Tag Archives: Chicago Cubs
Frank Thomas
Frank Thomas (Baseball. Born, Pittsbugh, PA, June 11, 1929.) It perhaps said more about the early Mets than about his ability that Frank Joseph Thomas was the first real star of the team. Thomas was a dead pull hitter from the right side whose stroke was ideally suited to the leftfield confines of the Polo [...]
Ralph Kiner
Ralph Kiner (Baseball. Born, Santa Rita, NM, Oct. 27, 1922.) Better known to generations of Mets fans as a broadcaster for the club’s entire existence through 2011, Ralph McPherran Kiner was one of the dominant players of the post-World War II era. Kiner hit 369 homers in 10 major league seasons (1946-55) with Pittsburgh, the [...]
Larry Jansen
Larry Jansen (Baseball. Born, Verboort, OR, July 16, 1920; died, Verboort, OR, Oct. 10, 2009.) After a stunning 30-6 season with San Francisco of the P.C.L., Lawrence Joseph Jansen was sold to the Giants. Jansen did not disappoint, winning 21 of 26 decisions in 1947 with a team that finished fourth and would have done [...]
Monte Irvin
Monte Irvin (Baseball. Born, Columbus, AL, Feb. 25, 1919.) All all-around high school star in East Orange, N.J., Monford Merrill Irvin played semipro baseball with the East Orange Triangles while attending Lincoln (Penna.) University. Irvin subsequently became a star with the Newark Eagles of the Negro National League and many scouts felt he was the [...]
Mickey Owen
Mickey Owen (Baseball. Born, Nixa, MO, Apr. 4, 1916; died, Mount Vernon, MO, July 13, 2005.) In the long catalogue of Brooklyn Dodgers frustration in World Series games, Arnold Malcolm Owen always earns prominent mention. Mickey Owen failed to catch a third strike to the Yankees Tommy Henrich that would have ended the fourth game of [...]
Tony Lazzeri
Tony Lazzeri (Baseball. Born, San Francisco, CA, Dec. 6, 1903; died, San Francisco, CA, August 6, 1946.) Although remembered most vividly for a strikeout in the 1926 World Series, Tony (Poosh ‘Em Up) Lazzeri was one of the most accomplished players on the Yankees dynasty teams of both the late 1920s and the late 1930s, [...]
Walter O’Malley
Walter O’Malley (Baseball. Born, The Bronx, NY, Oct. 9, 1903; died, Rochester, MN, Aug. 9, 1979.) While reviled by fans of the Brooklyn Dodgers everywhere, Walter Francis O’Malley actually made a serious effort to keep the team in the borough of its birth. O’Malley became president of the Dodgers in 1950 and shortly began to [...]
Gus Mancuso
Gus Mancuso (Baseball. Born, Galveston, TX, Dec. 5, 1905; died, Houston, TX, Oct. 26, 1984.) As the primary catcher for three Giants pennant winners in the 1930s, August Rodney Mancuso may have Commissioner Landis to thank for his career. Mancuso was under contract with the Cardinals from 1925 on but couldn’t win a job on [...]
Pat Malone
Pat Malone (Baseball. Born, Altoona, PA, Sept. 25, 1902; died, Altoona, PA, May 13, 1943.) Only one big league player played on pennant winners in both leagues under the same manager and that man is Perce Leigh Malone. Malone was a righthander who was 22-10 with the 1929 Chicago Cubs and 12-4 with the Yankees [...]
Joe Pepitone
Joe Pepitone (Baseball. Born, Brooklyn, NY, Oct. 9, 1940.) Best known as a first baseman, Joseph Anthony Pepitone actually spent a significant amount of his eight seasons with the Yankees as an outfielder. Pepitone was a solid lefthanded hitter with good “Stadium power,” hitting 166 homers and driving in 521 runs in 1,051 games. He [...]
