Ed Lopat

Edmund Walter Lopat, originally Lopatynski, was an American Major League Baseball pitcher, coach, manager, front office executive, and scout, born June 21, 1918, in New York City, and died June 15, 1992. He was sometimes called "the Junk Man" but was better known as "Steady Eddie."

Lopat graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx in 1935. Because the school had no baseball team, he played first base for the Music Hall team in the Theatrical League. In 1936 he tried out for the New York Giants without success, but the Brooklyn Dodgers sent him to their minor league affiliate in the Pennsylvania State Association for $50 a month.

A 5-foot-10, 185-pound left-hander, Lopat was originally signed to play professional baseball by the Brooklyn Dodgers. He began his professional career in 1937 as a first baseman for the Greensburg Green Sox in the Class D Pennsylvania State Association. He played a total of seven years of minor league baseball before reaching the major leagues.