Player Profile: Billy Grabarkewitz

Billy Cordell Grabarkewitz was born on January 18th, 1946 in Lockhart Texas. He is the second child of Adolph Charlie and Helen Grabarkewitz. Lockhart, for those of you not familiar with the Lone Star state, is about 30 miles south of Austin. He was of Irish descent on his mother’s side. His paternal grandparents were Polish immigrants who came to central Texas in the last half of the 19th century. As a child, Billy’s dad worked as a grocery delivery boy to help during the Great Depression. Years later he worked in sales and tended bar.

He was also a huge baseball fan. One of Billy’s fondest memories was watching the televised broadcast of the 1956 World Series. His favorite player was Pee Wee Reese. In 1969 Billy would become the first player since Pee Wee to wear #1. The following year, Don Newcombe compared Billy’s aggressive style to that of Pee Wee. At some point in his youth, the family relocated to San Antonio.

Billy went to Alamo Heights High School in the incorporated city of the same name. He was an outstanding athlete lettering in baseball, football, basketball, golf, and track. Following graduation in 1964, he went to St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, where he played 3rd base for the Rattlers. Two years later he was selected by the Dodgers in the 12th round of the June amateur draft between Ted Sizemore and future All-Star, Bill Russell.

He was sent to Tri-City Atoms, (Pasco Washington), where his first manager was another boyhood hero, Duke Snider. His transition to short-season baseball was seamless as he helped the Atoms to a first-place finish with league-leading marks in runs scored, 62, stolen bases, 21, walks, 87, and OBP, .449. He finished tied for third in homers with 11.

In 67 he was sent to Santa Barbara. He continued his hot hitting. Again he led the league in the same categories he had at Tri-Citys. And he finished 3rd in homers with 24. 14 of his homers came on a Sunday, hence the nickname Billy Sunday when he got to the majors three years later. That winter he would play in the Arizona Instructional League.

In 1968 he was promoted to AA Albuquerque. A broken finger did little to slow his progress, but a broken wrist sent him to the sidelines for five weeks. He had a 3 homer game against the Amarillo Giants after his return. With the Dodgers getting little offense from weak-hitting Zoilo Versailles, it looked like Grabby was set to make his debut when they expanded the rosters, but in August, he broke his ankle in four places when his spikes caught on catcher Hal King’s shin guards. The Dodgers protected him in the expansion draft. They then anointed him as the team’s starting SS in 1969.

He went to spring training but had a limp that was noticeable. So the team sent him to Spokane, their AAA affiliate. He hit .432 in his first 9 games. He was recalled when John Purdin went on the DL. He made his MLB debut on April 22. He went 0-4. The next day he got his first MLB hit, an infield single off of Wayne Granger. He also tied an MLB record by playing an entire game at SS with no fielding chances.

The addition of Grabarkewitz to the Dodgers’ stable of rookies that included, Sizemore, Russell, Alan Foster, Bill Sudakis, and Willie Crawford prompted countless jokes about the group’s ability to get into the movies at half price. Dubbed, ” The Mod Squad” after the popular TV series of the same name, the nickname seemed more appropriate due to the flashy clothes they would wear. Grabby’s time with the Squad was short-lived. He struggled and then after being relegated to pinch-hitting duties, he was sent back to Spokane after the club traded for Maury Wills on June 11. Another childhood hero of Bill’s.

He returned a month later when Lefebvre left to fulfill his Army reserve commitment. But although he was with the team the rest of the year, he did not play much. In 1970, even with a strong spring training, he was knocked off of the team by Steve Garvey. He returned to the team five games into the season when Sizemore went down and made the most of the opportunity. He finished the month with a .429 average. He was selected to the All-Star squad by manager Gil Hodges. He had a single in the 12th inning that set up the famous Rose-Fosse collision.

In the first half of 1970, he was chasing the NL batting title. The Dodgers then tried to tweak his swing and get him to hit to right field, thus lessening his aggressive approach that led to a high number of K’s. But although the K’s decreased, so did the hitting, he hit only .173 in August. Although he had been moved to third because of Garvey’s fielding woes there, he went to the Arizona League that fall to learn second base. Ted Sizemore had been traded to the Cardinals.

Every winter since he had arrived in the Dodger organization, teams were trying to pry him away from the Dodgers in trades. When LA had tried to trade for a veteran reliever, Hoyt Wilhelm in 1969, the O’s asked for Grabarkewitz and the Dodgers walked away. On the second day of spring training in 1971, Al Campanis asked Billy and another infielder, Marv Galliher, to return to the field for double-play practice. The additional session lasted over an hour and strained both players’ arms. By the end of the year, both players had to have surgery.

1971 was a lost season. Because of an injury to his shoulder, and a generally bad start to the season he would manage only 71 at-bats. In 1972 he was battling Garvey and a young Ron Cey for the third base job. It was the first year the team put the players’ names on the back of their uniforms. Billy joked about it saying “If they went to the expense of putting my name on my uniform, I feel pretty safe that I won’t be traded”. Injuries and bad luck plagued him. On August 20, returning to the lineup after a broken finger, he was hit in the head by the Cubs, Rick Reuschel, and was out for 14 more games.

That winter he was playing for Lasorda’s Licey team in winter ball when he was traded with Frank Robinson, Bobby Valentine, Bill Singer, and Mike Strahler for Andy Messersmith and Ken McMullen. He had a short leash with the Angels. Expected to compete with Valentine for the SS job, they both lost out to Rudy Meoli. He played sparingly and in August he was shipped to the Phillies in a waiver deal.

Seeking help from any quarter, the Phils put Billy at second base. He responded by slashing .288/.397/.409 in 66 at-bats. With the possibility of winning the second base job from the incumbent, Denny Doyle, a rejuvenated career beckoned to Billy in the “City of Brotherly Love”. ” I found a nice part of Philadelphia to live in” he claimed, “It’s called New Jersey”. But his chances were dashed when the Phils traded for Dave Cash. He spent the first third of the season either pinch-hitting or pinch-running. On July 10th, he was purchased by the last-place Cubs, The Cubs had a couple of 24-year-olds who had combined for a .198-0-21 line for the year. Billy brought stability to the situation. And except for one game against St. Louis where he made 3 errors, he was pretty solid at second for the Cubs.

But once again a winter trade would derail his chance at the starting job. The Cubs traded for Manny Trillo and the following spring Billy was released. He signed with the A’s. On April 25th he made his sixth appearance of the season and only his second at-bat, pinch-hitting for Phil Garner. He struck out swinging. It would prove to be his last at-bat in the majors. Three days later he was sent to the Tucson Toros in the PCL to make room for Matt Alexander whom the A’s had acquired from the Cubs. As a five-year player, he could not be reassigned without written permission. He filed a grievance with the players union, but nothing came of it. He played out the year in Tucson and then retired.

Billy had married Mary Ann Kennedy in Texas in 1967. They had two sons. Referring to his many stops along his seven-year major league career, he once sent Mary a postcard from Chicago that said” By the time you know where I am, I probably won’t be there.” They divorced in 1976, and nearly 20 years later he married again, this time to Laurie Morazzano. This union would produce a daughter. He had a successful insurance business in Tarrant County Texas at the time.

Billy was beloved by his teammates because of his wit. In the early 70’s he joined fellow teammates, Jeff Torborg and Claude Osteen as youth instructors at baseball camps at the University of Redlands. 10 years later, he was inducted into the St. Mary’s University Athletic Hall of Fame. Most of the memories about Grabarkewitz stem from his nickname, Gabby. He surfaced just five years after the notable Free Speech Movement and seems to have taken the movement’s mantra to heart. Ready with a quote or a quick crack, he was a favorite of sportswriters and the rubber chicken circuit. In the spring of 1973, Angels skipper, Bobby Winkles joked that “Don Sutton warned me I would have to keep Billy in the shade or his tongue would get sunburned”. Taking the jest in stride, Billy retorted, “I was so tired last night, I fell asleep in mid-sentence”.

Alluding to the many injuries he had sustained in his career, Billy said” I have been X-rayed so much I glow in the dark“. Jokes aside, it was injuries that derailed his once bright potential. He slashed .236/.351/.364 with 28 homers with 141 RBIs in 1116 at-bats. He will always be one of those players who you look back on their career and wonder what if?