Vintage Athletes - Part 23

 Ted Kazanski

Ted Kazanski, born in 1934 and still living, made the news when in 1951, right out of high school, he was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies for what was then an astronomical signing bonus.  An article in the July 16, 1951 issue of LIFE magazine with the title "The Phillies Get a Shortstop" said:

By baseball law he could not be approached until the day after graduation from Detroit's St. Ladislaus High.  One minute after midnight Bob Carpenter, owner of the Phillies, appeared at Kazanski's home.  "Do you like the Phillies?" he asked.  When the lad nodded he asked again, "Would you sign a contract now if we gave you anything you asked for?"  Kazanski asked for $80,000.  That was it.  The deal was made, he was farmed out to Terre Haute in the Three-Eye League.

LIFE sent Ralph Crane to photograph Kazanski on the minor league team in Indiana for the article.  As always, the photographer took tons of photos, including some in the locker room.  Above is a photo of Kazanski, second from left, getting dressed or undressed, but the photographer happened to catch another unidentified player on the right who just got out of the shower.  None of today's photos were published in the magazine, but a couple of Crane's photos of Kazanski on the playing field were used.

From other photos in the photo set, we see that Kazanski has number 1 on his uniform.  Nothing was off limits for the LIFE photographers.  Here, Kazanski is standing at a sink with his pants down, while player 16, also with his pants down, is using a trough urinal.  Why were their pants down?  Didn't the pants of their uniforms have a fly?

Now we see why, as player 16 departs.  Yes, their pants had a fly, but they were wearing jockstraps, so in order to pee they had to pull down the jockstrap, which meant pulling down their pants.

After playing in the minor leagues for two years, Ted Kazanski joined the Philadelphia Phillies in 1953, where he played as shortstop for six years.

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Tomorrow is World Naked Gardening Day.  So, if you can, get out there and get naked!