Excerpt from “Your 1948 Houston Buffs, Dixie Champions: Brief Biographies By Morris Frank and Adie Marks (1948).
Johnny Grodzicki is one of those “might have been” stories that overflow the narrative file on individual careers. He also was a pitcher, and he could have been one the legion who lost their baseball futures after a sudden blip or twang in the arm following an average game or warm up pitch, but that sad mystery was not his story.
Johnny Grodzicki was a Wold War II casualty.
Six years (1936-41) into his all Cardinal farm club minor league career, Johnny Grodzicki went into the Army for four years of service (1942-45) as a member of the 17th Airborne Division. In combat in Germany on March 29, 1945, Grodzicki sustained shrapnel wounds to both legs. He was awarded a Purple Heart. He also required surgery and extensive rehabilitation to resume his baseball career after the war’s end.
Due to age and injury, Grodzicki no longer had it as an MLB prospect when he came back to Houston as a 1948 Buff, but he was still good enough to register a 6-5 mark and a 2.05 ERA that year in the Texas League.
Grodzicki’s entire playing career was spent with the Cardinal organization. He was a Buff for whole or partial spots of five seasons (1936-38, 1948-49). His best Buffs season was 1937 when he went 18-11 with a 2.88 ERA. Over his eleven minor league seasons (1936-41, 1948-52), and spanning from age 19 to age 35, Johnny Grodzicki compiled a total minor league record of 108-63, 3.65. In 24 games over three seasons as a Cardinal (1941, 1946-47), Grodzicki was 2-2 with a 4.43 ERA.
After his playing days were done, Johnny spent the rest of his working life as a coach and scout for both the Cardinals and others. He passed away on May 2, 1998 as t the age of 81.
The Pecan Park Eagle 
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