John R StanczakThis story has been waiting a long time to be told. It has been 100 years since the first of the Stanczak brothers threw his baseball mitt on the field that became their field of dreams-a cow pasture near the family home. My father, John Sr., was theoldest brother on the famous Stanczak All-Brothers baseball team. My younger brother Jim and I long planned to collaborate in telling this story. Unfortunately, Jim died in 2018, after compiling much of the historical data about the brothers' story. I regret that Jim and I were unable to finish this labor of love together. I recently celebrated my 90th birthday and have waited far too long to record this rich history that honors my father and uncles, and to share their remarkable stories with the current generation. My children and grandchildren and all the descendants of the Stanczak All-Brothers baseball team-indeed anybody who enjoys a good baseball story-deserve to know the true history of ten brothers who left their mark on our great American pastime. Understandably, baseball was always important in my family growing up. I even had tryouts for the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians. I hit a homerun during the tryout, but unfortunately it was not enough to earn me a contract. But I had the opportunity to meet several famous ballplayers over the years, and even played against some of them, including the great Willie Mays. I played baseball in the army during the Korean Conflict, until I was seriously injured in a collision with another player while attempting to catch an infield pop-up. That ended my baseball playing days. Over the years since then, I have been a serial entrepreneur. I owned a bowling alley together with my brother Jim in our hometown of Waukegan. Moving on from there, I owned a group of fast-food restaurants in northeast Arkansas, followed by a golf business in Florida, and a window treatment business in Tennessee. I finally retired at the ripe age of 82 and now live in Nashville, Tennessee, with the love of my life. I hope to write more, but at 90 years old I will have to write fast! Read More Read Less