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Roman 'Ray' Semproch, 89 reaches 100 oldestmajor leaguers
Roman Semproch, nicknamed 'Ray' had his 89th birthday on January 7 and he has been added to the 100 oldest living major leaguers list of Wikipedia. His current rank is #98.
Semproch went from an unknown pitching prospect in his late 20s with no prior major league experience, to the #2 spot in the Phillies rotation in a matter of months. The righthander went 13-11 for the last-place Phillies in 1958, outperforming all other Phillies starters, except the great, Robin Roberts, who went 17-14 that year.
Semproch faded in the final two months, but he was 12-6 at the end of July and might have narrowly missed being selected to that year's National League all-star team. Semproch's 1957 performance of going 12-4 with a 2.78 earned run average for AAA Miami of the International League, showed some promise that his peak years were ahead of him. After 1958, Injuries prevented him from reaching his potential and he wound up playing in the big leagues for only four years. His final stop in the majors was with the expansion, inaugural 1961 Los Angeles Angels club.
Image sources: Topps baseball cards: (left - 1958; right - 1959).
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