Books and articles about Heinie Manush

Overshadowed by Hall of Famers Ty Cobb and Harry Heilmann in Detroit, feisty Heinie Manush found the limelight in St. Louis and Washington. A lefthanded, line-drive-hitting outfielder, he broke in with player-manager Cobb's 1923 Tigers and batted .334. He lost his job to Al Wingo in 1925, but came back strong in 1926. Replacing the 39-year-old Cobb in centerfield, Manush battled Babe Ruth and teammates Heilmann and Bob Fothergill down to the wire for the batting title. On the final day of the season, Manush went 6-for-9 in a doubleheader to overtake Ruth and win the crown at .378.

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Manush slumped to .298 under new Tiger manager George Moriarty in 1927 and was traded to the Browns. The move agreed with him. Playing left field in 1928, he again batted .378, but finished one point behind Washington's Goose Goslin. He led the AL with 241 hits, and tied for the lead in doubles that year and the next. In 1929, his .355 was good for third in the AL batting race.

In a blockbuster trade made on June 13, 1930, Goslin and Manush exchanged uniforms, with pitcher Alvin Crowder also going to the Senators. Manush batted .342 in 1932. In 1933 he hit .336 to finish second behind Jimmie Foxx, batting safely in 33 consecutive games from July 22 to August 25. He also led the circuit in hits and triples in pacing Washington to its last World Series appearance. When President Roosevelt threw out the first pitch before Game Three, Manush captured the ball in the ensuing scramble for it among the players. After the game, he presented it to winning pitcher Earl Whitehill. In Game Four, Manush made history as the first player ever ejected from a Series game. Protesting when umpire Charley Moran called him out, Manush pulled on the ump's bow tie, held in place with an elastic band, and then let the tie snap back.

A third-place finish in the 1934 AL batting race marked Manush's last outstanding year in Washington. In 1937, his first NL season, he batted .333 for Brooklyn. He finished with Pittsburgh in 1939, and played and managed in the minors until 1945. He scouted for the Braves and Pirates, was a Senators coach in 1953-54, and served Washington as a scout through 1962. His brother Frank played third base for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1908. Manush was elected to the Hall of Fame by the Committee on Baseball Veterans in 1964. (ME)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » October 16, 1921: Judge Landis outlaws gentleman's agreements and cover-ups of players optioned to the minors without proper paperwork. He declares six players free agents, including Heinie Manush, who will ride a 17-year .330 BA into the Hall of Fame in 1964. » September 26, 1926: The Browns beat the Yankees twice, 6–1 and 6–2, in a total time of two hours, seven minutes, a major-league record for a twinbill. The 2nd game is the fastest in American League history: 55 minutes. The Yanks total 19 hits, while the Browns collect 26 in the two games. Ruth has one at bat, then sits, and misses reliever George Sisler, who tosses two scoreless innings to finish for the Browns in game two and, when the Browns score four in the 8th, picks up the victory. Ruth has 47 homers—twice the runnerup, and also leads the AL with 139 runs, 155 RBI, and 144 bases on balls. Ruth is batting .372, 2nd to Detroit's Heinie Manush, who will go 6-for-9 on the last day to end at .378. Browns coach Jimmie Austin, 46 years old, participates in the nitecap and contributes to the win by knocking in a run with a double and then stealing home. He is not the oldest to steal a base (Arlie Latham, 50, in 1909), but he is the oldest to steal home. The Yankees use Fred Merkle in his final game. Merkle replaces Lou Gehrig at 1B in the 6th. » December 13, 1927: The Tigers trade OF Heinie Manush and 1B Lu Blue to the Browns for P Elam Vangilder and OF Harry Rice. » September 27, 1928: At St. Louis, Bump Hadley pitches the Senators to a 6–5 win over the Browns. Goslin, leading the AL, is 2-for-4, while his rival Heinie Manush has one hit, a 3-run home run in the Browns 5-run 9th. Manush has 13 homers—all at home. » September 30, 1928: In Washington's 9–1 win over the Browns, Washington OF Goose Goslin, for the 3rd day in a row, gets two hits, one a 9th inning looping single, to edge the Browns OF Heinie Manush .379 to .378. It is Goose's only batting title in his 18-year career. Nats' ace Sam Jones volunteers to pitch to stop Manush, while Blaeholder tries the same for St. Louis. Blaeholder gets Goslin in his first two at bats, but Goose then hits a 5th inning home run. » October 16, 1928: Gordon "Mickey" Cochrane wins AL MVP honors, edging Heinie Manush by 2 points. Neither Ruth nor Gehrig is eligible, having won before. » July 6, 1929: After watching the Tigers belt eight HRs on the second, third, and fourth, the Browns use the off day to erect a screen in front of the RF pavilion. The screen stretches 156 feet from the foul pole toward CF, 310 feet down the line from home. In the next day's game, Heinie Manush will hit three balls off the screen against the Yankees' Waite Hoyt, while Ruth will hit two off it in the series. This screen will remain in place into the 1940s, the only stadium with extended OF seating where it is impossible to catch a HR ball. » June 13, 1930: Cleveland beats Philadelphia and takes over first place. Washington trades Goose Goslin to St. Louis for Heinie Manush and Al Crowder. The Senators will regain the popular OF in 1932, and with Manush and Crowder, he will help them win a pennant the following year. » August 26, 1933: Cleveland's Wes Ferrell stops Heinie Manush's hitting streak at 33, as Washington loses 5-4 in 11 innings. » September 29, 1933: With the Giants in the stands at Yankee Stadium, the Senators pile up a 5–0 lead over the Yankees, and then bring in the reserves to score an 8–5 win. Heinie Manush's double and homer and three RBIs lead the Nats attack. Ruth has a triple. Lou Gehrig keeps his consecutive game streak alive, playing nine innings after getting married at noon today in New Rochelle. » October 6, 1933: Carl Hubbell wins for the 2nd time, going 11 innings for the 2-1 victory in a pitching duel with Monte Weaver. Heinie Manush is thrown out of the game for brushing umpire Charlie Moran in the 6th inning. Travis Jackson beats out a surprise bunt to open the 11th inning, is sacrificed to 2B on a close play, and scores on a single by Blondy Ryan. » June 20, 1934: The Tigers score three in the 11th to defeat the Senators, 13–10. Heinie Manush, leading the AL in hitting, has four hits and two homers as Washington collects 17 hits. The Tigers get three-hit efforts from Owen, Cochrane, Gehringer, and Greenberg, who includes a homer. Eldon Auker is the winner over Thomas. » December 17, 1935: Heinie Manush is traded from Washington to the Boston Red Sox for Roy Johnson and Carl Reynolds. » February 2, 1964: The Hall of Fame Special Veterans Committee tabs Red Faber, Burleigh Grimes, Tim Keefe, Heinie Manush, John Montgomery Ward, and Miller Huggins for induction, the biggest veterans class ever. Keefe and Ward were teammates and brothers-in-law, with Ward married to the famous actress Helen Dauvrey and Keefe married to her sister Clara Gibson. » June 17, 2000: Darin Erstad laces a double, his 100th hit of the year, in the Angels 10–3 win over Arizona. Erstad's hit comes in his 61st game, and he is the fastest to reach 100 hits since Heinie Manush, in 1934.