Midwest League Profile

The Ripper

Eldon Repulski -- I'm told he was already "Rip" -- was one of our league's first stars. Playing outfield for a mediocre West Frankfort squad, he belted 10 homers and had 74 runs batted in. (The league was playing a 112 game season, so you need to adjust expectations. These are decent, but hardly overwhelming, numbers.) Rip's homer total led the Illinois State League in its inaugural summer, but Billy Klaus took the RBI title with 84.

Rip was in his first professional season. West Frankfort was affiliated with the Cardinals, and Repulski was on his way up the ladder. His ISL numbers look a whole lot like his typical big league year:

  G   H  R   H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB HBP  BA   OBA  SLG
111 435 73 122  9  8 10  74 46 89 45   4 .280 .355 .407

He made it to the bigs in 1953, played with the Cards for four years, then the Phils, the Dodgers, and the BoSox, and retired after a 1961 stint in the International League. He had a bit more power by the time he reached St. Louis, and of course they didn't let him run up that kind of steal total.

He had five solid seasons in the National League, then the Dodgers and the Sox used him off the bench. When Rip played full time, he contributed a little power and decent speed. Which is good enough; they can't all be stars.

Rip Repulski's major league career.

My memories of Rip are from baseball cards, when I was trading them in the mid-fifties. My stats source, Pat Doyle, volunteered that he'd watched Rip play in Rochester and Syracuse, long ago, and thought well of him. That's why Pat collects stats, and why I maintain this website: They keep memories alive.

Neill Sanders, an administrator and professor at the University of Rochester, is writing a book about Repulski. I'm looking forward to reading it.

This profile originated as the December 19, 1999, Midwest League Tidbit on the Midwest League Mailing List.