Player Profile: Mickey Owen

Mickey Owen was a very good defensive catcher. In his best season, 1941, he made four errors. Three during the regular season and one in the World Series that labeled him a GOAT for the rest of his days. Mickey Owen was born Arnold Malcolm Owen on April 4, 1916, in Nixa, Missouri. Mickey’s parents divorced when he was seven. Because of that, his mom moved to Southern California. While there, Mickey, as a teenager, played ball with future USC baseball coach Rod Dedeaux and future Red Sox great Bobby Doerr.

He returned home briefly to Southwest Missouri after he graduated from high school in 1934. He played 16 games in the Class-D Arkansas State League. The next year he signed as an amateur free agent with the St. Louis Cardinals and entered their fabled but penurious farm system. In his first season, he was at Springfield, about 15 miles from his home. He had a solid season, showing excellent defense, and he hit .310. His skills quickly drew the attention of the parent club, and he was called up to the Cardinals in 1937. The team still featured some members of the 1934 Gas House Gang.

His bat did not play as well in the majors, and he finished his first season with a .231 BA and no homers. He got married in December to his hometown sweetheart, Gloria, age 15. They would remain married until she passed away in 1993. Their son, Charlie, was born in 1941. Owen was never a power hitter, nor did he hit for a high average. His defense was his best asset. Over his four years with the Cardinals, he batted an average of .257. He had seven homers as a Redbird. In Brooklyn for five years, he only hit two long balls and averaged .258. But he was at league average or better in defense.

Owen became expendable in St. Louis with the emergence of Walker Cooper, a catcher with a much better bat. He was traded to Brooklyn for Gus Mancuso, a catcher, a minor leaguer, Johnny Pintar, and $65,000 dollars. Larry McPhail was remaking the team, including bringing in Leo Durocher to manage. Nobody could argue with the result, as the Dodgers beat out the Cardinals for the pennant, the first in 21 years.

Throughout his tenure with St. Louis and Brooklyn, Branch Rickey referred to Owen as Arnold. In the minors, his nickname had been “Preacher,” perhaps a reference to his being from the “Bible Belt.” In Columbus, Burt Shotton took to calling him Mickey as a comparison to Mickey Cochrane. That nickname stuck. Anything to not be called Arnold Malcolm. Owen’s value to a team came from his defense. Bill James ranked him among the top 10 catchers whose value comes from defense.

Owen had one of the worst seasons of his career offensively in 1941. But he did have 15 sacrifice hits. But defensively, his work was stellar. All of that goodwill would go down the drain after the 9th inning of game 4 of the 1941 series. He would thereafter be mentioned in the same breath as Fred Merkel and Fred Snodgrass. The situation was this; The Yanks were leading the series, two games to 1. They had a 3-0 lead, but the Dodgers came back and scored 4 to lead 4-2 going into the 9th.

Dodger reliever, Hugh Casey, induced two groundouts to start the inning and then faced Yankee RF Tommy Henrich. He worked the count to 3-2. Casey’s next pitch broke sharply, and Henrich swung and missed. Umpire Larry Goetz called strike three, but the ball eluded Owen’s glove and rolled away. Henrich made it to first. Then, the obviously rattled Casey allowed the next four hitters to reach base, and the score stood 7-4 before the third out was recorded.

There was debate whether the error was a passed ball by Owen or a wild pitch by Casey. But for maybe the first time in his career, Leo Durocher was speechless. The Yankees won 5-1 the next day, and the series was over. Owen would later say he should have gone out to the mound and calmed Casey down. Durocher said the same.

Owen went into the Navy in the middle of 1945. Rickey said that he might trade him while he was stationed in upstate New York. But in early 1946, Jorge Pasqual announced he had signed Owen to a five-year deal as player-manager for the Vera Cruz Blues. Pasqual and his brothers were using their shipping empire to lure MLB players to the Mexican League. He had already lured some Negro League stars to his team with great results. New York writers estimated that Owen would make $15,000 a year there. That was much more than he would earn in major league baseball. They lured some other MLB players to the league, among them Max Lanier and Sal Maglie. Eventually, though, the homesickness of his wife and son and the fact that he did not feel that Pasqual had been forthcoming. He had signed with Torrens but was sent to Vera Cruz and ordered to play first base. He went home to Nixa and applied for reinstatement in the MLB.

Commissioner, Happy Chandler, wanted a lifetime ban for the 18 who jumped but instead gave them five years. Brooklyn writer, Joe Williams, blamed the whole thing on Branch Rickey, who was known for his frugality. When Owen and Luis Olmo, got tired of being turned down for raises, they went south. In 1949, Danny Gardella, had sued for reinstatement, and when the federal court of appeals ruled that his suit should be heard, Chandler dropped the suspensions, and all the players were reinstated. Days later the Cubs grabbed Owen off of waivers. He would play in the MLB for four more years. 1949-1951 with the Cubs and 1954 with the Red Sox.

Upon his release from the Red Sox, he stayed with them for a couple of years as a coach. He then did some managing in the minors and also scouted some. He had run impromptu clinics for kids in his area for years during his career. In 1959 he purchased 595 acres off of US Route 66 in Lawrence County, Missouri, to open a baseball camp for teenage boys. The Mickey Owens School of Baseball. The camp attracted all the best talent, and they were easily beating most of the local teams they faced. Mickey gave every camper a book, The Boys Book of Baseball. His camp was attended by a few boys who went on to great careers both in and out of baseball, Joe Girardi, Michael Jordan, and yep, actor Charlie Sheen, who obviously used that talent to land the role of Rick Wild Thing Vaughn in the Major League movies. Owen would sell the school in 1964 when he ran for Sheriff of Greene County. He defeated the incumbent, Glenn Hendrix, who was running for his 5th term.

When not farming, the Owen clan worked in law enforcement. Three of his relatives had been Green County Sheriffs. Mickey’s four terms as Sheriff could be viewed as another addition to the Midwest family dynasty, not merely a former MLB player cashing in on his notoriety. He also knew when parents asked him to speak, it would be 5 minutes on juvenile delinquency and 55 minutes on how to hit a curveball.

He was sued by inmates in 1971 for inhumane treatment. He sold much of his memorabilia to pay for his legal fees. The buyers would then return those items to him. Eventually, the suit was thrown out. His success gave him the confidence to run for Lieutenant Governor in 1980. To bolster his image, he took to running across the state in the summer heat. He finished third in the primary.

After his defeat, he retired to Springfield, where he and his wife enjoyed their three grandchildren and one great-grandson. A few years after Gloria died in 1993, he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. For better health, he moved to the Veterans home in Mt. Vernon, Missouri. Mickey passed away on July 13, 2005. He is buried next to his wife near their farm in Nixa.

The error in the 1941 series gained a life of its own. Chesty Puller’s Marines used the 4-1 Yankee win to confirm identities on Guadalcanal. Writers called it the sports freak of the year. Giants’ backup catcher, Herman Franks, used Owen’s anguish following game four as a reason to participate in the Giants sign-stealing system in 1951. Only in 1986, when Bill Buckner let Mookie Wilson’s ball go through his wickets, was the error overshadowed. Even then, though, Owens would not let himself off of the hook. Ah, the long, long memories of fans. Owen was luckier than Buckner. His blunder had been seen by millions of fans. The abuse he received over the years was brutal.

Future Dodgers Down on the Farm

• OKC beat Round Rock 20-3
  • Mike Busch was 5-6 with 6 RBI, including his 24th HR. He has 78 RBIs.
  • Jason Martin hit his 25th HR and accumulated his 84th RBI.
  • Miguel Vargas was 1-4 with 2 BB and an RBI. He scored 3 runs
  • Dustin May started and went 5 innings, allowing 4 hits and 1 run. He walked 1 and truck out 10. As he heds back to the show this week, his ERA sits at 1.71 with a 0.95 WHIP. He pitched 21 innings and struck out 36. I pronounce him “ready.”
  • Pedro Baez went 1 inning allowed 2 hits and 1 ER.
• Tulsa beat Midland 7-0
  • Bobby Miller is knocking on Dave Roberts door, as he wet 7.1 innings, allowing 4 hits and NO Runs. 2 walked 2 and struck out 9. He pitched 56 innings last year. I’d give him another start or two at Tulsa and have him finish the season in LA’s bullpen.
  • Jordon Leasure closed out the final 1.2 innings allow no hits.
  • Leonal Valera was 3-5 with 4 RBI. HIs BA is .300 and his OPS is .861. He also has 22 SBs and has not been caught. In my mind, he has passed Leonard and Vivas for the SuperUtility Spot. He plays SS and 2B, but I am sure he can play OF or 3B if needed. Watch Him! He’s not a start, but he’s a complementary piece.
• Great Lakes beat Peoria 1-0
  • The Loons only had 3 hits but two were by Imanol Vargas who was 2-3 with a BB and he drove in the lone run.
  • Emmett Sheehan started and went 6 innings, allowing 4 hit and NO Run while striking out 6 and walking ZERO. HIs ERA now sits at 2.80!
  • Ben Casparius went 2 innings and allowed no hits of walks. He struck out 3.
  • Lefty Ben Harris went the final 2 innings and was credited with the win as he allowed no hits and struck out 2. You want to watch this kid – he has 91 Ks in 46 IP to go with a 0.98 ERA at Great Lakes. He was a 2021 Draftee and was promoted from RC where he had a 5.53 ERA. If he gets his control under control… look out!
• Rancho Cucamonga lost 9-7.
  • Chris Alleyne hit his 1st HR (585th Pick in the 2022 Draft)
  • Dalton Rushing continues to mash. He was 3-3 with his 2nd HR.
  • Yunior Garcia was 2-5.
  • CF’er Nick Biddison was also 2-5

Dodger News & Notes

• Well, the runs ended – now we are headed for a losing streak. Hopefully it’s just one game, but it could be more!
• Tyler Anderson did not have his best stuff, but he deserved better… I’d like to see Julio get his 13th win tonight.
• I am not going to tell the Dodgers how to run their farm system, but OK, I will anyway: Move Dalton Rushing to Great Lakes and Diego Cartaya to Tulsa. They both need to move up!
• I am going to try and get to a Brewers game this week… maybe Thursday (It’s a 3-1/2 hour drive), but we are soooo dang busy with the Cannabis Show next week, moving into our new manufacturing facility and my son getting married on the 27th. BTW, I am the Officiant. I sent away and got my license after he asked me to do the marrying. Maybe next year, I will slow down, buy a motorhome and hit all the games?

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