Mickey Owens – Four Seasons in St. Louis Before the Famous World Series

 

Owen was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1935. He made his major league debut on May 2, 1937 where he  appeared in 80 games that season.  He spent the next three full seasons in St. Louis before being traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers for catcher Gus Mancuso, a minor league player and $60,000.

In a 13-season career, Owen posted a .255 batting average with 14 home runs and 378 RBI in 1209 games.

For the Cardinals he played for 4 years and appeared in 450 games and accumulated 1282 at bats along with 330 hits. He rove in 113 RBI’s  and scored 121 runs .

Probably the most famous event in Owen baseball career took place as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Mickey Owen, the Brooklyn Dodger catcher remembered for a misadventure in the 1941 World Series that propelled the Yankees to the championship and overshadowed his All-Star career

Here is an article from the New York Times about this event.

On the afternoon of Oct. 5, 1941, the Yankees were trailing the Dodgers, 4-3, at Ebbets Field in Game 4 of the World Series and were down to their final out with Brooklyn about to tie the Series at two games apiece. Tommy Henrich, the Yankees’ star outfielder, was at the plate facing the ace reliever Hugh Casey, with nobody on base and a full count.

Casey threw a pitch that broke sharply, and Henrich swung and missed. The home-plate umpire, Larry Goetz, signaled a strikeout and the game was seemingly over.

But the pitch hit the heel of Owen’s glove and skipped away for a passed ball. As Owen chased the ball near the Dodgers’ dugout, Henrich raced to first base. Joe DiMaggio followed with a single to left, then Charlie Keller hit a ball high off the right-field screen, scoring Henrich and DiMaggio and giving the Yankees a 5-4 lead.

After Bill Dickey walked, Joe Gordon doubled to make the score 7-4. The Dodgers went down quickly in the ninth, and the Yankees had a lead of three games to one. They captured the World Series the next day, inspiring the enduring headline in The Brooklyn Eagle, “Wait Till Next Year.”

MLB Video

SABR article