Alexander “Rep” Junevitz Jr.

Category
2014
About This Inductee

Alex (Rep) played baseball three years with Harter High School of West Nanticoke. During his junior and senior years, he pitched 7 no-hitters (2 in 1947 and 5 in 1948), striking out 330 batters and batting .414. A right handed pitcher, he hurled his sixth shutout of the season to defeat Lehman to win the Back Mountain League championship in May of 1946. They repeated their 1947 league championship. No opposing team was able to score more than 2 hits in a single game against Alex. His two-season average was 14 strike-outs per game. In 1946 he was the first player from Luzerne County to ever be selected to participate on the annual American Legion Junior All-Star team, playing for Shawnee Post 463. In 1948, Alex received contract offers from professional baseball’s Pittsburgh Pirates, Brooklyn Dodgers, Philadelphia Athletics and Phillies, New York Giants and Yankees. Alex decided to sign with the Yankees and reported to their Butler, PA farm team. However, Alex was called into action with the National Guard the day his second year of baseball camp was due to start. He lost his ability to pitch during Army training. Upon discharge, he and his wife settled in Plymouth, PA. He worked for the Acme Warehouse in Forty Fort, PA for approximately 30 years. He passed away suddenly in 1981. He is survived by his wife Ann (Boney), son Alex, and daughters, Jane Bird and Susan Felter.