Showing posts with label New York Giants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New York Giants. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Jim Mangan: Headache

Catcher Jim Mangan made the major leagues with the Pirates and Giants, but didn't perform at the plate particularly well. His Baseball-Reference page shows a .153 average over 67 PA spread out in the years 1952, 1954 and 1956.

He didn't get along well with his higher-ups, either. Reports are he blew up at Branch Rickey while on Pittsburgh's roster in 1955, which sent him to Hollywood for the season, then optioned to independent El Paso. It was from there that he was sold/waived to the Giants for 1956, that transaction is on his Baseball-Reference page.

Mangan didn't think much of Bill Rigney's management style (Mangan had managed at El Paso in 1955) and got himself suspended. From the Aug 14, 1956 Billings Gazette:

"Jim Mangan, third string catcher of the New York Giants, who said Manager Bill Rigney "is the worst manager I ever played (for)" Monday was was suspended indefinitely by Club President Horace Stoneham "Mangan is suspended as of today until further notice hecause of his act in leaving the club at Pittsburgh," Stoneham's notice read. No mention was made of the 25-year-old sub's reason to newspapermen. Mangan, who was purchased from Pittsburgh, left at the end of the 2nd inning of the first game of a doubleheader with the Pirates, telling Rigney he could not "stand it any more." He stayed away from the park during the entire second game but returned to New York with the team. The San Franciscan has seen little action this season. Bobby Bragan, manager of the Pirates, said "This follows a pattern. This fellow told off Branch Rickey last year." Following this blowup, Mangan, who was owned by the Pirates and was playing for Hollywood in the Pacific Coast League, was sent down to El Paso in the WestTexas-New Mexico League. Mangan batted .245 for Holly- wood last year."

Mangan never played in the majors again, and came back in the season only to be used as a bullpen catcher for the Giants that year. In 1957, Mangan goes to the Sacramento PCL independent team in a deal not on his Baseball-Reference page.  From the Pasadena Star-News of March 23, 1957:

“Sacs Buy Receiver From N.Y. Stormy Catcher Jim Mangan today became Sacramento's headache as the Solons' front office announced that he has been purchased for an undisclosed sum from the New York Giants. Mangan is the boy who called Bill Rigney, New York Giants skipper the worst manager n baseball last year and left the club in a huff, was suspended and eventually was allowed to rejoin the team and used in the bull pen only. This spring Mangan, who formerly played with Hollywood and had a few run-ins, as well, was assigned to Minneapolis, the Giants' farm club, now training at Stanford, Fla. Mangan will stop at Minneapolis to pick up his car and drive to Pasadena, being ex- pected next week. He played in 20 games for New York and hit .100.”

Mangan played sparingly for the Solons as third string catcher, then went to AA San Antonio and the Orioles system in 1958 despite going to spring training for the Solons. There is evidently one game for Fort Worth and the Cubs system in 1957 that I can't track down.


One thing about the majors back then, if you hit less than .200 and criticized management, your career tended to disappear.

Jim Mangan photo lifted from Baseball Birthdays

 



Monday, June 27, 2016

ONE-SHOTS: Don Lund, George Lerchen, Joe Ostrowski

Sometimes ballplayers have their major league careers ended by a sale to the minor leagues, and that doesn't end up on their Baseball-Reference page. Here are three examples:

Don Lund was an outfielder for Brooklyn, the Browns and Detroit from the forties until 1954. That is when his major league career ends mid-season with the Tigers; but HOW it ends gets explained in this article from the Milwaukee Journal of July 30, 1954:



“The Detroit Tigers Thursday purchased outfielder Hoot Evers fom the New York Giants and sold outfielder Don Lund to the Giants’ farm team in Minneapolis.”

Lund finished his playing with Minneapolis that year. Articles from the time suggest that these deals were not related to each other despite the timing.

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George Lerchen played in two major league seasons; with the Tigers in 1952 and the Reds in 1953. I could not find how he got from the Tigers to the Reds, but I could find what happened to him after what seemed to be a nice 22-PA performance for Cincinnati in 1952. From the Daytona Beach Morning Journal of Dec. 10, 1953:


“The Cincinnati Redlegs continued to shift players yesterday, obtaining Bill Powell, righthanded Negro pitcher, from Charleston of the American Association, and selling Outfielder George Lerchen to Portland of the Pacific Coast League.”

Lerchen spent a short amount of time at independent Portland before finishing his playing career in the Cardinals organization.

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Joe "Specs" Ostrowski threw for the Browns and the Yankees in a major league career that lasted from 1948 to 1952. He had a couple nice years up top, but at age 35 he could only manage a 2-2 record and a 5.68 ERA with the strong Yankees. His major league career ended with a sale to the PCL. From the Reading Eagle of Feb. 13, 1953:

"Los Angeles, of the PCL, bought veteran relief pitcher Joe Ostrowski from the New York Yankees."

Right to the point. He tossed 72.2 effective innings in 1953 for the Cubs' affiliate and that was the end of his pitching career.



Lund pic from
Lerchen pic from 
Pinterest
and Ostrowski pic stolen from