MSL to MLB: Greg Luzinski’s Bull Market Began in the Northwest Suburbs
Greg Luzinski was emerging as one of baseball’s big power hitters with the Phillies when I was growing up on Chicago’s West Side in the mid-1970s. I haven’t forgotten a story a neighbor, who coached youth baseball, told about what “The Bull” accomplished in the Little League state tournament.
Batting average is a statistic that frequently gets trashed these days. Good luck downplaying the .947 - yes, .947 - Luzinski had with 18 hits in 19 at-bats. The neighbor said the only out came when he was robbed of a home run on a catch at the fence.
The story always seemed like it could be legit since Luzinski hit 307 homers and drove in 1,128 runs in his 15-year big-league career. But you also wondered if it was one of those Paul Bunyan-esque tales that was embellished just a tad.
Then, a few years ago I came across a Bob Frisk column from the summer of 1966. He wrote how a young Greg Luzinski from Prospect Heights was tearing up the American Legion baseball scene after an impressive sophomore high school season at Notre Dame in Niles.
Bob wrote: “Three summers ago Luzinski was a pitching and batting star on the Prospect Heights Little League All-Star team that finished second in the state tournament. Greg had the pitchers talking to themselves in tourney action that summer. He rifled out 18 hits in 19 trips to the plate for a phenomenal .947 average. The only time they got him out was on a drive to the fence in deep center field.”
So, I’ll run with those two sources, especially someone as respected as Bob who repeated the story a few more times in print about Luzinski, who just celebrated his 72nd birthday Tuesday. His formative years in the Northwest Suburbs foretold of big-time success for the four-time National League All-Star who hit some of the most prodigious homers in baseball history during his career with Philadelphia and the White Sox.
Larry Nomellini of St. Viator was Luzinski’s Legion coach with the Arlington Heights/Logan Square Lions. In that same Frisk column, Nomellini said, “In my years of coaching I’ve never seen a kid who comes close to Greg as a hitter. This kid really hits the ball with authority.”
Luzinski, who played with Hall of Fame Buffalo Grove baseball coach John Wendell in Little League and Legion ball, was dangerous enough for one team to intentionally walk him even though he represented the game’s winning run. Imagine being able to say you saw Legion games where Luzinski faced Arlington with Dave Kingman, another legendary power hitter in big league history, future MLB catcher Tom Lundstedt and future Yankees executive Mark Newman. In the summer after his junior year, Luzinski was “held” to .500 as Logan Square took second in the Cook County tournament.
Baseball wasn’t the only field where the 6-foot-1, 210-pound Luzinski drew rave reviews. He was an all-Suburban Catholic League fullback-linebacker who scored 11 touchdowns as a junior and an All-Area pick of the old Chicago American newspaper as a senior. Notre Dame didn’t lose a football game during his four years.
“They don’t come much better than Luzinski,” ND coach Fran Willett told Frisk after Luzinski’s junior year. “There’s no question Greg could play big-time football. He’s surprisingly fast for his size and real strong.”
Some reports had Luzinski receiving upwards of 150 scholarship offers. But not even the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and legendary coach Ara Parseghian, just coming off a national title in 1966, could convince Luzinski to hit running backs and quarterbacks instead of fastballs and curveballs.
Luzinski was chosen by the Phillies with the 11th overall pick in the 1968 Major League Baseball draft. Shortstop Tim Foli, who had a 16-year MLB career, was taken first. You can’t argue with the Yankees’ pick at No. 4 of catcher Thurman Munson, who was having a Hall of Fame caliber career when he died in a plane crash in 1979. No. 5 pick Bobby Valentine of the Dodgers was pegged for stardom until he broke his leg early in the 1973 season. The other teams with top 10 picks were kicking themselves for years by passing on Luzinski.
Luzinski made an immediate impact at Huron (South Dakota) by tying the Class A Northern League record with 13 homers and driving in 43 runs in 57 games. He would hit 31, 33 and 36 homers his next three minor league seasons as the Phillies brought him along slowly and had concerns about strikeout totals - again, a much different era - of 148 (twice) and 167.
But Luzinski showed his supreme self-confidence in another Frisk column in January 1971. He told Phillies management he was ready to step in at first base and they should be looking to move veteran slugger Deron Johnson.
“I know it’s my age. They don’t think I’m ready yet because I’m only 20,” Luzinski told Frisk. “But I really think I can do the job - if I get the job. I have the attitude right now that I’ll be in Philadelphia next season - right from the start. Deron is going to have to fight for his job.”
Luzinski got a brief MLB trial in September 1970 and his first 2 hits in 15 at-bats were singles off 18-game winner Carl Morton of Montreal and Cubs Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins. He was sent to Triple AAA Eugene (Oregon) for 1971 but was in the bigs to stay in September when he hit .300 with 3 homers and 15 RBI in 28 games at first base as the Phillies moved Johnson to third.
Luzinski moved to left field and into the starting lineup in 1972 and homered off Jenkins on opening day before friends and family at Wrigley Field. In 1974, an injured hand and torn right knee ligament that required surgery cost him half the season, but from 1975-78 he teamed with Hall of Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt as arguably the most dangerous power duo in the game.
“The Bull” helped the Phillies win three straight NL East titles, made four All-Star teams and was second in the MVP voting twice. His 1977 season was his best as he hit .309 with 39 homers and 120 RBI.
The power he showcased as a youth was now on display for MLB fans as he hit blasts to places few others reached in Philly’s Veterans Stadium, Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium, the Houston Astrodome and Dodger Stadium. Reds Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench offered a description in Luzinski’s Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) biography.
“We were all kidding around, putting on a show,” Bench said of batting practice for the 1977 All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium. “(Hall of Famer) Joe Morgan hit a couple into the right-field seats. Steve Garvey hit a couple into the bullpen. Then Luzinski stepped up and made it look like he was driving golf balls. Everything he hit went out of sight. It was awesome.”
But the good times in Philly - including becoming a fan favorite with his “Bull Ring” of seats in left field for underprivileged kids - diminished along with his numbers in his final two seasons there. Even though he came back from missing a month with another knee injury to help the Phillies win their first world championship in 1980 they were looking to move in a different direction and acquired Gary Matthews to play left field late in Spring Training of 1981.
A few days later on March 30, the same day of the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan, Luzinski was coming home as he was sold to the White Sox and new owners Eddie Einhorn and Jerry Reinsdorf. They had already made headlines by signing Carlton Fisk as a free agent after a contract snafu in Boston.
“I’m very encouraged by the fact that Chicago probably will be my home for the rest of my career,” Luzinski told the Daily Herald’s Bob Gallas.
Luzinski became a full-time designated hitter and hit 21 homers in a strike-shortened 1981 season and drove in 102 runs in 1982. He won the DH of the Year Award for a second time with 32 homers and 95 RBI as the “Winning Ugly” 1983 White Sox cruised to the AL West title. He also showcased his prodigious power by becoming the first player to hit 3 homers onto the old Comiskey Park roof.
The Sox even played him in a couple of late-season games at first base so they could keep his bat in the lineup in a year where the World Series didn’t use a DH. That scenario never materialized as the Sox offense slumped in a 4-game ALCS loss to the Orioles where Luzinski had just 2 hits in 15 at-bats.
The struggles continued through 1984 and he hit just .238 with 13 homers and 58 RBI. His contract was up and he became a free agent. The Orioles expressed interest in signing Luzinski but he didn’t want to go to spring training without a contract and opted to retire in early February 1985.
“I had an opportunity to coach some high school kids and help them out,” Luzinski told the Daily Herald’s Jeff Nordlund. “Plus, I’ll be able to stay home with my family for the first time in 15 years. That’s what surprises people, that I can walk away without any regrets.
“I was successful for 14 years. I accomplished a lot of things. I appeared in five playoff series and wear a World Series ring.”
Luzinski had a successful post-baseball business career, according to his SABR biography, and his power was humorously spotlighted in Lite Beer commercials and ads. He spent some time as a hitting coach for his former Sox manager Tony La Russa with the A’s and for ex-Phillies teammate and Royals manager Bob Boone. His son Ryan was taken in the first round of the 1992 MLB draft and had an eight-year minor-league career.
Luzinski’s power displays continue to be remembered fondly by both fan bases in Philadelphia and on Chicago’s South Side.
And going 18-for-19 as a kid? That was No Bull.