Mickey Owen

Mickey Owen

Arnold Malcolm "Mickey" Owen (April 4, 1916 – July 13, 2005) was a catcher for several Major League Baseball teams. Between 1937 and 1954, Owen played for the St. Louis Cardinals (1937–40), Brooklyn Dodgers (1941–45), Chicago Cubs (1949–51) and Boston Red Sox (1954). He batted and threw right-handed.

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

A native of Nixa, Missouri, Owen was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1935. He made his major league debut in 1937, appearing in 80 games, and 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.

From 1941 to 1944, Owen averaged 46 RBI a season for the Dodgers and played for the Brooklyn team that faced the New York Yankees in the 1941 World Series. During that championship season, he set a record for most errorless fielding chances by a catcher with 508 perfect attempts and finished with a .995 average. Ironically, Owen earned a place in baseball lore for a costly error that he committed during the 1941 World Series. The Yankees held a 2-games-to-1 lead entering Game 4 at the Dodgers' home field, Ebbets Field, but with 2 outs in the top of the ninth inning and the count 3–2 on the Yankees' Tommy Henrich, the Dodgers led 4–3. Henrich swung and missed at strike 3 which would have been the final out of the game, but the ball eluded Owen and Henrich made it safely to first base. The Yankees then went on to rally to score four runs in that inning and win the game 7–4. Instead of the series being tied up at 2 the victory gave the Yankees a 3–1 lead in the series and, the next day, New York beat the Dodgers 3–1 in Game 5 and won the World Championship. The Dodgers didn’t get back to the World Series until 1947 and didn’t win the series until 1955.

A four-consecutive All-Star from 1941 to 1944, in 1942 Owen became the first player to pinch-hit a home run in an All-Star game, and during the 1944 regular season, he became the third National League catcher to ever record an unassisted double play. Owen played for Brooklyn until the end of the 1945 season. He then served in the Navy at the end of World War II.

After his discharge from the military in 1946, Owen expected to return to Brooklyn, but he failed to reach an agreement with the Dodgers and signed a contract to be a player-manager in the Mexican League. There were several other big leaguers who fled to Mexico, including Alex Carrasquel, Danny Gardella, Max Lanier, Sal Maglie, Luis Olmo and Vern Stephens, attracted by good salaries. In retaliation for the defections, Commissioner Happy Chandler sought a lifetime suspension for them, but his penalty was later reduced to three years.

Owen returned to the majors in 1949 with the Chicago Cubs and played for them until the 1951 season. He finished his major league playing career with the Boston Red Sox in 1954.

Following his retirement as a player, Owen spent two seasons (1955–56) as a Red Sox coach, then worked for the Cubs as a scout. He returned to the Ozarks and founded the Mickey Owen Baseball School on Route 66 near Miller, Missouri, in 1959. Owen sold the school in 1963, but remained an instructor until the 1980s. The famous school still exists. Notable alumni include Michael Jordan, Joe Girardi and Charlie Sheen.

In 1964, Owen ran for Greene County sheriff and won. He also won three more elections, serving in the office until 1981. Owen ran for Lt. Governor of Missouri in 1980 and finished third with 13% and 79038 votes. Owen was still playing in old timers' games in the 1980s.

Owen lived the last years of his life in the Missouri Veterans Home in Mount Vernon. He died in Springfield, Missouri, at age of 89.