Raymond Leo Jablonski (December 17, 1926 – November 25, 1985) was an American

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

who played for all or parts of eight MLB seasons between 1953 and 1960. A

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

All-Star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...

, Jablonski appeared in 812

games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...

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 (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Centra ...

, Cincinnati Redlegs, New York / San Francisco Giants and

Kansas City Athletics The Kansas City Athletics were a Major League Baseball team that played in Kansas City, Missouri, from 1955 to 1967, having previously played in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as the Philadelphia Athletics. After moving in 1967, the team became the ...

. The native of

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, threw and batted

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and was listed as tall and .

Baseball career

Jablonski's pro career began in the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Founded in as one of the Ameri ...

organization in 1947. After two seasons at the Class D level, the Cardinals acquired him in the 1948

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

draft. In 1951, he was the Most Valuable Player of the Class B

Carolina League The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 unti ...

after he won the league's Triple Crown. Then, after one season in Triple-A, Jablonski broke into the 1953 Cardinals' starting lineup. He started all 157 games for the Redbirds at third base, and set career bests in

home runs 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 ...

(21) and

runs batted in A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) 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 th ...

(112), finishing third in the National League's Rookie of the Year Award balloting (behind Jim Gilliam and teammate Harvey Haddix). In , he drove in over 100 runs for a second straight season and batted a career-high .296. Selected to the 1954 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, he started at third base for the National League and contributed a fourth-inning single off Sandy Consuegra to help the Senior Circuit overcome a four-run deficit and take a 5–4 lead. But the rival

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

ended up winning the slugfest, 11–9, at

Cleveland Stadium Cleveland Stadium, commonly known as Municipal Stadium, Lakefront Stadium or Cleveland Municipal Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. It was one of the early multi-purpose stadiums, built to accommodate both baseball and foot ...

. His 1953–54 seasons constituted the high-water marks of his big league career. Although he led NL third-basemen in assists in 1954, Jablonski committed 27 and 34 errors in successive seasons, and with hard-hitting and slick-fielding

Ken Boyer Kenton Lloyd Boyer (May 20, 1931 – September 7, 1982) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) third baseman, coach and manager who played with the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Mets, Chicago White Sox, and Los Angeles Dodgers for 15 seaso ...

poised to break onto the varsity roster, the Cardinals traded Jablonski to the Redlegs along with

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

Gerry Staley for Cincinnati

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ace Frank Smith after the 1954 campaign. Then Jablonski suffered through two sub-par seasons in Cincinnati, batting only .240 and .256 and spending part of back in the minor leagues. The Reds traded him to the Chicago Cubs after , but Jablonski would never appear in a regular-season game for his hometown team. Chicago sent him to the New York Giants on the opening day of the season. Jablonski was the Giants' regular third baseman during their final New York season and batted .289, but the following year he lost the starting job to rookie Jim Davenport and hit only .230 in part-time duty. Sent back to the Cardinals just prior to opening day in , Jablonski backed up Boyer and served as a

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter (PH) is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, A ...

through August 20, before being claimed off waivers by the Kansas City Athletics. After he closed the 1959 campaign with Kansas City, the A's demoted him to the Triple-A Dallas-Fort Worth Rangers for most of before giving him one last MLB trial in the closing weeks of the season. In his final big-league game on September 17, he pinch hit against Jack Harshman of the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...

and flied out. All told, Jablonski had 687

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

as a big-leaguer, with 126 doubles, 11

triples TripleS (; ; stylized as tripleS) is a South Korean 24-member multinational girl group formed by Modhaus. They aim to be the world's first decentralized idol group, where the members will rotate between the full group, sub-units, and solo activi ...

and 83 home runs, batting .268 with 438 runs batted in. His professional career continued through 1964 at the Triple-A level. Ray Jablonski died at age 58 in Chicago.Ray Jablonski dies at 58
/ref> He was buried at Resurrection Catholic Cemetery in Justice, Illinois.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jablonski, Ray 1926 births 1985 deaths Atlanta Crackers players Baseball players from Chicago Cincinnati Redlegs players Columbus Cardinals players Dallas Rangers players Hawaii Islanders players Kansas City Athletics players 20th-century American sportsmen Lynchburg Cardinals players Major League Baseball third basemen Milford Red Sox players National League All-Stars New York Giants (baseball) players Rochester Red Wings players St. Louis Cardinals players San Diego Padres (minor league) players San Francisco Giants players Winston-Salem Cardinals players