If you are like me, you may not be very familiar with the name Jack Faszholz. In fact, my only recollection of him was as a part of my 2011 exercise to determine the highest Scrabble-scoring names in St. Louis Cardinals team history.
A Cardinal long before my time, the now 87-year-old native of St. Louis reached the majors very briefly in the 1953 season. The right-hander pitched in four games, allowing runs in each one. “Preacher” was soon returned to Triple-A, where he played for three more seasons before hanging up his cleats at age 29.
Having pitched for Rochester for seven consecutive seasons in the 1950’s, Faszholz won 80 games for the Red Wings and was named to their team Hall of Fame in 1990. However, Faszholz’ main claim to fame occurred after his playing career ended, culminating in him recently being named to the Concordia University Texas Hall of Fame.
Ordained as a minister in 1958, Faszholz spent his entire post-playing career in education and coaching. After teaching in the St. Louis area, he moved to Concordia. There, Faszholz held a number of roles, including a highly-successful stint as the school’s baseball coach. In 12 seasons, from 1979-90, Faszholz led the Stags to 235 victories, with the program winning 20 or more games in six of those seasons.
Reaching the majors had to be an exciting time for Faszholz, but imagining how many lives he must have enhanced in teaching and coaching afterward probably became far more rewarding.
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