Johnny Pramesa: US Marine who served in World War 2, 4 year MLB career, in 1950 was 2nd in the AL in Catcher Range Factor per 9 innings

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Player: Pramesa, Johnny

Card: 1951 Bowman #324

Position: C

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playerbio

Player Bio:

Barton, OH born John Steven Pramesa (August 28, 1925 – September 9, 1996) was an American professional baseball player, a catcher in the Major Leagues from 1949–1952 for the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds.

Johnny, 6' 2", 210-pound catcher, was signed as an amateur free agent by the New York Giants before the 1943 season. The young receiver reported to the Bristol Twins, helping his team to the Appalachian League pennant by appearing in 101 games while leading the league with 143 base hits and 91 RBIs and also finishing second in the chase for the batting title with a .357 average. He also caught the circuit's All-Star game.

Pramesa spent the next two years (1944-1945) serving in the United States Marine Corps during World War II. During the next three seasons (1946-1948) Johnny spent his time with six different clubs in six different leagues, and after hitting .282 for the Jersey City Giants in 1948, he was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds from the New York Giants on October 4, 1948 in the 1948 Rule V Draft.

Pramesa made his first trip to Crosley Field in 1949 with the Reds and appeared in 17 games, hitting .240. He was also with the Syracuse Chiefs for 45 outings, hitting .255. Johnny was back with the Reds in 1950 and was named to the National League rookie All-Star team after appearing in 74 games and hitting a career high .307 in 228 at-bats. 1951 saw him with the Reds again, catching 72 games but his average fell off to .229 and on October 4th, the Cincinnati club traded him along with Bob Usher to the Chicago Cubs for Bob Borkowski and Smoky Burgess.

Johnny was the Chicago Cubs' catcher for 22 games in 1952, hitting .283 in 46 at-bats. This was the last of his major league career, finishing up with a .268 average in 185 games. Johnny dropped back into the minors, staying with the Chicago Cubs organization and finished out his nine-year minor league run in 1956 at age 30, having appeared in 559 games and hitting .311 with 41 homers.

In his post-baseball years, Pramesa was in sales for Helms Express in Cincinnati, OH. He died on September 9, 1996, at age 72 in Los Angeles, CA.

(excerpted from Baseball Almanac, Encyclopedia of Baseball Catchers, BR Bullpen & Wikipedia)