Two 1938 Dodgers: Fred Sington and Pete Coscarart

The 1938 Brooklyn Dodgers weren't particularly good, finishing 69-80, but they did have some interesting players.

Fred Sington was an outfielder on the team who had a gaudy .358 batting average and a near-.500 on-base percentage in just 68 plate appearances. His major league career started with the Senators in 1934 and ended with the Dodgers in 1939, a short career despite a very respectable .271 lifetime batting average and a near-.400 lifetime OBP mark. His Baseball-Reference page only lists the transactions that sent him from Washington to Brooklyn and an "assignment:" from Brooklyn to the Red Sox. But how did the Senators get him?

The Wilson Daily Times of Sep. 8, 1934 tells us:

"Fred Sington, slugging outfielder of the Albany Senators of the International League, has been sold to Washington of the American League for cash and three players, the club announced yesterday. The amount of cash was not disclosed."

Albany was an independent team at the time. And we find out more about the "assignment" to the Red Sox system from a 1939 post-season article in the Louisville Courier-Journal of Dec. 10, 1939:

"the only thing wrong with Fred Sington's batting last season was his average of .254. Homeliness in batting averages, as in looks, frequently is only skin deep; beneath the unattractive batting mark, as well as beneath the ugly mug, redeeming qualities frequently shine. That's why the Colonels have abandoned intentions of selling Big Fred if they had a chance of recouping all or most of the $10,000 they paid Brooklyn for him last season."

So that was a sale rather than just an "assignment."
Sington finished his career in Louisville in 1940. He was better known as a college football star for Alabama, and according to Wikipedia. had a song written about his football prowess.

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Pete Coscarart was just getting his major league career started in 1938, and the useful middle infielder would be traded to Pittsburgh for 1942 and would be out of the majors in early 1946. Quite likely that was due to his support for a baseball player's union at the time.

His Baseball-Reference page doesn't list the deal that sent him from the Pirates out west to independent PCL San Diego, but we found an interesting article from the June 2, 1946 Chicago Tribune:

"The Pittsburgh Pirates today (June 1) announced the sale of Pete Coscarart to San Diego of the Pacific Coast League..."

The article goes on to say that Coscarart was threatening to jump to the Mexican league rather than go to San Diego. The article says that Coscarart thought he could still play in the majors at age 30. Baseball-Reference has him at 33 at the time of the deal.

He DID go to the Padres, and then to Sacramento and Yakima before ending his career.

Sington from Getty Images, Coscarart from www.vintagecardprices.com

Play Mandy Brooks for Me, Then Trade Him

We are going to go back a bit further than normal for this post's subject.

Mandy Brooks was a half-season wonder for the Cubs in 1925. In 90 games, the outfielder had 46 XBH, 72 RBI and a .281 average as a rookie centerfielder. The Cubs acquired Hack Wilson for 1926 and Brooks was an afterthought. Aftger 57 PA and a sub-.200 BA he was gone from the majors, never to return.

Brooks' Baseball-Reference page lists NO transactions for Brooks, which is not surprising. Baseball worked in a different way back then, as teams frequently bought and sold and traded players from and to independent minor league teams. We were able to find a few for Brooks, though, including his entry and exit from the Cubs!

Brooks had joined the Cubs mid-season from the Columbus AA team, an independent squad. This deal was covered by the Courier-Journal from Louisville Kentucky of May 27, 1925:

 "John ("Mandy") Brooks, an outfielder with the Columbus American Association Club, has been sold to the Chicago Nationals for $33,009, an outfielder and a pitcher, it was announced here today. Brooks, who has been batting better than (??), will report to the Chicago team Friday. He came to Columbus from Peoria in the Three Eye League. Outfielder (??) will be one of the Chicago nlers who will come to Columbus."

The (??) mark indicates garbled text. We can certainly pull out from this that the Cubs sent cash and two players to Columbus for Brooks.

Brooks' Baseball-Reference page is not complete when it comes to his minor-league career. In 1926 the Cubs optioned him to Minneapolis, but that record is not represented. From Minneapolis, the Cubs sold him to Louisville for 1927. From the Courier-Journal from Louisville Nov. 18, 1926:

"Mandy Brooks will wear the uniform of a Louisville Colonel next season. He comes to the Louisville club from the Chicago Cubs in part payment for Earl Webb. Brooks finished the 1926 season with Minneapolis after starting the year with Joe McCarthy's team."

This transaction is not listed on Earl Webb's page, either.  

Brooks' Louisville career isn't covered on his page either, just a stop at Waterbury (perhaps on option from Louisville). He goes to Nashville early in 1927: from the July 12, 1927 Tennessean from Nashville:

"Mandy Brooks, who was bought a week ago today from Louisville, joined the club yesterday down in Memphis and It filled the Vol roster."

So that was a cash deal. We found one more Brooks transaction that involved a (then) future major league player. In 1928 Brooks goes to the PCL in a deal outlined in the San Bernardino Sun of June 13,1928:

"A mild housecleaning in the Oakland baseball club today swept one regular out, while a veteran and three youngsters swirled in on the back stroke of the broom. Al Bool, one of the catching mainstays of last year's pennant winning team, was the victim. , He and a chunk of cash (amount unknown) went to the Nashville club of the Southern association in a trade for John "Mandy" Brooks, husky outfielder. Brooks, a right-hander all around, was with the Chicago Nationals in 1925 and 1926. To date this season, he has hit nine home runs and batted .534 for Nashville. He will report at once."

So we were able to not only add some transactions to the Mandy Brooks file, but fill in a couple stops on his baseball resume!

Brooks from pinterest, Webb from comc.com and Bool from the great Trading Card Database site.

 

Jim Kirby's Adventure in the Majors: Three Games

Jim Kirby was an outfielder during the World War II years that had a very brief stay with the 1949 Cubs, one hit in two at bats over three games without playing in the field.

He had a long career in the minors, starting in 1942, skipping three years for the war, then coming back to C ball in Tyler, Texas. He graduated to AA independent Shreveport in 1947 and 1948 with a couple nice years, good enough to be drafted to the Cubs for 1949, according to his Baseball-Reference page.

After his short major league stay, the Cubs optioned him to their AA Nashville club (Kirby's hometown) and then to independent AA Dallas later in that year. Baseball-Reference lists no further deals for Kirby, be we were able to uncover a few.

Kirby stayed at Dallas for 1950, having been purchased by the club, according to the Nashville Tenneseean from Sept. 7, 1949:

"The Dallas club of the Texas league yesterday announced the purchase of Outfielder Jim Kirby from the Chicago Cubs. Kirby played here this season but was with Dallas on option."

Dallas became a Cleveland affiliate for 1951 and Kirby started the season there. Partway through the season, he was dealt to the Reds' AA Tulsa affiliate. From the Times from Shreveport, LA for July 29, 1951:

"The Shreveport Sports sold Third-baseman Vern Petty to the Dallas Eagles last night after the game in Dallas, and the Eagles promptly traded him to the Tulsa Oilers along with Outfielder Jim Kirby for Outfielder Eddie Knoblauch. Shreveport peddled Petty for an unannounced amount of cash and another player to be named later. If the Eagles do not part with a player for the Sports. Shreveport will receive an additional amount of money, Club President Bonneau Peters announced."

Petty and Knoblauch never made the majors. Kirby was optioned by Tulsa to B-league Gainesville after a less-than stellar performance at Tulsa, and a succeeding poor performance at Tulsa in 1952 sent him to independent B and A ball (except for a short stay in the Red Sox system in 1958 at age 35) for the rest of his career.

Kirby pic stolen from the www.findagrave.com website.

Jerry Scala Was No Jok

Jerry Scaia was a centerfielder for the White Sox from 1948-50. He continued until 1955 bouncing thru quite a few organizations. However, his Baseball-Reference page only lists unknown deals before he surfaced with the Sox. He was involved in a few interesting transactions after that, and we were able to track many down.

Scala had a good shot at starting with the Sox in 1949 and came up a bit short. He was optioned to the Pirates' Indianapolis club, and was involved in a complicated trade that saw him bounced from Chicago to independent PCL team Oakland and back. From the Indianapolis Star of June 12, 1949:

"Earl Rapp, outfielder for the Chicago White Sox, has been sold to the Oakland Oaks in the Pacific Coast League, the White Sox office announced today. The deal supersedes one announced last Thursday which would have sent Sox Outfielder Jerry Scala and First Baseman Gordon Goldsberry to Oakland in trade for George Metkovich, Oaks outfielder. However, Scala will stay with the Sox and both Rapp and Goldsberry will go to the Oaks."

Scala played for the ChiSox and AAA Buffalo on option in 1950, and Sacramento for Chicago in 1951. Then he goes to Baltimore, AAA for the Phillies. The Feb. 24, 1952 Baltimore Sun describes Scala as having come from "Sacramento in a trade that sent Bill Glynn to that club." Bill Glynn is covered in, I believe, two other UT blog posts.

Scala goes to the A's organization in Ottawa for 1953. From the March 10, 1953 Ottawa Journal:

"Gerry Scala. announced as signed by the Ottawa Athletics last-night is the leading choice to play centre field on the 1953 edition of the dub. Scala, who has said he's anxious to come here, was with the Baltimore Orioles last year, where he batted .240 while playing in centre. The A's obtained the 27-year-old outfielder in a trade tor Stan Jok earlier this Winter."

And, Jok's Baseball-Reference page simply has this as an unknown transaction.

Scala stayed with the Athletics thru the end of his playing days in 1955.

Scala from Stars of the Diamond.com

Jok from eBay

Goldsberry from Flickr

Rapp from Baseball in Wartime 

and Metkovich from

Sports Artifacts

 

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

 

Bob Wiesler Walked Back to the Yankees

Bob Wiesler was a pitcher in the fifties for the Yankees and Senators, best known for being a roommate of Mickey Mantle and for his ability to walk opposing batters.

For his 6-season major league career and over 241 innings, the lefty walked 218 batters while striking out just 113. In 1956 alone his stats would make any SABRmetrician cry: over 123 innings, he walked 112, striking out 49, and giving up 141 hits for a shocking 2.057 WHIP, a 3-12 record and an ERA of  6.44. Even for a bad, bad Senator team, that was bad.

Wiesler's Baseball-Reference page lists a single multi-player trade for his transactions after his initial signing by the Yankees, which sent him from the Yanks to Washington.

However, Wiesler's career continued until the 1961 season, and saw him go from the Senators to the Yankees system again, followed by the Twins and Angels in 1961.

He goes from the Senators to Richmond (Yankees system) in both 1957 and 1958, and I cannot find these deals anywhere. But he is certainly Yankees property again by 1959, as he is in spring training with the big club, sent to Richmond in an article from the News-Herald from Franklin, PA of April 2, 1959:

 “The New York Yankees today returned first - baseman Frank Leja, shortstop Rod Kanehl and pitcher Bob Wiesler to their Richmond farm club in the International League.”

Wiesler stayed with Richmond until just before the 1961 season, when he headed back to the former original Senators, now the Twins, and their Syracuse AAA club. From the Progress-Index from Petersburg, Va of April 11, 1961:

“The Vees did some cutting yesterday, and among those sent away was veteran lefthander Bob Wiesler, who was sold to Syracuse. He has been with the Vees since 1957.”

"Vees" was short for Virginians, the Richmond team nickname.

Wiesler's return to the Senators/Twins system was short-lived, one two-inning, 3-walk, 5-hit, 4-earned-run performance. From the Syracuse Post-Standard of April 25, 1961:

 “The Syracuse Chiefs began "Operation Shakeup'' yesterday by releasing Pitcher Bob Wiesler.”

Weisler finished the season at Dallas-Fort Worth, an Angels minor league team, but I could not find the signing date.

If anyone can fill in the blanks for Wiesler's moves between Richmond and Washington, let me know!

Wiesler photo stolen from http://www.tradingcarddb.com

R.I.P. and Thank You Bob Lemke

Just read of the passing of Bob Lemke.

I cannot sum up the man or his works any better than others who are doing so on the internet, so I will just say Thank You and R.I.P.

Bob was very kind to me over the years, answering questions and e-mails, coming on the air with me at least once when I had a radio show back in the day, always responded with a 'Good to hear from you again".

His interesting, informative and entertaining internet writings over the last few years inspired my own blog writing as I am sure it did others.

You will me missed, Mr. Lemke. Thank you again.