There are a half dozen baseball players from Key West who played in the Major Leagues — Randy Sterling, Boog Powell, Khalil Greene, Vic Albury, Carl Taylor and Bronson Arroyo.
But what about players who came from other areas, but have played here on the island? Someone, perhaps Judd Wise at Key West High School, should put together a list.
I remember writing about one player, John Nogowski Jr., during a very successful youth baseball tournament here 16 or so years ago. Teams came from several Florida cities.
There were a few of us from the newspaper, reporting on the players and the results. I remember interviewing a girl who was playing in what was otherwise a boys’ tournament.
I also wrote about a team from Tallahassee and a player from that area named John Nogowski.
His father, John Nogowski Sr., wrote to thank me for writing about his son. I replied and we’ve since kept in touch. The father let me know his son had gone on to play baseball for Florida State and then was drafted by the Oakland A’s.
Young John Nogowski has been on the go since then, playing his way up the Minor League trail,
appearing for 17 teams, as I count them. He even played in the Dominican and Mexican Pacific
Winter leagues.
A couple years ago, John Sr. told me his son had become a St. Louis Cardinal. I saw him on television last spring belt a home run against the Miami Marlins. I followed him through Spring Training and fully expected he would find a spot on the St. Louis roster. But he didn’t. Instead, after four at-bats with the Cardinals that made him an official big leaguer, The
Big Nogowski, as he had become known, was sold to the Pittsburgh Pirates and I again saw him on TV playing first base against the Marlins.
When the season ended, I texted the father and wished young John success with the Pirates.
Back came a text that told me that the Pirates had dropped him and he was now with the San
Francisco Giants. As I was thinking about writing this piece, I hopped back online and
discovered he had moved again, taken by the Atlanta Braves in the draft of Minor League
players.
Nogowski will turn 29 on Jan. 5, which makes him a tad old to make the majors (again).
After high school in Tallahassee, he played three seasons at Florida State, batting .250, .277 and .307 with seven home runs. In 2004, the A’s took him in the 34th round of the draft, 1,032nd overall. In the minors, he got as high as Class AA before moving to the Cards, who placed him at Memphis in Triple A, where he batted .295 in 2019. On Aug. 16, 2020, he debuted in St. Louis, getting a single in four at-bats. In St. Louis and Pittsburgh, he has batted a combined .233 average with but one home run over 53 games.
When games were supposedly out of hand, he was even sent into pitch, three times in the
minors and a pair of games with Pittsburgh. He was credited with the victory in two games in the
Minors. We wish him well as he continues his career.
If you know of others who have visited Key West and made it to the Major Leagues, let me know. Email the pertinent information to me at ralphmoro1936@gmail.com. I’ll mention it in this column. And I’ll pass it on to Judd Wise.
