text: john paciorek john francis paciorek ( / / ; born february 11 , 1945 ) is an american former baseball player . he attended high school in michigan , and was signed by the houston colt .45s while playing for the school 's baseball team . after a season in the minor leagues , he was promoted to the colt .45 's active roster , and played in one game at the end of the 1963 houston colt .45s season . in that game , he had three hits and two walks . however , injuries cut his career short ; he missed most of 1964 and 1965 due to surgery , and retired after playing parts of four more seasons in the minors . he returned to school , graduated from the university of houston , and became a physical education teacher after retiring . paciorek is rare among major league baseball players in having a perfect batting average of 1 . 000 . he is the only one as yet to achieve this distinction with more than two turns at - bat . early life paciorek was born in detroit on february 11 , 1945 . his father was a factory worker in plymouth , michigan . he was the oldest of eight children ; two of his brothers , tom and jim , went on to have mlb careers as well . he attended st. ladislaus high school in hamtramck , michigan , and was named to the varsity baseball team as a freshman . during his high school career , he focused on strength building to achieve his dream of being a baseball player . by the time he graduated , he went from 119 pounds ( 54 kg ) to 200 pounds ( 91 kg ) , and was an all - state three - sport star in baseball , football , and basketball . paciorek also played on detroit 's team in the national amateur baseball federation ; he was named most valuable player during the annual tournament in 1962 . while he was still in high school , houston general manager paul richards convinced paciorek to sign with the colt .45s ; the two agreed to a $ 45 , 000 contract . baseball career in late 1962 , paciorek attended an instructional league put on by houston , which led to him becoming part of the team 's spring training roster as one of 63 invited players . during exhibition play , he " hit everything in sight " , and had a batting average of over .300 . after spring training ended , he began his professional career with the modesto colts of the california league and played in 78 games for the team with a .219 batting average and 15 doubles . late in the season , he injured his back and shoulder ; he was diagnosed with a sciatic nerve injury , and was told to rest . shortly afterward , however , houston brought paciorek and seven other rookies onto the major league roster to play in the season finale on september 29 . paciorek , who was the starting right fielder , began the day with a walk in the second inning . he then had a single in the fourth inning , which drove in rusty staub and bob aspromonte . after singling and again bringing home aspromonte in the fifth , paciorek had a walk in the sixth , and ended the day with a leadoff single in the eighth . in total , he went to the plate five times and hit three singles and had two walks , scoring four runs en route to a 12 – 4 houston victory over the new york mets . he had a perfect major league career batting average and on - base percentage of 1 . 000 as a result of his performance that day , something no one else with as many plate appearances as paciorek has done . thanks in part to his performance in the final game of houston 's season , paciorek was invited to spring training for houston in 1964 . his performances included a bases - loaded triple against the mets . however , his poor play on both offense and defense late in spring training led to him being cut despite being nearly a lock to make the roster . he spent part of the year on the durham bulls and statesville colts , where he had a batting average in 49 combined games . partway through the year , he had spinal fusion surgery , which caused paciorek to miss the rest of the 1964 season , as well as all of 1965 . paciorek returned to the houston organization in 1966 , and split the season with the batavia trojans and salisbury astros , where he hit .193 in 77 combined games . the following year , he played for the asheville tourists and cocoa astros , had a average in 32 games , and was released at season 's end . he was given a second chance to return to the major leagues when the cleveland indians , who were scouting his brother tom at the university of houston , signed him to a minor league contract with a spring training invitation . he spent 1968 with the single - a reno silver sox and the rock hill indians , and hit .268 with 20 home runs in 95 total games ; his 17 home runs with reno led the team . paciorek was promoted the following year to the double - a waterbury indians and played in 29 games with them , but tore his achilles tendon during warm - ups , which led to his release and the end of his professional career . post - baseball career after his baseball career ended , paciorek returned to school and earned a degree in physical education from the university of houston , a degree that he began to pursue while recovering from back surgery . while acquiring his degree , he became a christian scientist and married linda cupp . after graduating from college , he spent several years as an instructor at a jewish community center , then became a physical education teacher after inquiring about a christian science monitor advertisement for a teaching position at school in san gabriel , california . linda died of breast cancer in 1987 , and paciorek married karen purdy two years later . paciorek has four sons and four daughters . his nephew , joey paciorek , played in the milwaukee brewers minor league organization , and his sons , pete and mack , had minor league careers as well . while watching his son in training camp , paciorek became an author after watching what he felt was improper instruction given to the players . he has since written two books , plato & socrates , baseball 's fans and the principle of baseball , and all there is to know about hitting .