Moe Drabowsky is probably remembered for his legendary pranks as much as he is for his pitching. Drabowsky pitched for almost 20 years in from the mid 50s to the early 70s with 2 stops in Baltimore.
Drabowsky joined the Orioles in 1966, and it was with Baltimore that he made his most significant mark, both as a player and as a clubhouse character. His performance during the 1966 season was pivotal in helping the Orioles make the World Series that year. In Game 1 of the 1966 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Drabowsky pitched 6 2/3 innings of relief, striking out 11 batters and earning the win. This remains one of the most memorable relief appearances in World Series history. His appearance played a pivotal role in Orioles both sweeping the Dodgers and having what many consider the best pitching performance by a team in a World Series in the live ball era.
Beyond his on-field achievements, Drabowsky was famous for his pranks, which endeared him to teammates and frustrated his opponents. His antics included placing a live snake in the bullpen, setting off cherry bombs in the dugout, and making phony phone calls to the opposing bullpen, often disguising his voice. One of his most famous pranks involved calling the Kansas City Athletics' bullpen, impersonating the Athletics' manager to instruct that a pitcher start warming up, and then repeating the process several times until he was figured out.
Drabowsky's humor and lightheartedness was known throughout the whole league. He wasn't a Hall of Famer by any means but he was one of the best and most memorable characters in history.
He also appeared with the Orioles in 1970 for his second stop in Baltimore and was a part of the 1970 World Series winning team. And after his playing career spent several years as a coach with several different organizations, including the Orioles again.
I like Moe Drabowsky because a character like him is truly unique to baseball. It's pretty sweet that he's credited with inventing the Hot Foot prank
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I use the official reddit app and for some reason it’s acting weird when pasting text, making it really hard to edit it after it’s pasted, so apologies if there are any errors I didn’t catch. Doing this on mobile is sometimes more difficult than it should be.
One prank that I didn’t mention but is still worth mentioning because of how funny I think it is ended with Moe’s partner in the prank getting ejected.
>On April 27, 1957, Moe Drabowsky of the Chicago Cubs was hit by a pitch on the foot. Teammate Dick Drott obtained a wheelchair and pushed Drabowsky to first base. Drott was ejected.
More players should get their teammates to push them in a wheelchair after getting hit by pitches. I am willing to die on that hill now
He set the tone in the 1966 World Series. Came in as relief and found that the Dodgers couldn’t hit fastballs. He had 11 strikeouts.
The series was ours after that.