Jack "Lucky" Lohrke

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jack Wayne Lohrke (born February 25, 1924 in Los Angeles, California) is a former American infielder in Major League Baseball. He earned the nickname "Lucky" not only because it resembled his last name, but because he averted, by only a few hours, almost certain injury or death in the tragic 1946 Spokane bus accident, the worst transit mishap in the history of U.S. professional baseball.

On June 24, 1946, Lohrke was a passenger on the team bus containing the Spokane Indians of the Class B Western International League as it traveled toward Bremerton, Washington, to begin a road trip. During the late afternoon, the bus pulled over to a roadside restaurant for supper. There, Lohrke learned that he had been purchased by the AAA Pacific Coast League's San Diego Padres and was summoned to report immediately. He removed his gear from the bus and bade goodbye to the Indians, and he would never see most of them again. That evening, the bus broke through a guard rail on a mountain pass, plunged down a hill, and crashed. Of the 15 players on it, eight were killed, along with the manager. The survivors were badly injured.

Lohrke reached the major leagues the following year. He appeared in 354 games over seven seasons (1947-53) for the New York Giants and Philadelphia Phillies, primarily as a third baseman. He batted .242 in 914 at bats with 22 home runs.