born february american baseball player attended high school michigan signed houston playing school baseball team season minor leagues promoted active roster played game end houston season game hits walks injuries cut career short missed surgery retired playing parts seasons minors returned school graduated physical education teacher retiring rare major_league_baseball players having perfect batting average achieve distinction turns bat early life born detroit february father factory worker plymouth michigan oldest children brothers tom jim went mlb careers attended michigan named varsity baseball team freshman high school career focused strength building achieve dream baseball player time graduated went pounds pounds state sport star baseball football basketball played detroit team named valuable player annual tournament high school houston general manager convinced sign agreed contract baseball career late attended league houston led team spring training roster invited players exhibition play hit sight batting average spring training ended began professional career played games team batting average doubles late season injured shoulder diagnosed nerve injury told rest shortly afterward houston brought seven major league roster play season finale september starting right fielder began day walk second inning single fourth inning drove bringing home fifth walk sixth ended day single eighth total went plate times hit singles walks scoring runs route houston victory new_york_mets perfect major league career batting average base percentage result performance day plate appearances thanks performance final game houston season invited spring training houston performances included bases loaded triple poor play offense defense late spring training led cut despite nearly lock roster spent year batting average combined games year spinal fusion surgery caused miss rest season returned houston organization split season hit combined games following year played average games released season end given second chance return major leagues cleveland_indians scouting brother tom signed minor league contract spring training invitation spent single silver hit home runs total games home runs led team promoted following year double played games tore warm ups led release end professional career post baseball career baseball career ended returned school earned degree physical education degree began pursue recovering surgery acquiring degree christian scientist married graduating college spent years instructor jewish community center physical education teacher christian science monitor advertisement teaching position california died breast cancer married years later sons daughters nephew played milwaukee brewers minor league organization sons pete minor league careers watching son training camp author watching felt improper instruction given players written books baseball know hitting
John Paciorek