Gene Hermanski

{{Short description|American baseball player (1920–2010)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name=Gene Hermanski

|image=File:Gene Hermanski.jpg

|position=Outfielder

|birth_date={{Birth date|1920|5|11}}

|birth_place=Pittsfield, Massachusetts, U.S.

|death_date={{death date and age|2010|8|9|1920|5|11}}

|death_place=Homosassa Springs, Florida, U.S.

|bats=Left

|throws=Right

|debutleague = MLB

|debutdate=August 14

|debutyear=1943

|debutteam=Brooklyn Dodgers

|finalleague = MLB

|finaldate=September 22

|finalyear=1953

|finalteam=Pittsburgh Pirates

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label=Batting average

|stat1value=.272

|stat2label=Home runs

|stat2value=46

|stat3label=Runs batted in

|stat3value=259

|teams=

• Brooklyn Dodgers ({{baseball year|1943}}, {{baseball year|1946}}–{{baseball year|1951}})
• Chicago Cubs ({{baseball year|1951}}–{{baseball year|1953}})
• Pittsburgh Pirates ({{baseball year|1953}})

}}

Eugene Victor Hermanski (May 11, 1920 – August 9, 2010){{cite web|url=https://groups.google.com/group/alt.obituaries/browse_thread/thread/a842258fbb88815e|title=Google Groups|website=groups.google.com}} was a Major League Baseball outfielder. A native of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, he attended Seton Hall University.

Signed by the Philadelphia Athletics as an amateur free agent in 1939, Hermanski made his Major League Baseball debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers on August 14, 1943, and appeared in his final game on September 22, 1953.

The Salem (Massachusetts) Evening News, reported on August 8, 1943, that the then-22-year-old outfielder, recently released from the USCG Salem Air Station in order to enlist in the USN's V-5 Aviation Training Program, was expected to use a month-long break to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers. "Hermanski hit a homer and two triples in an exhibition game with the Red Sox and poled out a homer and a double in a contest with the Braves."

When Hermanski played for the Brooklyn Dodgers along with Jackie Robinson, he demonstrated he was a great teammate by suggesting that all of the players stand in solidarity by wearing No. 42 to confuse potential snipers who were said to be out to kill Robinson because he had broken the color barrier.{{cite book |title=Jackie Robinson |first=Matt |last=Christopher |page=[https://archive.org/details/jackierobinson00stou/page/62 62] |location=New York |publisher=Little, Brown |year=2006 |isbn=0-316-10826-X |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/jackierobinson00stou/page/62 }}

Hermanski died in Homosassa Springs, Florida, at the age of 90.{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/chronicleonline/obituary.aspx?n=eugene-v-hermanski-gene&pid=144630246|title=Brief biography and obituary|website=Legacy.com |publisher=}}