Dick Brodowski


Richard Stanley Brodowski was a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played in 1952 and from 1955 through for the Boston Red Sox, Washington Senators and Cleveland Indians. He batted and threw right-handed, stood tall and weighed.
He attended Sweeney Senior High School.
Brodowski signed with the Red Sox in 1951 and in his first pro season he won 21 games in the Class D Ohio–Indiana League. Promoted all the way to Triple-A in, he went 7–1 in ten starting assignments with seven complete games, earning a call up to the Red Sox at the age of 19. In 20 games pitched and 12 starts, he notched a 5–5 record and 4.41 earned run average with four complete games, taking his turn in a pitching rotation which included Mel Parnell, Mickey McDermott, Dizzy Trout and Sid Hudson, however he spent 1953–54 in military service and was ineffective after his return in 1955, spending one season with Boston before moving to Washington and Cleveland.
In his six-season, 72-game MLB career, Brodowski posted a 9–11 record with five complete games, five saves, and 85 strikeouts and a 4.76 ERA in 215 innings pitched. He allowed 212 hits and 124 bases on balls.

Early Life

Brodowski was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, on July 26, 1932. His father, Andrew Brodowski, had emigrated to the United States from Poland at about age 10 to 12, and worked as a lead burner in an oil refinery. His mother, Anna, came from Poland when she was around five. "I remember them talking about how they used to bring the family from Europe to the United States," Dick recalled in a 2016 interview. Did they speak Polish in the home at Bayonne? "Just a little. Just when they wanted to get stuff by the kids." Dick had two older brothers, John and Henry. At the time of the 1940 census, John was 19 and employed as a welder in an iron works. Dick grew up in the city and graduated from Sweeney Senior High School, playing baseball – initially shortstop – in CYO ball and high school, and at least four teams scouted him. He was signed by Boston Red Sox scout Bill McCarren.