Before 1947, the 1936 New York Yankees held the major-league record with 182 home runs. Another Big Apple team—the Giants—shattered the record in ’47 by clubbing 221 round-trippers. The record-breaking 183rd homer was hit by rookie Jack “Lucky” Lohrke, whose life story is almost beyond imagination.

Lohrke, a California native, signed with the Pacific Coast League’s San Diego Padres in 1942. He had to put his baseball dreams on the back burner during World War II, however. Lohrke served overseas in European theater and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. Upon returning to the United States after the war, he narrowly avoided a plane crash when he was bumped off a military aircraft that crashed near Kansas City.

In 1946, the Padres sent Lohrke to the Spokane Indians to gain more experience. He again averted death when he was pulled off the Indians’ team bus an hour before a tragic accident that killed nine of his teammates. After this incident he was tagged with the apt nickname “Lucky.”

Lohrke debuted with the New York Giants in 1947. On September 1, he hit the team’s 183rd home run of the season, breaking the Yankees’ previous mark. I wrote about this game for the SABR Games Project which you can find here. Lohrke’s home run was one of 22 home runs he would hit during his seven seasons in the big leagues.

You can read Jack Lohrke’s fascinating story in my forthcoming book Season of Shattered Dreams: Postwar Baseball, the Spokane Indians, and a Tragic Bus Crash That Changed Everything, which is available for preorder on Amazon.