At long last, I have finally gotten around to creating a "missing"
1964 card for the ultimate "one-game wonder", John Paciorek of the
Houston Colt .45s:
As we all know Paciorek, the
older brother of both Tom and Jim Paciorek, appeared in one
solitary game at the end of the 1963 season for Houston, putting in
perhaps the greatest one-game career the sport has ever seen.
On
September 29th against the New York Mets, John, making his Major League
debut, started out in right field and proceeded to go 3-for-3 at the
plate with four runs scored and three runs batted in along with two
walks, helping the "Colts" win 13-4 on the last game of the season.
With that game in the books, Paciorek went home to wait until the next season, batting a cool 1.000 for his bright career.
As a Spring Training invitee in 1964, his performance was just not enough to make the team, so off to the Minors he went.
Sadly,
during the year he injured his spine, leading to spinal fusion surgery,
causing him to miss the latter part of the 1964 season and all of 1965.
Though
he did manage to return to the Minors in 1966, he just couldn't get
back into the groove of things, hitting .193 combined with the Batavia
Trojans and Salisbury Astros.
In 1967 things didn't fare much
better, as he hit a combined .104 over 32 games with Asheville and
Cocoa, collecting only seven hits over 67 at-bats, leading to a release
at the end of the year.
He did bounce back some in 1968,
signing with the Cleveland Indians organizations and splitting the year
between Reno and Rock Hill.
Over 95 games that year he hit .268 with 20 homers and 73 RBIs, giving his new club some hopes for the future.
However, after hitting only .213 over 29 games with Waterbury, he was released, never to play pro ball again.
Nevertheless,
no one can take away the fact that in his one day as a Major League
ballplayer at the tender young age of only 18, he was perfect!
