EDWARD LUKON

Edward Lukon of Cherry Valley Road, R.D. 3, Burgettstown, started his baseball career at the age of 12 when he played on a sandlot team in the Burgettstown area in 1932.

He played four years of baseball, football and basketball at Burgettstown High School and in his senior year was a member of the WPIAL Class B basketball championship team with the Blue Devils losing the WPIAL baseball title in the last of the ninth inning in a game played at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.

After graduation, Lukon began to play minor-league baseball with Valdosta, Ga. in the Florida-Georgia League where he batted .301 and hit two triples in one inning during one game. He advanced to Knoxville, TN. of the Southern Association where he played in 1940 and 1941 and hit 25 home runs in one season.

Lukon was acquired by the Cincinnati Reds in 1941 at the age of 21 and hit his first major league home run as a pinch hitter. He was sold to the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League in 1948 and soon retired from baseball after a death in his family.

In his major league career, spent entirely with Cincinnati, Lukon played in 213 games with 23 home runs and 70 runs batted in.