Jack 'Lucky' Lohrke, 85, ballplayer, death-defier

Jack Lohrke, 85, a major-league infielder in the 1940s and 1950s who drew the nickname "Lucky" after several early brushes with death, died Wednesday at a hospital in San Jose, Calif., two days after having a stroke at home, said his son John.

Mr. Lohrke batted .242 with 22 home runs and 96 RBIs in 354 games with the Phillies and New York Giants from 1947 to 1953. He hit a record-breaking homer for the Giants as a rookie, and was loosening up at the Polo Grounds when Bobby Thomson launched his famous 1951 shot to win the NL pennant.

Yet Mr. Lohrke got his moniker for what happened before his time in baseball.

"He didn't really like that nickname," his son said. "It reminded him of too many things."

Mr. Lohrke served in the Army during World War II and fought in the D-Day invasion at Normandy and later in the Battle of the Bulge. He recounted how four soldiers - two on each side of him - were killed in combat.

In 1945, Mr. Lohrke was leaving the service when he prepared to board a military transport for the trip home to California. Shortly before takeoff, a higher-ranking officer bumped him from the flight. A crash killed all the passengers.

In 1946, Mr. Lohrke and his minor-league teammates on the Spokane Indians boarded a bus for a ride across the state of Washington. During a lunch stop, Mr. Lohrke got word that he had been promoted to triple-A San Diego, took his gear, and hitchhiked home.

That night, the bus careered off a rain-slicked pass through the Cascades mountain range and plummeted into a valley, killing nine players. It remains the most deadly crash involving an American pro baseball team.

By the time he reached the majors, Mr. Lohrke was "Lucky."

He didn't spend much time revisiting his baseball days or what occurred before them, his son said.

"My dad wasn't a talker or a boaster or a storyteller," he said.

Mr. Lohrke kept few souvenirs from his playing days. He had a bat signed by the Giants from the 1951 World Series, during which he went 0 for 2 as a pinch-hitter in the six-game loss to the New York Yankees. The bat got stolen about 10 years ago, said his wife, Marie.

Mr. Lohrke did not get into the three-game playoff against Brooklyn for the pennant that year. Right before Thomson's bottom-of-the-ninth homer, Giants third baseman Don Mueller broke his ankle on a slide into third base. Manager Leo Durocher had Mr. Lohrke warm up to take over for Mueller if the game went into extra innings, according to the 2006 book The Echoing Green.

Mr. Lohrke hit .240 with career highs in home runs (11) and RBIs (35) in 1947. On Sept. 1, he hit the Giants' 183d homer of the season, breaking the major-league record for a team, set by the 1936 Yankees. He connected in the first game of a doubleheader, then homered in the second game, too.

The team gave Mr. Lohrke and other Giants gold rings with a green baseball diamond, inscribed with "1947 HR Record" and the number 221 - their final home run total. Mr. Lohrke kept that prize at his home.

Mr. Lohrke played for the Phillies in 1952 and 1953 and then several more seasons in the Pacific Coast League. After retiring, he worked in security for the Lockheed Missile & Space Co. in California.

In addition to his wife, whom he married in 1948, and son, Mr. Lohrke is survived by five other children, 10 grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.