Mayo failed to hit in major league trials during the 1930s, but later benefited from
the WWII player shortage. Returning in 1943 with the Athletics, he led AL third basemen
in fielding average. He had never played a ML game at second base until he joined
the 1944 Tigers, but he led the position in double plays that year and in fielding
the next. Detroit won the 1945 World Series with 35-year-olds at shortstop and second
base - Skeeter Webb and Mayo. Mayo hit .285 that year, and he remained with the Tigers
well after the younger players returned from the war.
(JK)
FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY
»July 17, 1936: Carl Hubbell starts his winning streak, beating Pittsburgh 6–0. The Giants hit a National League record tying four triples in the first inning: Joe Moore, Mel Ott, and Hank Leiber hit them in succession, and Eddie Mayo adds one later in the inning to equal the ML record.
»July 13, 1941:
Former major-league player Eddie Mayo, playing for Los Angeles (Pacific Coast League), spits in the face of
umpire Ray Snyder. PCL President W. C. Tuttle suspends Mayo for one year.
»May 8, 1946:
At Griffith Stadium, Detroit 2B Eddie Mayo snags a 3rd inning liner off the bat of Gil Torres to start a triple play. The ball was deflected by P Hal Newhouser, but Mayo grabbed it before it hit the ground. It is the 2nd time in a year that Mayo has started a triple play off Torres: in the 2nd inning of a nitecap on July 20, 1945, Mayo grabbed a Torres line drive to start the TP.
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