Grodzicki's baseball career was interrupted by four years of military service. He served in the United States Army's 17th Airborne Division and became a paratrooper. In combat in Germany on March 29, 1945, Grodzicki sustained shrapnel wounds to both legs. He was awarded a Purple Heart, and required surgery and extensive rehabilitation to resume his baseball career after the war's end.[2]
Grodzicki's professional playing career — spent entirely in the Cardinal organization — stretched from 1936 through 1952, including 11 years in minor league baseball. He later managed in the Redbird farm system, scouted for the Cardinals, then became a minor league instructor for the Detroit Tigers for over a dozen years. He then spent a season (1979) as the Tigers' MLB pitching coach.[3] He died at age 81 in Daytona Beach, Florida.[1]
