1936-1939

Fabian Gaffke was born on August 15, 1913, in Milwaukee. As a youngster, he was always playing baseball, with the strong encouragement of his father, who urged him to practice and practice. 

In junior high, Fabian made the team at the age of 14 and, by 15, was also active as a catcher and outfielder with the Nowicki All-Star American Legion team, which won the Wisconsin state championship and the Midwest championship, and in the national tournament at Colorado Springs was the runner-up for the national title.

Fabe also played semipro ball for Saint Stanlislaus P.R.C.U. (Polish Roman Catholic Union) in Milwaukee’s Municipal Minor League in 1930 and 1931. His .491 average for the Stans led the league in 1930.

In 1932, he played with the Kosciuszko Reds and led the Southeastern Wisconsin State League with a .525 average. He caught the eye of the White Sox scouts, who wasted little time in getting an option on him. That summer, Fabian appeared as a right-handed-hitting outfielder and second baseman with Waterloo (Class D Mississippi Valley League).

His contract was formally purchased in November. He was sent on option to the Texas League’s Galveston Buccaneers in January 1933 and after he appeared in four games, with just one single in 10 at-bats, he was cut and returned to Wisconsin and played semipro ball once more.

In 1934, he wrote for a tryout with Des Moines in the Class A Western League, was accepted, and got in a full year with a batting average of .311. He played for Minneapolis in 1935 and 1936, hit .302 with 19 homers in 1935 and in 1936 he played in the American Association All-Star Game.

In September 1936, he was acquired by the Boston Red Sox, brought up from Minneapolis. The Red Sox made the easy call as he had hit .342 for the Millers, with 25 home runs. While with Boston, Fabian bounced around up and down in the lineup; in some games, he batted sixth or seventh and played both right and left fields.

Heading into the 1937 season, the Red Sox had Doc Cramer set to play center field, but expected a lot from Fabe. He came on really strong in the last week of spring training, and in a City Series game against the Boston Bees, he went 4-for-5 with a double, home run, and two singles, and got the nod.

Playing major league ball wasn’t easy, and Fabe seemed to strike out in key situations several times early in the year, but his hitting came around. The Red Sox had acquired Ben Chapman in mid-June, though, and Chapman became the regular right fielder. Not being used as frequently, Fabe became less effective at the plate. In August he was optioned to Minneapolis for the balance of the year and hewas batting .272 at the time. With Minneapolis, he had a very strong year, batting .325 in 41 games. 

in 1938 Fabe spent most of the season with the Minneapolis Millers, rooming with another outfielder, Ted Williams. He was called up to Boston again, late in the season, and added another 10 at-bats to his resume but only one single.

In 1939, he opened the season with the big-league club but in April, when the season was but six games old, he was farmed out to Louisville where he had a subpar season with the Colonels, hitting .240.

Fabian played the full 1940 season for the Millers ball club and hit a solid .294. Despite a bit of a rocky start in 1941, which saw him battling to hold an outfield job, he made the team and was voted onto the All-Star squad. 

War was looming, and the Cleveland Indians needed a backup outfielder. In August 1941, even though he’d been slumping at a .209 pace over the previous three weeks, the Indians purchased Fabe’s contract. 

Fabe started the 1942 season with the Indians and contributed early on, but he was hampered by an arm injury that, by August, required surgery to remove bone chips from his right arm. After 67 at-bats, he was out for the season.

When he reported to Cleveland’s camp the following March, he was still under doctor’s order not to throw too hard. And so he retired and found a position for the next three years doing defense work as an expeditor for the Allen-Bradley Company in Milwaukee. 

In 1946, he decided to give it another go and returned to baseball’s active list. The Indians released him officially early in 1946 so he could take the center field job with Minneapolis, where he played in 18 games, but was released from the Millers in the first half of May and then chose to retire.

Fabian resumed his work with the Allen-Bradley Company, this time as a receiving clerk. He had been active during the war years with the company’s industrial baseball team and continued after the war. After 1949, he stopped playing and turned to umpiring in the County League baseball for the next 15 years. 

Beginning in 1960, he worked for Allen-Bradley as an electrical wireman on special control panels, putting in a total of 34 years with the company.