Journeyman ballplayer Limmer dies

JTA Breaking News

Published: 04/02/2007

Lou Limmer, a first baseman for the Philadelphia Athletics in the early 1950s who was involved in a piece of Jewish baseball lore, died in Boca Raton, Fla. He died Sunday at age 82.

In a game in Detroit on May 2, 1951, Limmer was a pinch-hitter in the only known time in baseball history when a Jewish batter faced a Jewish pitcher with a Jewish catcher. The pitcher was Saul Rogovin and the catcher was Joe Ginsberg.

"Rogovin throws the first pitch and I hit it into the stands, and [umpire Joe] Paparella says, ‘I guess you're the winner, Lou,' " Limmer recalled of the incident.

Limmer appeared in a total of 209 games in the 1951 and 1954 seasons, batting .202 with 19 homers and 62 RBIs. He later served five years as president of his synagogue, the Castle Hill Jewish Community Center in his native Bronx, N.Y.