Now, I don't now what was going on in this photo around his mouth (bad airbrushing?), but nevertheless I have never found another usable image of him from this period so here you go!
The Poland-born Drabowsky appeared in 37 games during the 1972 season, the first 30 with the St. Louis Cardinals before finishing the season with seven games as a Chicago White Sox.
Overall the 36-year-old recorded a record of 1-1 with an earned run average of 2.57, with two saves and 18 games finished with only 35 innings of work in that time.
Turns out it would be the last Big League action he’d have, finishing up with a career 88-105 record with a 3.71 ERA over 589 appearances and 1641 innings pitched.
Originally a starter when he came up to the Big Leagues in 1956 as a Chicago Cub, he was converted to a reliever while with the Kansas City Athletics in the early-60’s, reaching his peak with the Baltimore Orioles between 1966 and 1968, when he went 17-9 with ERA’s of 2.81, 1.60 and 1.91 respectively.
Of course, his shining moment in the Majors would be his stand-out relief appearance for the Orioles in the 1966 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers when he came in for starter Dave McNally with one out in the third inning, only to go on and complete the game, 6.2 innings worth, allowing only one hit while striking out 11 to give the Birds the Game 1 victory, on their way to a shocking four-game sweep of the reigning champs.
Not bad!
