Michael William Menosky (October 16, 1894 – April 11, 1983) was an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

for the

Federal League The Federal League of Base Ball Clubs, known simply as the Federal League, was an American professional baseball league that played its first season as a minor league in 1913 and operated as a "third major league", in competition with the e ...

and

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

. Born in Glen Campbell, Pennsylvania, he was known as "Leaping Mike" for his daring, fence-crashing catches. Menosky started his career on April 18, 1914, with the

Pittsburgh Rebels The Pittsburgh Rebels were a baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1913 to 1915. The team was a member of the short-lived Federal League. The team was originally called the Pittsburgh Stogies after an earlier Pittsburgh team tha ...

of the Federal League, and went on to play 68 games that season. At 19, he was the second-youngest baseball player in the Federal League that season behind Jimmy Smith. He spent most of the 1915 season in the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

of the Federal League. After the league folded in 1915, he was purchased by the Washington Senators of the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

on February 10, 1916. After playing 11 games in 1916, he became the starting left fielder in 1917. He hit ten triples that season, and stole 22 bases. After taking a year off from baseball to serve in the military, he was again the starting left fielder during the 1919 season for the Senators. After the season ended, Menosky was traded on January 20, 1920, with

Eddie Foster Edward Cunningham Foster (February 13, 1887 – January 15, 1937) was an American professional baseball third baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1910 to 1923 for the New York Highlanders, Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox ...

and

Harry Harper Harry Clayton Harper (April 24, 1895 – April 23, 1963) was an American professional baseball pitcher, businessman, and politician. He played in Major League Baseball for the Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Brookly ...

to the Boston Red Sox for

Braggo Roth Robert Frank Roth (August 28, 1892 – September 11, 1936), nicknamed Braggo, was an American professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball over parts of eight seasons with the Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Ph ...

and

Red Shannon Maurice Joseph "Red" Shannon (February 11, 1897 – April 12, 1970) born in Jersey City, New Jersey was an infielder for the Boston Braves (1915), Philadelphia Athletics (1917–1919 and 1920–21), Boston Red Sox (1919), Washington Senators (1 ...

. He remained the starting left fielder on the Boston Red Sox for the 1920 and 1921 seasons. He had his best statistical season during the 1920 Boston Red Sox season, where he played in 141 games, had a batting average of .297, hit nine triples, and stole 23 bases, which was good for fourth in the American League. During the 1921 Boston Red Sox season, he had a career-high batting average of .300. In 1922, he was named the opening day starter as a

center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ...

, having played the previous two seasons in left field. He went on to play only four games in center field that season out of the 103 he played. Menosky went on to play one more season with the Red Sox, playing in 84 games in 1923. At the end of the season, he was released to the Vernon club of the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

, ending his Major League career. In 810 games over nine seasons, Menosky posted a .278

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

(685-for-2465) with 382 runs, 18

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run ...

and 252

RBIs A run batted in or runs batted in (RBI) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if th ...

. Defensively, he recorded a .967

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a baseball positions, defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putout ...

playing at all three outfield positions. After his retirement from baseball, he became a probation officer. His baseball career came of use in a case where the defendant was charged with throwing a rock through a Detroit terminal caboose window. The judge doubted he could throw a rock 250 feet, and when Menosky tried to throw a rock 250 feet and was unable to do so, the judge dismissed the case, stating that the average man would not have a chance if Menosky could not do it. Menosky died in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, Michigan on April 11, 1983, and was buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Southfield.

References

External links

Mike Menosky at Baseball Almanac
{{DEFAULTSORT:Menosky, Mike 1894 births 1983 deaths Pittsburgh Rebels players 20th-century American sportsmen Washington Senators (1901–1960) players Boston Red Sox players Pittsburgh Filipinos players Allentown (minor league baseball) players New Haven White Wings players Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players Vernon Tigers players Rochester Tribe players Binghamton Triplets players Baseball players from Indiana County, Pennsylvania People from Indiana County, Pennsylvania Spartanburg Spartans players