{"id":107915,"date":"2018-06-23T18:41:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-23T23:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/?p=107915"},"modified":"2018-06-23T18:41:00","modified_gmt":"2018-06-23T23:41:00","slug":"weeds-by-randy-krzmarzick-statistics-dont-tell-bruckbauers-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/weeds-by-randy-krzmarzick-statistics-dont-tell-bruckbauers-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Weeds by Randy Krzmarzick: Statistics don\u2019t tell Bruckbauer\u2019s story"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

by Randy Krzmarzick<\/em><\/p>\n

It is often said that baseball is a game of failure as much as success.\u00a0 Anyone who has played has cringe-worthy memories of striking out at a key moment.\u00a0 It is also a game that can be reduced to numbers that often don\u2019t tell whole stories.<\/p>\n

Sleepy Eye\u2019s greatest baseball player pitching brilliantly at higher and higher levels in the Fifties.\u00a0 At the end of it, came these numbers: 0-3-3-1-0.\u00a0 Zero innings, three hits, three runs, one walk, and zero strikeouts.\u00a0 There is so much to Fred Bruckbauer\u2019s amazing baseball career and successful life.\u00a0 But in the small, yet exaggerated world of Major League Baseball, there is 0-3-3-1-0.<\/p>\n

On April 25, 1961, Fred pitched one time for the Minnesota Twins in Kansas City.\u00a0 This was in the team\u2019s first season here after moving from Washington.\u00a0 It was one of the first ever televised Twins games.\u00a0 My older brother Dale had played ball with Fred.\u00a0 He and some of their teammates gathered at our house to watch that night, excited to see their buddy on the black and white set.<\/p>\n

Fred came in to pitch in the fourth inning with the Twins behind 7 to 2.\u00a0 A double by Dick Howser, single by Jay Hankins, a walk to Jerry Lumpe, and double to Lou Klimchok.\u00a0 And Bruckbauer was replaced by Chuck Stobbs.\u00a0 That was it.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s back the story up.\u00a0 Frederick John Bruckbauer was born to Wendelin and Delores on May 27, 1938 in New Ulm.\u00a0 My dusty old Baseball Encyclopedia lists birthplaces of every Major League player.\u00a0 Unfortunately, there is no mention of Sleepy Eye where Fred grew up.<\/p>\n

Fred was an extraordinary athlete at St. Mary\u2019s High School, All-Conference in football and basketball.\u00a0 It was on the baseball diamond where Fred truly excelled.\u00a0 Under coach Moe Moran, the Knights went to the Catholic State Tournament in \u201954, \u201955, and \u201956.\u00a0 Fred was good enough as a teenager to pitch summers for the Sleepy Eye Indians town team and later for the New Ulm Brewers.<\/p>\n

Bruckbauer received a scholarship to the University of Minnesota.\u00a0 At the time, the Gophers were one of the elite baseball programs in the nation under coach Dick \u201cChief\u201d Siebert.\u00a0 When Fred took the mound for the U, he immediately became their ace.\u00a0 With a 15 and 3 record, Bruckbauer led the Gophers to Big Ten titles in 1958 and 1959.\u00a0 His winning percentage is still among the best ever for the Gophers.<\/p>\n

Fred\u2019s parents, Wendy and Delores, would drive up to Minneapolis to see their son pitch those years. \u00a0Sometimes Delores stayed in the car listening to the game on the radio, too nervous to watch her boy pitch.<\/p>\n

Fred was All-American in 1959.\u00a0 Pro scouts were attending his every game.\u00a0 This was before Major League Baseball had a draft, and scouts competed to sign talent.\u00a0 Fred had interest from St. Louis, Baltimore, Washington, and Detroit. \u00a0Coach Siebert hated to lose Bruckbauer for his senior year, but he knew Fred had to take one of the offers.<\/p>\n

With his father advising him (this was before agents), Fred was drawn to Angelo Giuliani who worked for the Washington Senators.\u00a0 In June of 1959, Fred and his dad flew to Washington.\u00a0 There Fred pitched well in a practice game against minor leaguers.\u00a0 The next day Fred signed the largest bonus contract that Senators\u2019 owner Calvin Griffith had ever given: $30,000 paid out over three years.<\/p>\n

The Senators sent Bruckbauer to Appleton, Wisconsin to pitch in the Three I League.\u00a0 Despite his late arrival, he led the league in shutouts (4) and posted a 12 and 5 record with 2.89 ERA.\u00a0 He made the All-Star team and won Rookie of the Year honors.\u00a0 That winter Fred returned to Sleepy Eye to marry his high school sweetheart Kathy Olson.\u00a0 Life was good.<\/p>\n

Going into the 1960 season, Fred was one of the top prospects in all of baseball.\u00a0 He reported to spring training among a corps of young pitchers considered the future of the Senators.\u00a0 The group included Jim Kaat and Jack Kralick, names that Twins fans would come to know.\u00a0 Manager Cookie Lavagetto was \u201csmitten with Bruckbauer\u2019s potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

After successful outings against the Braves and White Sox, Griffith and Lavagetto came to the clubhouse to inform Fred he would be in the Senator\u2019s starting rotation.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the Baseball Gods had other plans.\u00a0 That very day, Fred had felt a tug in that highly valued arm.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t think much of it.\u00a0 No one knew it then, but his arm would never be the same.\u00a0 Fred said later, \u201cI don\u2019t remember doing anything, but my fastball was more or less gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are no Baseball Gods.\u00a0 You\u2019re excused for thinking there are if you ever played the game.\u00a0 It was likely that Bruckbauer had a torn or frayed rotator cuff.\u00a0 Today, surgery quite possibly would have allowed Fred to have a long major league career.\u00a0 We are left to imagine him pitching many seasons at Met Stadium.<\/p>\n

While there were not modern surgical techniques 58 years ago, there was cortisone.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Cortisone was new and considered a wonder.\u00a0 Its limitations were yet to be discovered.\u00a0 Over the next two years, Fred was given many injections.\u00a0 He had so many cortisone shots that Fred carried a welt on his shoulder the rest of his life. It allowed him to fight through pain and keep pitching, but never at the level of before.<\/p>\n

The Senators\/Twins were desperate to get a return on their investment.\u00a0 I talked to Fred once, and he told about the extreme measures the team went through to get that arm healthy.\u00a0 They even had his tonsils removed based on one doctor\u2019s questionable advice.<\/p>\n

Instead of going to Washington, Fred was sent to Charlotte in the South Atlantic League.\u00a0 Now Fred and Kathy were a team, and she went, too. \u00a0Their son Terry was born that summer in North Carolina.\u00a0 Kathy would be the rock that Fred leaned on as he struggled to right his career, and really the 48 years of their marriage.<\/p>\n

Although the fast ball was never as fast and the curve ball never as sharp, Fred had some success.\u00a0 When in October it was announced that the Senators were moving to Minnesota, there was a lot of buzz in Brown County about the local boy being part of that team.\u00a0 At a banquet that winter at the DelRoy in Sleepy Eye, Fred signed a ceremonial contract with team officials in front a big crowd.<\/p>\n

Bruckbauer was still considered a top prospect in 1961.\u00a0 He was listed with Carl Yastrzemski and Billy Williams as \u201cplayers to watch\u201d by The Sporting News.\u00a0 Fred knew things were not right, though.\u00a0 \u201cI was just saying a few prayers hoping it would get well.\u00a0 So was the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throwing with guile and smarts, Bruckbauer had a smattering of success that spring, enough to make the roster for the first Twins team.\u00a0 Fred got his one and only chance that April evening. He faced four batters, and 0-3-3-1-0 later he left the game.\u00a0 The Twins would go on to lose 20 to 2 to the A\u2019s, a game none of us would remember otherwise.<\/p>\n

Fred called Kathy that night.\u00a0 All the Twin City newspapers had contacted her to get her reaction.\u00a0 Kathy told her husband, \u201cThings will get better.\u201d\u00a0 And their life would, but not his baseball career.<\/p>\n

In May, the Twins sent Fred to Syracuse.\u00a0 Again, there were flashes of success.\u00a0 Finally, the next spring, Fred told the club, \u201cI need to quit and get on with my life.\u00a0 This isn\u2019t going to work.\u201d\u00a0 Calvin Griffith tried to convince him to stay.\u00a0 But Fred returned to his young family in Sleepy Eye, ready for life after baseball.<\/p>\n

Fred finished his degree at Mankato State, then taught a year in Mankato.\u00a0 Then came a job offer from the John Deere Company.\u00a0 He would work for John Deere for almost forty years.\u00a0 Eighteen of those were spent in Great Falls, Montana, the rest in Holmen, Wisconsin.\u00a0 Later the Bruckbauers retired to Naples, Florida. \u00a0Fred passed away in 2007, Kathy in 2016.<\/p>\n

Fred and Kathy raised four children who are scattered across the country now.\u00a0 I talked to Sandy in Orlando and Terry in Seattle.\u00a0 They had wonderful things to say about their parents.\u00a0 Sandy said all the kids played a little ball, but no one stuck with it.\u00a0 \u201cThey just encouraged us in whatever we wanted to do.\u00a0 Our parents were always there for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fred loved the outdoors.\u00a0 Hunting and fishing became his passions.\u00a0 Terry has great memories of his dad taking him out of school for ventures throughout Montana.\u00a0 Terry said Fred never expressed any regrets about baseball.\u00a0 \u201cDad never let things bother him much. \u00a0That\u2019s probably what made him such a good pitcher; he could always move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fred Bruckbauer was Sleepy Eye\u2019s star, and his baseball career was a shooting star that blazed across the sky.\u00a0 But it is Fred\u2019s effort and dedication as husband to Kathy and father to Terry, Debbie, Sandy, and Amy that is the constellation that continues to shine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Randy Krzmarzick It is often said that baseball is a game of failure as much as success.\u00a0 Anyone who has played has cringe-worthy memories of striking out at a key moment.\u00a0 It is also a game that can be reduced to numbers that often don\u2019t tell whole stories. Sleepy Eye\u2019s greatest baseball player pitching …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[162],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weeds-by-randy-krzmarzick"],"aioseo_notices":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-22 17:50:20","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107915"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107919,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107915\/revisions\/107919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}