YOUR 1966 BRAVES: #45 Ed Sadowski

#45 ED SADOWSKI
Catcher

What Came Before: The catcher among the three Sadowski brothers, and the second to play for the Braves (Bob did in Milwaukee, Ted didn't), he enjoyed a long career in the minors as a handler of pitchers and a mentor of sorts. While the Red Sox bought up his contract in 1951 when he was still a teen, he didn't break into the majors 1960, breaking camp with the Sox as a 29-year-old rookie third-stringer behind Russ Nixon and Haywood Sullivan.
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Another, younger, catcher, Jim Pagliaroni, came up at the same time and Sadowski was excess baggage. But he had the good fortune to be grabbed by the Los Angeles Angels in the expansion draft. He started only once in the Angels' first two months of existense, but his value soon became apparent to nmanger Bill Rigney, and he was in the lineup 43 times in the season's second. His playing time decline in 1962, went up to a career-high 80 games in '63 (.172-4-15) but found himself back in the minors in 1964.

That 1966 Season: The good soldier got to end his career as a big leaguer. As a de facto player coach for the Crackers in 1965 and the Richmond Braves in '66, hitting just over .200 with five homers each year, the 35-year-old veteran was called up in September and got into three game for the Braves. He was 1-for-9 with a run scored and an RBI, played perfect defense and threw out three of five would-be base stealers.

What Happened Next: The games he caught for Atlanta were the last of his playing career. But he had a career ahead of him in coaching and teaching, including a stint in the Expos' system, leaving the game for good in 1970. He turned to physical education and was a beloved instructor at St. Anne School and other Catholic schools well past the time his health should have forced his retirement. Sadowski finally succumbed to ALS – Lou Gehrig's Disease – in 1993 at the age of 62.