Archive

Inducted June 9, 2005 Born in LaPorte, Indiana, Reed was a three-sport star in high school. Basketball was his first love so he turned down a bonus offer to sign a baseball contract and accepted a basketball scholarship from the University of Notre Dame. A 6’6″...

Inducted June 8, 2006 Born John Quinn Picus in Janesville, PA, he spent his early years working as a coal miner. In 1909, at the age of 24, he became the first Polish American to play major league baseball since Oscar Bielaski. He went on to...

Inducted August 8, 2002 Johnny Podres pitched for 15 seasons in the major leagues: Brooklyn Dodgers (1953-57), Los Angeles Dodgers (1958-65), Detroit Tigers (1966-67) and the San Diego Padres (1969). For his career, he won 148 games against 116 losses in over 2,000 innings pitched. He...

A baseball catcher, Pierzynski played 19 seasons in the majors with the Twins (1998-2003), San Francisco Giants (2004), Chicago White Sox (2005-2012), Texas Rangers (2013), Boston Red Sox (2014), St. Louis Cardinals (2014) and the Atlanta Braves (2015-2016).  He is one of only ten catchers...

Inducted June 9, 1983 The New Jersey native was one of the premier relief pitching specialists in the major leagues from 1961 to 1973, posting a 79-74 record, 179 saves and a 2.79 ERA in 737 games covering 1,237 innings. He pitched for the Los Angeles...

Inducted June 11, 1992 One of four brothers to play professional baseball, Paciorek chalked up a .282 average in an 18-year career (1970-1987) with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta, Seattle, Chicago White Sox, New York Mets and Texas. His career-best year came in 1981 at Seattle...

Inducted June 24, 2010 Danny Ozark (Orzechowski) began his managerial career in 1956, following a playing career in the Brooklyn Dodgers system. Ozark honed his trade under the tutelage of Walter Alston, while serving for eight years as a coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers. In...

Inducted June 9, 1990 Paralyzing batters with his fluttering knuckleball, Niekro won 318 games (the 19th player in big-league history to reach the 300 plateau) in 24 seasons with the Atlanta Braves (20 years), New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians despite only winning 31 games by...

Inducted June 11, 1992 In a 21-year major league career with seven teams (Chicago Cubs, San Diego, Detroit, Atlanta, Houston, New York Yankees, Minnesota), Niekro posted a 220-203 record, including back-to-back 20-win seasons in 1979 and 1980 for the Houston Astros, for whom he played 10...

Inducted June 14, 1973 The first inductee into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame and one of the heroic figures in major league baseball, “Stan the Man” compiled a career .331 batting average in 22 seasons (1941-1963), all with the St. Louis Cardinals. The Donora,...