Oscar Bielaski
Oscar Bielaski was an American right fielder and the first Polish-American to play Major League Baseball, playing from 1872 until 1876. His father, Alexander Bielaski, a captain in the Union army, died at the Battle of Belmont. A. Bruce Bielaski, head of the Bureau of Investigation, and his sister, Ruth Shipley, head of the State Department's Passport Division, were first cousins of Oscar. Oscar learned to play baseball while enlisted in the Union Army as a drummer.
Oscar Bielaski was inducted in the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.
Oscar was born in Washington, D.C., and died there, at the age of 64. He is interred at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.
