Art “Pinky” Deras, the world’s “greatest Little League player,” died Sunday night.
Deras, 75, suffered from heart issues for the past couple of years, and it gave out over the weekend, said his son Adam.
Metro Detroiters know Deras as an iconic Little League pitcher who took Hamtramck to the Little League World Series championship in 1959. It was the state’s only championship win until Taylor North won in 2021.
To his sons, Deras was a dedicated and loving dad. He hardly mentioned his time in Little League, Adam said.
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“He did all this stuff, and we didn’t even know about it,” Adam said. “We didn’t know how big it was until they really started doing the documentary. For everything he accomplished, he was very quiet, you would never know. He was a good man … never bragged about it, just kept to himself and did his own thing.”
Deras was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals and played in the minor leagues. After that, he joined the National Guard. When he came home, he lived in Sterling Heights and worked for the Warren Police Department for 29 years, Kevin, Deras’ other son, said.
The tales of Deras’ baseball prowess spread far and wide — he received letters from people from both coasts and other countries, Adam said.
And, because of changes to the league, Deras’ records can quite literally never be broken.
“The way that the Little League rules are set up these days for player pitches, and the amount of playtime that they can get and the consecutive starts, his statistics are cemented in history, they’ll never be broken,” Kevin said.
Deras was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame in 2011. The organization cited his incredible record and said his 1959 season statistics were “staggering”: 18 starts, 18 complete game victories, 16 shutouts, 10 no-hitters and 298 strikeouts.
At the plate, he hit 13 home runs in 13 tournament games, and that year compiled 112 RBIs and a .641 average, according to the Hall of Fame.
In 1961, Deras led Hamtramck to the Pony League World Series Championship.
“Since Art’s induction, he was (a) regular guest at our banquets,” the organization said on Facebook. “Always a crowd favorite. Although a humble man, Art was very proud of his Polish heritage and we are very proud to have honored him in our hall of fame.”
It has been decades since Deras’ championship win, but his legacy remains strong.
In early may, Ex-Detroit Tiger Ike Blessitt praised Deras.
“These kids these days couldn’t sniff his jockstrap,” Blessitt said. “He’s the best Little Leaguer to ever play.”
There’s a documentary about him, he has thrown the first pitch at baseball games, he had a street named after him in Hamtramck and the city will dedicate its Little League field in Deras’ honor, Kevin said.
Kevin said Deras was humble above all else.
“He was a big guy,” Kevin said. “But he was not a strict authoritative type of figure, but you could tell he meant business without him saying it.”
Although Deras had great success in sports, he never pressured his children to follow suit.
Both his sons played baseball anyway, and Adam said he was inspired by his dad. Deras would go to most of his games and cheer from the sidelines, never trying to steal any of the spotlight from his children.
“From the time I can remember at 3 years old, we were on the side of his house, playing catch,” Adam said. “Even if the glove was too small to fit his hand, he’d put it on anyway and play catch with us. It didn’t stop him.”
Even after he stopped playing competitive sports, Deras was always watching a Tigers game — even from his hospital bed Saturday night.
Growing up, he took Adam and Kevin to baseball games and Michigan football games.
Adam said Deras always pushed him to be the best version of himself. In the family, Deras will be remembered not for his status as a legendary Little Leaguer, but as a loving and dedicated father.
“(His legacy is to) do what you can do to be the best person you are, and don’t brag about it,” Adam said. “Be good for yourself, not for anyone else. Don’t do it for the stature or the light — do it just to be good. He did what he thought was right, and he wouldn’t let anything stop him.”
Deras is survived by his two sons, daughter Debbie, former wives Carol and Jane, and seven grandchildren.
Contact Emma Stein: estein@freepress.com and follow her on Twitter @_emmastein.
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