Mitchell Wade Meluskey (born September 18, 1973) is an American retired 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 ...

player. He played all or parts of five seasons in

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 ...

, between 1998 and 2003, for the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...

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 club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

, 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 catc ...

Professional career

Meluskey played his entire career in the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

with the Astros except for 8 games with Detroit in 2002. He is best remembered by Astros fans for punching fellow Astro Matt Mieske in the eye during batting practice in on June 11, 2000. Meluskey was late for his turn at bat and then tried to cut in front of Mieske. Heated words were exchanged, and Meluskey responded by punching 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 expressed his frustration over the incident, stating, "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 Michael Joseph Piazza ( ; born September 4, 1968) is an American former professional baseball catcher who played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1992 to 2007, and is a member of the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. He intended ...

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), most notably with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees and also played ...

fastball on July 8, 3 days earlier. NL manager

Bobby Cox Robert Joe Cox (born May 21, 1941) is an American former professional baseball third baseman and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). Cox played for the New York Yankees and managed the Atlanta Braves and Toronto Blue Jays. He is a member of ...

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 South Padre Island is a resort town in Cameron County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Brownsville, Texas, Brownsville–Harlingen, Texas, Harlingen Brownsville-Harlingen metropolitan area, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population w ...

. Chicago Cub

Joe Girardi Joseph Elliott Girardi (born October 14, 1964) is an American sports broadcaster and former professional baseball player and Manager (baseball), manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). Girardi played the catcher position for the Chicago Cubs, C ...

was selected instead. The 2000 season marked the peak of his career and his final year with the Astros, as he was traded to Detroit in a six-player deal during the offseason. In March 2001, a shoulder injury sidelined him for the entire season. Injuries continued to hamper his performance over the next two years, during which he failed to hit a single home run.https://www.mrt.com/news/article/Meluskey-Fights-for-Another-Shot-in-MLB-7897175.php 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, United States, and the state's 11th most populous city. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The ...

References

External links

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Retrosheet
1973 births Living people Baseball players from Yakima, Washington 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 Round Rock Express players Sacramento River Cats players Somerset Patriots players {{US-baseball-catcher-1970s-stub