George Kurowski

Whitey began his baseball career at Southern Junior High School, moved on to Reading High School and then the Reading Key Juniors. Kurowski’s childhood nickname came from his already white hair. The fact that Whitey played baseball at all is amazing. Missing a bone in his right forearm (he threw with his right arm), his right arm was four inches shorter than his left, due to a childhood accident.

He was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals and played in their minor league system for four seasons. He played with the Cardinals at the major league level for nine seasons (1941- 49); seven of them as their starting third baseman. He was a National League All-Star five consecutive seasons (1943- 47) and competed in four World Series. The Cardinals were World Champions three times (1942, 1944, 1946) and Whitey classified one of his biggest thrills as the homerun he hit in the ninth inning of the fifth game of the World Series to break a 2-2 tie and clinch the title for the Cards over the New York Yankees (1942).

One of Whitey’s proudest achievements was being named the Outstanding Athlete of Berks County (1942). Kurowski’s best season saw him with career highs in batting average (.310), home runs (27) and RBIs (104) (1947). He developed arm and elbow problems and was placed on the disabled list by the Cardinals (1949). He moved on to coaching and managing for 18 years with stops in Lynchburg, VA of the Piedmont League, Allentown, PA of the Class B Inter-State League and Peoria, IL. Whitey was inducted into the National Polish-American Hall of Fame (1988).

Deceased