Mitchell Wade Meluskey (born September 18, 1973) is a retired

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professiona ...

player. He played all or parts of five seasons in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

, between 1998 and 2003, for the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after s ...

and

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

, primarily as a

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the cat ...

Professional career

Meluskey played his entire career in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

with the Astros except for 8 games with Detroit in 2002. He is best remembered by Astros fans for punching fellow Astro

Matt Mieske Matthew Todd Mieske (born February 13, 1968) is a former outfielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played from to for the Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs, Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros and Arizona Diamondbacks. In 663 games over eight se ...

in the eye during batting practice in on June 11, 2000. Meluskey was late for his turn to hit and then attempted to cut in front of Mieske. Heated words were exchanged and Meluskey proceeded to punch Mieske in the eye. Immediately afterwards Meluskey was hustled from the field while Mieske was treated on the ground for his injury. Astros star player Craig Biggio was upset over the incident and said, "To me, it has everything to do with respect. You know, some people have it and some people don't. I'm going to leave it at that. There's no way in the world something like that should happen." On April 20, 1999, Meluskey hit his first major league home run off of Chicago Cubs pitcher Matt Karchner. In 2000, Meluskey finished fifth in balloting for the National League Rookie of the Year award after hitting .300 with 14 home runs and 69 runs batted in. That same year, Mike Piazza had to drop out of the All-Star game after being hit in the head by a

Roger Clemens William Roger Clemens (born August 4, 1962), nicknamed "Rocket", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 24 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the Boston Red Sox. Clemens was one of the most dominant pi ...

fastball on July 8, 3 days earlier. NL manager Bobby Cox wanted Meluskey to be Piazza's replacement, but was unable to contact Meluskey due to Mitch being on a trip to South Padre Island, Texas. Chicago Cub

Joe Girardi Joseph Elliott Girardi (born October 14, 1964) is an American former professional baseball player and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). Girardi played the catcher position for the Chicago Cubs, Colorado Rockies, New York Yankees, and St. ...

was selected instead.http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1021369/index.htm Meluskey retired in 2004, never making an All-Star team.

Personal life

Meluskey resides in

Yakima, Washington Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, and the state's 11th-largest city by population. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The uninc ...

References

External links

, o
RetrosheetPelota Binaria (Venezuelan Winter League)
1973 births Living people Baseball players from Washington (state) Burlington Indians players (1986–2006) Columbus RedStixx players Detroit Tigers players Houston Astros players Jackson Generals (Texas League) players Kinston Indians players Kissimmee Cobras players Major League Baseball catchers Nashua Pride players Navegantes del Magallanes players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela New Orleans Zephyrs players Sportspeople from Yakima, Washington Round Rock Express players Sacramento River Cats players Somerset Patriots players {{US-baseball-catcher-1970s-stub