Turk Lown
Ballplayers Wounded in Combat
| Date and Place of Birth: | May 30, 1924 Brooklyn, NY |
| Date and Place of Death: | July 8, 2016 Pueblo, CO |
| Baseball Experience: | Major League |
| Position: | Pitcher |
| Rank: | Sergeant |
| Military Unit: | 76th Infantry Division US Army |
| Area Served: | European Theater of Operations |
Omar J. "Turk" Lown was born on May 30, 1924, in Brooklyn, New York. He
was a prominent athlete at Franklin K. Lane High School in Cypress
Hills, and played for the Ridgewood Bears in the Queens Alliance. He
signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers organization in 1942. During his rookie
season with the Valdosta Trojans of the Class D Georgia-Florida League,
the 18-year-old right-hander made 30 appearances for an 18-8 record
(winning his first 12 games) and exceptional 1.94 ERA, while striking
out a league-leading 204 batters, and not allowing a single home run.
With a bright future in baseball ahead of him, Lown entered military
service in February 1943, and trained at Camp Lee, Virginia. He served
with the the 76th Infantry Division and arrived in England in December
1944, reaching mainland Europe in January of the following year. On
March 14, 1945, as the 76th advanced through Germany, Sergeant Lown was
hit in the leg by shrapnel. He was evacuated to a hospital in France.
Lown returned to baseball in 1946, pitching nine games for the Newport
News Dodgers of the Class B Piedmont League, before undergoing arm
surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Back in full swing in
1947, he was 13-7 with the Pueblo Dodgers of the Class A Western League,
and was 17-6 with the team the following year, earning a brief stint
with the Montreal Royals of the Class AAA International League. In 1949,
the 25-year-old split the season between the Texas League's Fort Worth
Cats and Montreal, and remained with Montreal in 1950.
Lown was 26, when he made his debut in the major leagues with the
Chicago Cubs on April 24, 1951. Working primarily as a relief pitcher,
Lown remained with the Cubs until he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds
in May 1958. A month later he was selected off waivers by the Chicago
White Sox. In 1959, the 35-year-old made 60 appearances for the White
Sox during the regular season, and a further three appearances against
the Dodgers in the World Series.
Lown remained with the White Sox through 1962 and was released at the
end of the season. He pitched a few spring training games for the Reds
in 1963, but chose instead to retire to Pueblo, Colorado, where he had
played baseball back in 1947/48, and worked as a postal carrier for 22
years.
Turk Lown passed away on July 8, 2016, in Pueblo, Colorado. He was 92
years old and is buried at Roselawn Cemetery in Pueblo.
Date Added December 20, 2017
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