Andy Pafko was a household name in Chicago for much of the 1940s. He made his debut with the Chicago Cubs in 1943 and became a fixture in their lineup until he was traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers midway through the 1951 season. Pafko represented the Cubs in the classiest of ways and helped Chicago win the National League Pennant in 1945. Unfortunately, the Cubs lost in seven games to the Detroit Tigers and would not return to the World Series until 2016. A return to trip the World Series was certainly not the fault of Pafko. He was an All Star for the team in 1947, 1948, 1949 and 1950. He enjoyed his two best years of his 17-year career while playing for the Cubs. In 1948, he hit .312 with 26 homeruns and 101 RBI; and in 1950 he hit .304 with 36 homeruns and 92 RBI. But, the Cubs couldn’t find a way back to the top of the standings with Pafko in the lineup, so they traded him to the Dodgers midway through 1951, and playing for the Dodgers, albeit just for 1 ½ years, might be where Pafko is best remembered. He was a part of the Dodgers historic collapse in 1951, was the leftfielder who watched the famous Bobby Thomson homerun sail over his head, and in 1952 put together a terrific season to lead the Dodgers into the World Series against the New York Yankees. Pafko hit .287 that year with 19 homeruns and 85 RBI. But the Dodgers lost the series in seven games and Pafko was traded to the Milwaukee Braves after the season had concluded. With Milwaukee, Pafko was a key cog in the Barves two World Series appearances – a seven-game series win over the Yankees in 1957 and a seven-game series loss to the Yankees in 1958. The fact that Pafko does not get more notoriety for his career is a head-scratcher. Perhaps it was because he spent so much time on the bench hurt because of his reckless abandon play that made him one of the game’s best defensive outfielders, and we’re going to explore that and more with Joe Niese who wrote the book, “Handy Andy” on this edition of Sports’ Forgotten Heroes.
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