The Story of the Stanczak Brothers Baseball Team: Baseball's All Brothers World Champions

The story of the most famous all-brother, semi-pro baseball team of all time began when Mary and Martin Stanczak were forced to flee their Polish homeland for America. They settled in Illinois where, like many immigrant families, they raised a large family-eleven children, ten boys and one girl. Those ten boys became a regional baseball powerhouse. This book recounts the history of the development of the Stanczak All-Brothers baseball team and details some of their more significant achievements, including their victory in the All-Brothers World Championship of 1929.

The book also includes some personal reminisces of the author from his own baseball-playing days and provides some highlights about the impact of the two World Wars on the game of baseball in the United States. It is a fascinating glimpse into three very American topics: the role of family, the immigrant experience, and how baseball brought Americans together.

About the Author
Stanczak, John R.: - This story has been waiting a long time to be told. It has been 100 years since the first of the Stanczak brothers threw his baseball mitt on the field that became their field of dreams-a cow pasture near the family home. My father, John Sr., was the oldest brother on the famous Stanczak All-Brothers baseball team. My younger brother Jim and I long planned to collaborate in telling this story. Unfortunately, Jim died in 2018, after compiling much of the historical data about the brothers' story. I regret that Jim and I were unable to finish this labor of love together. I recently celebrated my 90th birthday and have waited far too long to record this rich history that honors my father and uncles, and to share their remarkable stories with the current generation. My children and grandchildren and all the descendants of the Stanczak All-Brothers baseball team-indeed anybody who enjoys a good baseball story-deserve to know the true history of ten brothers who left their mark on our great American pastime. Understandably, baseball was always important in my family growing up. I even had tryouts for the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians. I hit a homerun during the tryout, but unfortunately it was not enough to earn me a contract. But I had the opportunity to meet several famous ballplayers over the years, and even played against some of them, including the great Willie Mays. I played baseball in the army during the Korean Conflict, until I was seriously injured in a collision with another player while attempting to catch an infield pop-up. That ended my baseball playing days. Over the years since then, I have been a serial entrepreneur. I owned a bowling alley together with my brother Jim in our hometown of Waukegan. Moving on from there, I owned a group of fast-food restaurants in northeast Arkansas, followed by a golf business in Florida, and a window treatment business in Tennessee. I finally retired at the ripe age of 82 and now live in Nashville, Tennessee, with the love of my life. I hope to write more, but at 90 years old I will have to write fast!