Des Moines Bruins players

Robert Edward Kelly (born October 4, 1927) is an American former Major League Baseball pitcher who played for four seasons for the Chicago Cubs from 1951 to 1953, the Cincinnati Redlegs in 1953 and 1958, and the Cleveland Indians in 1958.
Kelly led East Cleveland Shaw High School to a state title in 1944, compiling a 7–2 record in 13 games with 75 strikeouts. He attended Purdue University, where he played college baseball for the Boilermakers from 1946 to 1947. Kelly also pitched collegiately for Western Reserve (now Case Western Reserve University) from 1948 to 1949. As of 2022, Kelly is the last surviving Major Leaguer to have been managed by Rogers Hornsby and Frankie Frisch.

Donald Ray Elston (April 6, 1929 – January 2, 1995) was an American relief pitcher who appeared in 450 games in Major League Baseball, all but one of them as a member of the Chicago Cubs (1953, 1957–1964). Elston batted and threw right-handed, stood 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and weighed 165 pounds (75 kg). He was born in Campbellstown, Ohio, and attended Camden High School. His 18-season professional baseball career began in the Cub farm system in 1948.
A hard thrower, Elston played for perennially weak Cubs teams over the course of his nine-year major league tenure. After a brief late-season trial with the 1953 Cubs, when he was treated rudely by the Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals, he was sent back to the minor leagues for the next two campaigns. Chicago included him in a December 1955 trade with the defending world champion Brooklyn Dodgers that was headlined by veterans Randy Jackson, Don Hoak, Russ Meyer and Walt Moryn, but Elston remained in the minors for all of 1956. He made the Dodgers' 1957 early-season roster and worked in one game. throwing one inning of shutout relief on May 5 against the Milwaukee Braves. He was traded back to the Cubs 18 days later for pitchers Jackie Collum and Vito Valentinetti.
The Cubs first used him as a swingman: in 1957, after his re-acquisition, he began as a reliever, then, beginning June 30, he made 14 appearances as a starter through September 13. But on September 18, he moved back to the bullpen, where he would spend the rest of his career. Elston became one of the best relief pitchers in the National League. He led the league with 69 games pitched in 1958, setting a club mark. Then, in 1959, he tied teammate Bill Henry for the league lead in appearances, with 65. That season, Elston won a career-high ten games and was selected to the 1959 National League All-Star team. He came on in the ninth inning of the first of 1959's two All-Star tilts and earned a save to preserve a 5–4 victory over the American League at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, on July 7. His 14 saves in 1959, third in the league, also was a career high. He was one of the Senior Circuit's top five relief pitchers for five straight years in saves (1957–1961) and games pitched (1958–1962). He posted sub-3.00 earned run averages in 1958, 1962 and 1963.
In 450 career MLB games, Elston compiled a 49–54 won–lost record with a 3.69 ERA and 64 saves. In 7552⁄3 innings pitched, he allowed 702 hits and 327 bases on balls. He struck out 519. During his brief career as a starting pitcher, he registered two complete games.
Elston died in Arlington Heights, Illinois, at the age of 65.

Gordon Richard Massa (September 2, 1935 – July 16, 2016) was an American professional baseball player who appeared in eight games as a catcher and pinch hitter for the 1957–1958 Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball. A left-handed batter who threw right-handed, he stood 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) tall and weighed 210 pounds (95 kg).
After graduating from Elder High School in Cincinnati, Massa attended The College of the Holy Cross, where he starred in baseball and football. In 1955 he led the Crusaders in home runs and runs batted in as the team posted a 13–4 record and qualified for the NCAA Division I College baseball tournament. Overall, Holy Cross won 42 of 53 games during Massa's time on the varsity. In football, he played center and linebacker and was selected by the New York Giants in the tenth round of the 1957 National Football League Draft.
But Massa chose professional baseball as his destination and signed with the Cubs on June 24, 1957. Three months later, after prepping with the Des Moines Bruins of the Class A Western League, Massa made his MLB debut, starting at catcher and notching two hits, both singles, in four at bats with one run batted in against Hal Jeffcoat of the Cincinnati Redlegs. All told, Massa collected seven hits in 15 at-bats with three RBI during his first trial with the Cubs. The following year, he was sent to the Class B Illinois–Indiana–Iowa League for further minor league seasoning, and he batted .316 to earn his second late-season call-up to the Cubs. He went hitless in two at-bats.
Massa returned to the minors for good in 1959, and retired in late 1963 after seven seasons in the Cub farm system, pitching in 24 games as well as handling catching chores.He was elected to the Holy Cross Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005.Massa died July 16, 2016, aged 80, in Cincinnati.

Nelson Edward Burbrink (December 28, 1921 – April 12, 2001) was an American professional baseball player and scout. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, he was signed by the Chicago Cubs as an amateur free agent before the 1941 season and served in the United States Navy during World War II. After almost a dozen years playing in the minor leagues, Burbrink finally made it to Major League Baseball at the age of 33 with the St. Louis Cardinals.
After being called up to the big leagues in June 1955, Burbrink shared catching duties with teammate Bill Sarni for the remainder of the season. He made his major league debut on June 5 during a doubleheader against the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. He appeared in 58 games for St. Louis, going 47-for-170 (.276) with eight doubles, one triple, no home runs, 15 runs batted in, and 11 runs scored. He had a .333 on-base percentage and a slugging percentage of .335.
Defensively, he recorded 261 putouts, 24 assists, six errors, and participated in four double plays. His fielding percentage was .979, slightly under the league average that season.
After his playing career ended, Burbrink scouted for the Cardinals, New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers. He served as the Mets' scouting director (1968–72) and director of player development (1973–78).
Burbrink died of cancer in Largo, Florida, at the age of 79.

Fred Charles Richards (November 3, 1927 – March 18, 2016), nicknamed "Fuzzy", was an American professional baseball player. Richards, a first baseman, played eleven seasons of minor league baseball and appeared in ten games played in the Major Leagues for the Chicago Cubs in the waning weeks of the 1951 season. He threw and batted left-handed, stood 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and weighed 185 pounds (84 kg).
Born in Warren, Ohio in 1927, Richards signed with the Cubs in 1946 as a 19-year-old. He had finished his sixth season in the Cubs' farm system when he was called to the Majors in 1951. Ironically, 1951 had been Richards' worst pro season, as he batted only .223 in 120 games split between the Class A Des Moines Bruins and the Triple-A Springfield Cubs. In his first at bat on September 15, facing Sheldon Jones, he flied out to center fielder Willie Mays of the New York Giants, but overall he collected eight hits (including two doubles) in 27 at bats during his Major League audition. Richards would split 1952 between Des Moines and Springfield again, but he never returned to the Major Leagues.

John Steven Pramesa (August 28, 1925 – September 9, 1996) was an American professional baseball player, a catcher in the Major Leagues from 1949–1952 for the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds. A native of Barton, Ohio, he threw and batted right-handed, stood 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) tall and weighed 210 pounds (95 kg).
Pramesa spent the full seasons of 1950 and 1951 as the Reds' second-string catcher, playing behind Homer "Dixie" Howell. In 1950, his best MLB season, Pramesa batted .307 in 74 games played and 228 at bats, with a career-high 30 runs batted in.