majtyka was born in buffalo, new york. he graduated from buffalo's st. francis high school in 1958 and attended the university at buffalo. he signed with the st. louis cardinals in as a shortstop, but as he rose in the cardinal organization he switched to third base and second base. he played one full season of triple-a baseball – in , split between the jacksonville suns and toledo mud hens of the international league – but never reached the big leagues as a player. in his best season, , he batted .281 in 445 at bats with 7 home runs and 57 runs batted in playing for the tulsa oilers of the texas league.