Ollie Bejma

Who was Ollie Bejma?

Ollie Bejma was a Major League Baseball infielder for the St. Louis Browns and Chicago White Sox in the 1930s. He made his major league debut on April 24, 1934 for the Browns in a 15-2 loss to the Cleveland Indians. Used as a utility infielder for the remainder of the season, Bejma hit .271 in 95 games and played four positions. He also achieved career highs in doubles, triples, stolen bases, walks, strikeouts, slugging percentage, and hit by pitch.

He spent the next two seasons with the Browns in a somewhat less frequent reserve role, filling in at every infield position but first base. Bejma made no major league appearances in the 1937 or 1938 seasons, spending the latter in the minor league system of the Chicago White Sox, who had purchased him from the Browns in March 1938. He made his debut with the White Sox in 1939 and went on to log more at-bats that year than any previous season of his career. He also surprisingly tallied 8 home runs, despite having hit only 6 in 599 major league at-bats coming into 1939. This contributed to his career best of 44 runs batted in.