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American baseball player (1921-2004)
Baseball player
John Louis Blatnik
(March 10, 1921 ? January 21, 2004) was an
American
professional baseball
outfielder
who played in
Major League Baseball
(MLB) from
1948
through
1950
for the
Philadelphia Phillies
and
St. Louis Cardinals
. Listed at 6 ft (1.8 m), 195 lb (88 kg), Blatnik batted and threw
right-handed
.
A native of
Bridgeport, Ohio
, Blatnik was known as a line-drive hitter and a strong-armed outfielder. He was the regular
left fielder
for the 1948 Phillies. Blatnik appeared in a career-high 121 games while
batting
.260 with 41
extra-base hits
that season, while leading all
National League
(NL) outfielders with nine
assists
. However, injuries cut short his career, and he appeared in just 28 games over the next two years. Blatnik began the 1950 campaign with the eventual NL champion
Phillies "Whiz Kids,"
but was traded to the Cardinals for
left-handed
pitcher
Ken Johnson
on April 27 after only four
games played
with Philadelphia. Blatnik was sent to the
minor leagues
by the Cardinals after only seven more games and 23
plate appearances
.
In a three-season Major League career, Blatnik was a .253 hitter, with 113
hits
, six
home runs
and 46
runs batted in
(RBI) in 138 games, including 59
runs
, 27
double
, eight
triples
, three
stolen bases
, and a .317
on-base percentage
.
On January 21, 2004, Blatnik died in
Lansing, Ohio
, at the age of 82 and was buried nearby in Holly Memorial Gardens.
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