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Brownsville’s Redzanic shined on the diamond

By George Von Benko for The 5 min read
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Paul Redzanic cut a pretty wide swath through Fayette County baseball circles in the mid 1950s. The former Brownsville standout excelled for Charlie Slick’s baseball Brownies.

Redzanic also played football at Brownsville, and played offensive and defensive halfback. The Brownies posted records of 6-4 his sophomore season in 1953, 9-1 in 1954 and 7-2-1 in 1955. Redzanic was an All-Fayette County honorable mention selection and was All-Big Six as a senior.

But it was a the baseball diamond where Redzanic really shined.

“There was only two of us that made the baseball varsity team as freshman,” Redzanic recalled. “I made it and so did Ralph Eisenhuth. I played a little bit as a freshman, more my sophomore year and I was a full time starter as a junior and a senior.

“My senior year, instead of playing the outfield, which I really liked to play in center field, I was moved to pitcher and I pitched every game except one. The only game that I didn’t pitch was against Redstone. The only reason I didn’t pitch was we played the day before. I played in center that game.”

Brownsville was Section 21 champs in 1955. The Brownies beat Carmichaels, 11-0, and North Union, 9-1, before falling to McKeesport, 4-0. Tigers lefty Ron Maser tossed his third straight playoff shutout. He limited Brownsville to two hits and fanned eight.

Brownsville moved to Section 20 in 1956, and Redzanic pitched them to the section title. The unbeaten Brownies were ousted from the WPIAL playoffs by Charleroi from Section 19.

The Cougars nipped the Brownies, 2-1, as lefty Carl Witmyer out dueled lefty Redzanic. Witmyer allowed two hits and recorded 13 strikeouts, while Redzanic gave up four hits and struck out five.

“We really had good players when I was in high school,” Redzanic opined. “My junior year we had Buck Grover, Wayne Gemas and Al Helfer pitching. We also had guys like Andy Machusko and Steve Garban.”

Redzanic has a soft spot in his heart for Slick.

“Charlie Slick was a lot of fun,” Redzanic said. “He was all about fundamentals, he was a good baseball coach. I really liked him.”

While he was playing for the Luzerne Bells and batting .325 in the Fayette County League, Redzanic signed a pro contract the summer after he graduated from Brownsville in 1956.

“Socko McCarey, the Boston Red Sox scout, and Jim Russell from the Dodgers came to see me play,” Redzanic explained. “They both wanted to sign me. I went with the Red Sox.”

Redzanic got off to a good start with Lexington, Nebraska. At one point he was batting .325. Lexington finished the season in second place, a half game out of first place. In 41 games, Redzanic wound up batting .231 with two home runs.

The 5-11, 175-pound left-hand hitting Redzanic started out the 1958 season with Corning of the Class D New York-Penn League.

He was sent to Waterloo of the Class D Midwest League where he batted .240 in seven games. He wound up the season with Erie in the Detroit Tigers organization in the New York-Penn League. His stats in 45 games in the NYP League were .171 with three home runs and 16 RBIs.

“I played center field and left field at Lexington,” Redzanic stated. “The only guy that I remember playing with that went on to the Major Leagues was pitcher Don Schwall.

“In 1958, I went to Corning first, hurt my ankle, was on the disabled list and then was sent to Waterloo. I was released, went home, and Cy Williams, a scout for the Tigers, called and I went to Erie and finished out the last couple weeks of the season.

“Williams called me early in the spring and wanted me to go down to tryouts for the Tigers Triple A team. I didn’t want to do that and I turned it down. I returned and played in the County League.”

Redzanic was a standout in the County League playing for Brownsville, and later Colonial and Coolspring.

In 1963, when he was player/manager for the Brownsville Merchants, Redzanic did something that observers of Fayette County baseball had never seen before. Redzanic went 5-for-5 with four home runs and a single to power Brownsville past Uniontown, 18-5, in a playoff contest. Redzanic wound up with 10 RBIs. In three playoff games for Brownsville, his totals were six home runs and 15 RBIs.

“The baseball looked like a grapefruit to me,” Redzanic joked. “I could hit.”

Redzanic was a mainstay as a player and manager in the County League for many years. He stopped playing when he was 53.

“Ron Gunn and I started a team in Brownsville called the Kings,” Redzanic said. “One of my best memories was my son playing for us.

“We were playing Republic, and there was a guy on first, we were losing, 3-1. I was coaching third and Gunn asked me to pinch hit. I singled and we had runners on first and second. The next guy walked to load the bases and my son came up and hit a grand slam and we won the game 5-3. That was a highlight for me.”

Redzanic got a teaching degree from California University of Pennsylvania and became a speech therapist at the Intermediate Unit in California for 30 years. He retired in 1999. Now 80 years old, Redzanic and his wife of 59 years, Judith, reside in Brownsville. They have two children, a daughter, Tami, and a son, Rod.

George Von Benko’s “Memory Lane” column appears in the Monday editions of the Herald-Standard. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.

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