{"id":34748,"date":"2026-03-26T16:08:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T21:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/?p=34748"},"modified":"2026-04-18T10:45:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T15:45:42","slug":"lucky-lohrke-or-low-key-lohrke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2026\/03\/26\/lucky-lohrke-or-low-key-lohrke\/","title":{"rendered":"Lucky Lohrke or Low-Key Lohrke?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jack

Jack Lohrke played for the New York Giants from 1947-1951<\/p><\/div>\n

Whenever you read about a disastrous plane crash, there is inevitably a sidebar pertaining to one or more passengers who had reservations but missed the flight for one reason or another.\u00a0 Or there is the occasional passenger who somehow survived the disaster.\u00a0 Last summer, we had the example of a man (Vishwash Kumar Ramesh<\/a>) who walked away from an Air India crash that killed all the other (241) passengers.<\/p>\n

After reading about such events, one cannot help but wonder how one would respond if one were the survivor.\u00a0 The responses of survivors may vary but being blas\u00e9 is rarely one of them.\u00a0 For most survivors, it is a life-changing event.\u00a0 Some embark on a lifelong guilt trip \u2013 I don\u2019t deserve to live\u2026I\u2019m no better than the others.\u00a0 Others may experience an epiphany, a newfound appreciation for life, and might make course corrections in their lives.<\/p>\n

Then there are those who might embark on a mission, believing that God, the gods, the Force, fate, or whatever, have tabbed them for a glorious destiny, even though their lives have been humdrum up to that point.\u00a0 This, of course, is the stuff of legend.\u00a0 Think of young Arthur Pendragon pulling the sword out of the stone, or Luke Skywalker evolving from a denizen of a backwater planet into a hero of an interstellar rebellion.\u00a0 Or you might think of real-life figures, such as Sergeant York or Audie Murphy, a couple of provincials who migrated from obscurity to iconic heroism.\u00a0 Then there is the case of Jack Lohrke<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lorhke was born in 1924, which means he was a prime candidate for the draft during World War II.\u00a0 A semipro player in SoCal, he graduated from high school in South Gate, California, then went on to play minor league ball \u2013 but not for long.\u00a0 He spent most of the 1942 season with the Twin Falls Cowboys of the Pioneer League.\u00a0 After being voted team MVP, he got a chance to play in seven games with the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League before he was caught in the draft.<\/p>\n

Many ballplayers in the military had light duty.\u00a0 A number of them continued to play baseball for various military teams.\u00a0 Relatively few saw combat.\u00a0 Lohrke was one of them.\u00a0 He was a member of the 35th<\/sup> Infantry Division.\u00a0 He landed at Normandy in June of 1944 and took part in the Battle of the Bulge which began in December of that year. \u00a0On four occasions he witnessed a soldier next to him get blown away.\u00a0 Also, he survived the crash of a troop train that killed three soldiers and injured dozens.<\/p>\n

Of course, many a veteran had horror stories to relate after the war \u2013 though many preferred not to.\u00a0 In Lohrke\u2019s case, even after he returned home, the horror continued.\u00a0 On September 15, 1945, he boarded an Army Air Force troop transport plane (specifically, a Douglas C-47 Skytrain, popularly known as a \u201cGooney Bird\u201d).\u00a0 The plane was hop-scotching east to west from New Jersey to California.\u00a0 When the plane stopped in Ohio, someone pulled rank on Lohrke, and he was bumped from the passenger list.\u00a0 After a stop in Kansas City, the plane crashed after take-off, killing all on board.\u00a0 Rank may have its privileges, but sometimes it\u2019s good to be a peasant.<\/p>\n

After his discharge from the army, Lohrke returned to professional baseball in 1946.\u00a0 Playing for the Spokane Indians of the Western International League, he was enjoying a good first half, posting a slash line of .345\/.430\/.528 as of June 24.\u00a0 The team was on its way to a road game against the Bremerton Bluejackets when a state trooper caught up with the team bus at a restaurant and informed Lohrke he had been promoted to San Diego.\u00a0 So Lohrke bid farewell to his teammates and hitchhiked back to Spokane.\u00a0 Later in the day the team bus went off a cliff near Snoqualmie.\u00a0 Nine of his former teammates, including Lohrke\u2019s two roommates, Freddy Martinez and Bob James, and player-manager Mel Cole, were killed in the crash and subsequent fire.\u00a0 All but one were war veterans.\u00a0 At the time, it was the most deadly accident in pro sports history.<\/p>\n

You might wonder what went through Lohrke\u2019s mind upon learning of the tragedy.\u00a0 Born under a lucky star\u2026somebody up there likes me\u2026I must be God\u2019s elect\u2026however you put it.\u00a0 After dodging so many bullets, literally and figuratively, a man couldn\u2019t help but think that he had been singled out for greatness.\u00a0 Small wonder that the alliterative nickname Lucky was attached to\u00a0 him.<\/p>\n

Clearly, Lohrke was not traumatized by his latest brush with death. \u00a0Spending the rest of the 1946 season at San Diego, he posted a slash line of .303\/.358\/.449 in 92 games.\u00a0 At 22 years old, he appeared ready for the big leagues.\u00a0 The New York Giants thought so and selected him in the Rule 5 draft after the PCL season ended.<\/p>\n

Now if we go with the trope of destiny and heroism, it would seem that Lohrke was on a glide path to stardom \u2013 maybe even superstardom (though I don\u2019t believe that term was in use in those days).\u00a0 Sort of like Roy Hobbs only younger.\u00a0 But Lohrke didn\u2019t get with the program.<\/p>\n

He started 102 games at third base for the Giants in 1947.\u00a0 His fielding average was an unimpressive .939.\u00a0 On the other hand he was a rookie and third basemen usually have lower percentages than their infield compadres \u2013 why do you think they call it the hot corner?\u00a0 His slash line was .240\/.337\/.401.\u00a0 If there was an offensive highlight for Lohrke that season, it occurred on September 1st<\/sup> when he hit his 6th<\/sup> home run of the season off Red Barrett of the Boston Braves.\u00a0 This round-tripper just happened to be the Giants\u2019 183rd<\/sup> of the season, thus breaking the 1936 major league record set by the Yankees (the Giants\u2019 final total was 221).\u00a0 You might think that was not much of a destiny.\u00a0 But he was 23 years old, still plenty of time to set the baseball world on fire.<\/p>\n

\"JackThe good news is Lohrke suffered no sophomore slump in his 1948 season with the Giants.\u00a0 The bad news is he wasn\u2019t any better.\u00a0 His offensive performance was pretty much the same (.250\/.323\/.364) and his defense was worse.\u00a0 As a second baseman (36 games), his fielding percentage was .950.\u00a0 Not exactly Gold Glove caliber.\u00a0 His fielding percentage as a third baseman (50 games) dipped to .898, unacceptable even for the hottest of corners, though maybe deserving of a Fool\u2019s Gold Glove award.<\/p>\n

Well, the fulfillment of one\u2019s destiny is rarely without speed bumps.\u00a0 Lohrke wouldn\u2019t be the first budding star who needed more seasoning before rising to Olympian heights.\u00a0 In legends, the hero always must rise above a series of trials to prove he is worthy of his destiny.<\/p>\n

So the Giants sent Lohrke across the Hudson River to play for the Jersey City Giants.\u00a0 The results were better.\u00a0 In 347 plate appearances he logged a slash line of .302\/.359\/.476.\u00a0 His 58 RBIs would have given him 100+ RBIs over a full season.\u00a0 But he didn\u2019t spend the full season at Jersey City.\u00a0 The Giants brought him back.\u00a0 His .267\/.333\/.456 slash line was enough for him to earn his keep but a long way from stardom.\u00a0 Even so, he was still only 25 years old.\u00a0 A lot of guys were late bloomers.\u00a0 Maybe Lohrke would be one of them.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, for the rest of his career, he was used sparingly, with 47 PAs in 1950 and 51 in \u201951.\u00a0 In 1950 he had just 8 hits, all singles.\u00a0 Consequently, his slash line was an embarrassment, showing his batting average and slugging percentage were identical (.186\/.255\/.186).\u00a0 In 1951 he again had 8 hits but one of them was a home run, resulting in a slash line of .200\/.360\/.275.\u00a0 I guess you could say the highlight of his season was having a front row seat (actually he was in the right-field bullpen when Bobby Thomson went deep) for the Miracle of Coogan\u2019s Bluff.\u00a0 He did appear twice as a hitless pinch-hitter in the World Series against the Yankees, however. And that loser\u2019s World Series share of $4,951.03 probably looked pretty good to a guy who was making $12,000 a year.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Lohrke\u2019s career as a New York Giant was over.\u00a0 In December he was traded to the Phillies, in effect transferring him from the 1951 pennant winner to the 1950 pennant winner.\u00a0 Now instead of spending the home half of the season on the bench at the Polo Grounds, he was spending the home half of the season on the bench at Shibe Park.\u00a0 In 1952, again his batting average and slugging percentage were identical (.207\/.303\/.207) based on six singles.<\/p>\n

In 1953 he had two singles, resulting in a slash line of .154\/.214\/.154), but now he was warming the bench at Connie Mack Stadium, the new name for Shibe Park.\u00a0 Another difference was he spent half the season in the International League as a member of the Baltimore Orioles, a Phillies\u2019 affiliate, then in their last season before the arrival of the major league Orioles.\u00a0 Tellingly, after 190 PAs at the Triple-A level, his slash line was a mere .194\/.233\/.306.<\/p>\n

Lohrke was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates after the season but never played for them.\u00a0 Consequently, after seven seasons, his final major league slash line was .242\/.327\/.375.\u00a0 His career fielding percentage as a third baseman was .928.\u00a0 If this was the fulfillment of destiny, it was something of an anticlimax.<\/p>\n

The Pirates sent Lohrke to the Hollywood Stars, their PCL affiliate, in 1954.\u00a0 Now here was another opportunity to become a legend.\u00a0 Perhaps his true destiny would be in Hollywood.\u00a0 A talent scout would catch him in action and sign him to a contract.\u00a0 Hey, it happened to Chuck Connors, who was working regularly in movies and TV!\u00a0 And what about Audie Murphy?\u00a0 He had cheated death so many times he once characterized himself as \u201ca fugitive from the law of averages.\u201d\u00a0 In 1955 he played himself in To Hell and Back<\/em>, a movie based on his book about his World War II experiences.<\/p>\n

Lohrke spent two seasons with the Stars but no talent scouts came calling.\u00a0 His stats were better than at Baltimore, but not good enough for the Pirates to recall him.\u00a0 If he was not good enough to play for the Pirates (53-101 in 1954, 60-94 in 1955), then he was not likely to attract interest from any other major league team.<\/p>\n

So he languished in the PCL, spending 1956 and 1957 in Seattle, and 1958 in Portland, his playing time diminishing year by year.\u00a0 Some ballplayers with modest or no major league experience go on to become minor league legends, but clearly Lohrke was not one of them.\u00a0 Yet there was a hint of what might have been.<\/p>\n

Lohrke had dabbled in pitching in previous seasons, notching six appearances with the Stars in 1954 and 1955.\u00a0 Of course, this could have been late-inning mop-up work to save wear and tear on the bullpen.\u00a0 In 1957, however, Seattle Rainiers manager Lefty O\u2019Doul brought him in for 14 games, which suggests he was not a last resort.\u00a0 His 2.61 ERA in 31 innings is further evidence.\u00a0 At this point he was 33 years old, however, a bit late in the game for a ballplayer to re-invent himself.\u00a0 In 1958 the Portland Beavers were not intrigued by his twirling and limited him to one appearance on the mound.\u00a0 In fact, they weren\u2019t much interested in him period, as he registered just 4 singles in 18 plate appearances.\u00a0 With no BBs or HBPs, he achieved the rare but not desirable distinction of a flatline slash line (.222\/.222\/.222).<\/p>\n

In 1959 his career took an intriguing turn.\u00a0 At 35 years old, he was playing for and managing the Tri-City (Kennewick, Richland, and Pasco, WA) Braves of the Class B Northwest League.\u00a0 His batting average was stuck at .222 but his slash line showed some improvement (.222\/.247\/.307).\u00a0 He did put himself on the mound for a few games but not enough to get much of a sample size.\u00a0 Nevertheless, by the end of the 1959 season, his minor league career pitching stats showed a 2.35 ERA in 53.1 IP.\u00a0 Did he ever wonder if his baseball destiny was one of those right-church, wrong-pew situations?\u00a0 Had all those years as an infielder been wasted?<\/p>\n

Of course, at age 35 in 1959, he could have embarked on a managerial career.\u00a0 Mediocre players who go on to become outstanding managers was not unprecedented.\u00a0 Perhaps that was Lohrke\u2019s true destiny in the game.\u00a0 Or not.\u00a0 After a 60-80 record at Tri-City, his managerial career came to an end.<\/p>\n

Fortunately or not, there is life after baseball.\u00a0 In Lohrke\u2019s case, he had another half-century of it.\u00a0 He moved to Northern California and did security work for various Bay Area aircraft facilities (AeroJet General, Lawrence Livermore, and Lockheed).\u00a0 In 1994 he stated \u201cNobody outside of baseball calls me Lucky Lohrke these days.\u201d\u00a0 True, as a rule, working stiffs are not considered to be blessed with an abundance of good fortune.\u00a0 On the other hand, if you\u2019re fond of alliteration, Lockheed Lohrke might have been a catchy substitute.<\/p>\n

Jack Lohrke breathed his last on April 9, 2009, two days after suffering a stroke.\u00a0 Like a Canadian Mountie, the grim reaper always gets his man.\u00a0 Death can be delayed \u2013 sometimes for decades \u2013 but not denied.<\/p>\n

As the media reported his death, Lohrke\u2019s obits dutifully mentioned his close calls with same when he was younger.\u00a0 They did not speculate on his destiny as I have.<\/p>\n

Many years after his death dodges, Lohrke remarked, \u201cHaving been in combat, what\u2019s going to shock you?\u00a0 I\u2019m a fatalist.\u00a0 I believe the old song, that whatever will be will be.\u201d\u00a0 (He\u2019s referring to \u201cQue Ser\u00e1 Ser\u00e1<\/em>,\u201d which was written for The Man Who Knew Too Much<\/em>, a 1956 Alfred Hitchcock film.\u00a0 As sung by Doris Day, the film won an Oscar for Best Song and became a hit, appearing as No. 8 on the 1956 top singles list of Billboard magazine.)<\/p>\n

In Lohrke\u2019s day there were never more than 400 major league players on active rosters at any time, save for September call-ups, so a case could be made that by playing seven seasons in major league baseball, Lohrke was fulfilling his destiny, even though Cooperstown would never come calling.\u00a0 But did he short-change himself?\u00a0 Was he too chill for his own good?<\/p>\n

If Lohrke had felt a sense of mission, would it have inspired his play?\u00a0 Was he held back by his own ennui?\u00a0 Did fate spare him just so he could be a bench-warmer, which is a metaphor for insignificance?<\/p>\n

Some brave souls laugh in the face of danger.\u00a0 Lohrke merely shrugged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whenever you read about a disastrous plane crash, there is inevitably a sidebar pertaining to one or more passengers who had reservations but missed the flight for one reason or another.\u00a0 Or there is the occasional passenger who somehow survived the disaster.\u00a0 Last summer, we had the example of a man (Vishwash Kumar Ramesh) who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1893,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,4235],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-top-stories"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1893"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34748"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34752,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34748\/revisions\/34752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}