Today’s profile is former Dodger first baseman Norm Larker. Norman Howard John Larker was born on December 27, 1930, in Beaver Meadows Pennsylvania. A small mining community. His father, Lewis Larker, worked in the mines. His mom was Susan Zalaznock. He was of Slovak-German descent. His dad played second base and pitched in the county semi-pro leagues. His brother, Melvin, was a year older than he, and Lewis was born in 1936. Larker’s dad, like many miners of the era, would die in a mining accident in 1954.
Their house bordered the right field foul line of a local baseball field.