Omar Joseph "Turk" Lown (May 30, 1924 – July 8, 2016) was an American

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and ski ...

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 t ...

. He was a right-handed

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("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, who attempts to e ...

over parts of 11 seasons (1951–54, 1956–62) with the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

and

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

. The , Lown received his nickname as a child because of his fondness for eating

turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. A native of

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, behi ...

, Lown was signed as an amateur free agent by the

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1884 as a member of the American Association before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, Californ ...

and entered their farm system in 1942. He attended and graduated from

Brooklyn Technical High School Brooklyn Technical High School, commonly called Brooklyn Tech and administratively designated High School 430, is an elite public high school in New York City that specializes in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. It is one of th ...

. His baseball career was interrupted by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, serving in the US Army as an infantryman seeing action in the

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted from 16 December 1944 to 28 January 1945, towards the end of the war in ...

and receiving the

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

. Following his military service, he returned to minor league baseball with the Dodgers from 1946 to 1950. In November 1950, he was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the Rule 5 draft making his major league debut on April 24, 1951. For his career, Lown compiled a 55–61 record in 504

appearances Appearance may refer to: * Visual appearance, the way in which objects reflect and transmit light * Human physical appearance, what someone looks like * ''Appearances'' (film), a 1921 film directed by Donald Crisp * Appearance (philosophy), or p ...

, mostly as a

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who enters the game after the starting pitcher is removed because of fatigue, ineffectiveness, injury, or ejection, or for other strategic reasons, such as inclement weather d ...

, with a 4.12

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 numb ...

, 73 saves and 574 strikeouts. In 1959, he led the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

in saves and games finished to help lead the White Sox to the pennant. Lown did not give up a run in three appearances in the

1959 World Series The 1959 World Series featured the National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers beating the American League champion Chicago White Sox, 4–2. Each of the three games played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum drew record crowds, Game 5's a ...

loss to the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brookly ...

. He also led 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 ...

in successive seasons (1956–57) in games finished, while topping the NL in games pitched (67) in 1957. Lown celebrated his 90th birthday with Violet, his wife of 65 years, their three sons, four grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, and many close friends, on Memorial Day 2014, in

Pueblo, Colorado Pueblo () is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 111,876 at the 2020 United States Census, making Pueblo the ninth most popu ...

, where he played minor league baseball and in 1947 met Violet Krizman, who "became his best friend for life." They returned to Pueblo, where he worked as a mail carrier for 23 years, after he retired from professional baseball. Lown died on July 8, 2016, of leukemia.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lown, Turk 1924 births 2016 deaths United States Army personnel of World War II Baseball players from New York (state) Brooklyn Technical High School alumni Chicago Cubs players Chicago White Sox players Cincinnati Redlegs players Deaths from cancer in Colorado Deaths from leukemia Fort Worth Cats players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Major League Baseball pitchers Montreal Royals players Newport News Dodgers players Sportspeople from Pueblo, Colorado Pueblo Dodgers players Sportspeople from Brooklyn Baseball players from New York City Valdosta Trojans players United States Army soldiers

See also

References

External links