Heinie Manush

Heinie Manush
Left fielder
Born: (1901-07-20)July 20, 1901 Tuscumbia, Alabama
Died: Sarasota, Florida
Batted: Left Threw: Left
MLB debut
April 20, 1923, for the Detroit Tigers
Last MLB appearance
May 22, 1939, for the Pittsburgh Pirates
MLB statistics
Batting average	.330
Hits	2,524
Home runs	110
Runs batted in	1,183
Teams
Detroit Tigers (1923–1927) St. Louis Browns (1928–1930) Washington Senators (1930–1935) Boston Red Sox (1936) Brooklyn Dodgers (1937–1938) Pittsburgh Pirates (1938–1939)
Career highlights and awards
All-Star (1934) AL batting champion (1926)
Member of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Inducted	1964
Election Method	Veterans Committee

Henry Emmett Manush (July 20, 1901 – May 12, 1971), nicknamed "Heinie", was an American left fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB). Manush spent 17 seasons in the majors, playing for the Detroit Tigers, St. Louis Browns, Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox, Brooklyn Dodgers, and Pittsburgh Pirates. He won the American League batting title in 1926.

After his retirement as a player, Manush was a minor league manager and an MLB scout and coach. Manush was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1964. His brother, Frank Manush, also played in the major leagues.

Biography

Early life

Manush was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama to German immigrant parents. He was nicknamed "Heinie" due to his ancestry. He was one of eight children in the family, seven of them boys. He started high school in Tuscumbia but transferred to Massey Military Academy in Tennessee as a senior. Manush said that his interest in baseball began as a small child when his older brother Frank would bring home his baseball uniform and equipment.

Manush began his professional career in 1920, playing six games for the Portland Beavers in the Pacific Coast League. Moving to the then-B League Edmonton Eskimos in the Western Canada League in 1921, Manush hit .321 in 83 games. In 1922, he had a big season for the Omaha Buffaloes in the Western League, batting .376 with 20 home runs. That performance got him called up to the majors.

MLB career

Manush followed his brother Frank, a Philadelphia Athletics third baseman, to the major leagues in 1923 and quickly became known as a skillful hitter. During his rookie season with the Tigers, he batted .334 in 308 at-bats while sharing an outfield with Ty Cobb, Harry Heilmann, Bobby Veach, and Bob Fothergill. In 1926, Manush led the American League with a batting average of .378 and finished second behind Babe Ruth in the statistical categories of slugging percentage (.564) and on-base plus slugging percentage (.985).

After his batting average dropped to .298 and he experienced a 200-point drop in his OPS percentage, Manush was traded on December 13, 1927 to the Browns in exchange for outfielder Harry Rice, mediocre starter Elam Vangilder, and Chick Galloway. Although Rice approximated Manush's previous season in 1928, Vangilder and Galloway both had injuries that shortened their careers within a year of arriving in Detroit. Manush put up a career year while the Tigers lost 14 games in the standings.

In his first season in St. Louis, Manush batted .378 and led the league in hits (241), doubles (47), and singles (161). He would also finish second in voting for the American League MVP to catcher Mickey Cochrane and tie the Browns' single season record for triples (20 in 1928), set by George Stone in 1906. After another fine season in 1929 (in which he hit .355 and again led the league in doubles), the Browns traded Manush with pitcher Alvin Crowder to the Senators on June 13, 1930 in exchange for left fielder Goose Goslin.

Heinie Manush was honored alongside the retired numbers of the Detroit Tigers in 2000.

Manush played six seasons in Washington. He finished third in MVP voting in back-to-back seasons and was voted to the All-Star Game in 1934, the season in which he set a Major League record, which still stands, for the fastest player to reach 100 hits. Manush recorded his 100th hit of the season in his 60th game. In 1933, he had a 33-game hitting streak which led to his fourth and final 200-plus hit season, while leading the league in hits and helping the Senators win the AL pennant. In the 1933 World Series, however, he was limited to two hits in 18 at-bats against the New York Giants. In Game 4, after being called out by the first base umpire, Manush pulled on the umpire's bow tie and let it snap back; he was ejected from the game.

Manush played one season in Boston before moving to the National League for a season with the Brooklyn Dodgers. In 1938, the Pittsburgh Pirates paid cash to obtain Manush from the Toronto team in the International League. He spent 1938 and 1939 with the Pirates. In 2,008 career games, he batted .330 with 2,524 hits and 1,183 RBI.

Later life

Manush's plaque at the Baseball Hall of Fame

After his major league career ended in 1939, Manush spent the next six years managing in the minor leagues and getting an occasional at-bat, first in the B Level Piedmont League and then in the Eastern League and Carolina League in 1944 and 1945. Manush scouted for the Boston Braves during the postwar years, then served as a coach for the Senators in 1953–54. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1964.

Manush picked up the game of golf in 1935 and he won multiple city golf championships in Sarasota.

Manush fought an extended battle against cancer and he died on May 12, 1971 in Sarasota, Florida. He is interred next to his wife Betty at Sarasota Memorial Park. He was posthumously elected into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1972.

It is a tribute to the ballplayer's singularity that the 1941 movie Obliging Young Lady opens with a classically comedic sequence in which Edmond O'Brien keeps repeating "Heinie Manush" in cadence with the sound of the train he's riding. In the dining car he even orders, "Heinie Manush, Heinie Manush; Porterhouse steak, medium rare; Heinie Manush, Heinie Manush." The repetitive nature of the phrase fits the sound of the train so well, it's picked up by the other riders, driving the conductor to distraction.

See also

• List of major league players with 2,000 hits
• List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles
• List of Major League Baseball players with 100 triples
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
• List of Major League Baseball batting champions
• List of Major League Baseball annual doubles leaders
• List of Major League Baseball triples champions
• List of Major League Baseball triples records

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Baseball Reference (Minors)