Myron Walter Drabowsky (July 21, 1935 – June 10, 2006) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals, and Chicago White Sox.

A noted practical joker, Drabowsky engaged in such antics as leaving snakes in teammates' lockers or phoning the opposing team's bullpen to tell a pitcher to warm up.

The Orioles won the American League (AL) pennant in 1966, and in Game 1 of the 1966 World Series, Drabowsky relieved an ineffective Dave McNally with the bases loaded and one out in the third inning.

After his career, Drabowsky worked for an envelope company and a communications firm until the 1980s, when increased salaries for coaches allowed him to support himself in baseball.

His father joined them a year later, and the family settled in Wilson, Connecticut, a village in the town of Windsor, just north of Hartford.

His favorite player was Bobby Doerr, and he wanted to be a second baseman too, but he was converted to a pitcher by his prep school coach, who observed he had a good arm.

[2][5] This made Drabowsky a bonus baby, meaning the Cubs would have to keep him in the major leagues for two full seasons or expose him to waivers.

[2] He continued to make starts for the Cubs the rest of the year and finished the season with a 2–4 record, a 2.47 earned run average (ERA), and 36 strikeouts in 51 innings pitched.

[7] Control problems affected him during the year, such as in a game against the Cincinnati Redlegs on June 2, when he hit four batters (including future teammate and Hall of Famer Frank Robinson twice) in 3+2⁄3 innings, tying a major league record.

[4] His 170 strikeouts tied him for second in the National League with teammate Dick Drott, behind another rookie, Jack Sanford of the Philadelphia Phillies, who had 188.

[4] In 1958, Drabowsky did not appear in a game with the Cubs until May 1, delayed by a throat ailment and a stint in the United States Army Reserve.

[4] At the end of spring training in 1961, the Cubs decided no longer required Drabowsky and traded him along with Seth Morehead to the Milwaukee Braves for Daryl Robertson and Andre Rodgers.

[4] After Drabowsky gave up four runs in the sixth inning of a 10–8 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on June 8, Milwaukee banished him to the minor leagues and never bothered to call him up again the rest of the season.

[2][21] Despite the losing numbers, he had a very good 3.05 ERA and topped one hundred strikeouts for the first time since his rookie year, making the 1963 season a resurgence.

He struck out 96 in 98 innings pitched as the Orioles won the American League (AL) pennant, sending Drabowsky to the playoffs for the first time in his career.

[4] MLB added four clubs for the 1969 season, however, and Drabowsky was one of the few veterans selected by the Kansas City Royals in the expansion draft, ending his first stint with the Orioles.

[2][40] On June 15, he saw on the out-of-town scoreboard that the Orioles' pitchers had struggled late in a game against the Milwaukee Brewers and speculated that the team would be wanting some bullpen help.

[42] He made 21 appearances for the Orioles the rest of the season, finishing the year with a 5–4 record, a 3.52 ERA, and 59 strikeouts in 69 innings pitched in 45 games between Kansas City and Baltimore.

In Game 2, he entered in the fifth and pitched 2+1⁄3 innings, giving up a solo home run to Johnny Bench in the Orioles' 6–5 victory over the Reds.

[2] He then coached White Sox farm teams for several years: the Double-A Birmingham Barons from 1987 to 1988 and the Triple-A Vancouver Canadians from 1989 to 1991.

[48][49] Drabowsky was well known as a prankster whose jokes involved, among other things, being rolled to first base in a wheelchair after claiming to be hit on the foot by a pitch while with the Cubs.

The stores would loan him their snakes, and Drabowsky managed to scare such famous players as Brooks Robinson, Paul Blair, and Yogi Berra.

[2][5][42] During the 1969 World Series, a biplane flew over Memorial Stadium during Game 1 with a banner proclaiming, "Good Luck Birds: Beware of Moe."

"[42] However, this caution did not apparently apply to people off the field, as Drabowsky gave Commissioner Bowie Kuhn a hot foot during the Orioles' 1970 World Series celebration.

[2] In 1971, sportswriter Hal Bock was twice the victim of a Drabowsky hot foot during a series in New York (NL President Chub Feeney responded with an official censure.)

Once, he even got arrested for cruelty to animals; Drabowsky wondered if he had done something unacceptable until he was informed at the police station that it was a joke arranged by his players.

[53] Chicago columnist Mike Royko stated in his annual Cubs quiz, April 11, 1968, that Drabowsky "is still considered the best pitcher that Ozanna, Poland, ever produced.

He and Musial brought the participants baseball equipment donated by the MLB Commissioner's office, training the players on the fundamentals of the game.

[2][56] A baseball fan, Elisabeth once told a reporter that she had harbored a crush on Dodgers' star Gil Hodges since she was ten.

[30] First diagnosed with the disease in 2000 and given six months to live, he survived longer than expected, continuing to coach while undergoing stem cell treatments.