died in

Glendale Heights, Illinois Glendale Heights is a village in DuPage County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 33,176. History Glendale Heights was a small farming area served by the Glen Ellyn post office up until the 1950s, with a population ...

, aged 74.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dusak, Erv 1920 births 1994 deaths Albany Cardinals players American people of Czech descent Baseball players from Chicago Farragut Career Academy alumni Hollywood Stars players Houston Buffaloes players Major League Baseball outfielders Major League Baseball pitchers Major League Baseball second basemen Major League Baseball third basemen Mobile Shippers players Monett Red Birds New Orleans Pelicans (baseball) players Pittsburgh Pirates players Rochester Red Wings players St. Louis Cardinals players United States Army personnel of World War II