Mickey Stanley
| Mickey Stanley | |||
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| Center fielder | |||
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Born: July 20, 1942 Grand Rapids, Michigan |
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| MLB debut | |||
| September 13, 1964, for the Detroit Tigers | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| September 28, 1978, for the Detroit Tigers | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .248 | ||
| Home runs | 117 | ||
| Runs batted in | 500 | ||
| Teams | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
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Mitchell Jack "Mickey" Stanley (born July 20, 1942 in Grand Rapids, Michigan) was an American professional baseball player. He played his entire career in Major League Baseball for the Detroit Tigers from 1964-1978. Stanley was known as a superb defensive outfielder over his 15-year career, though he is best remembered for the last few weeks of the 1968 season.
Stanley prepped at Ottawa Hills High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Stanley made his Major League Baseball debut in center field with Detroit on September 13, 1964. He was an excellent defensive player, winning Gold Glove Awards in 1968, 1969, 1970, and 1973. For nine consecutive seasons, from 1966–1974, Stanley played the majority of the Tigers' games in center field. He had speed, a strong arm, good hands, and an ability to take the perfect first step to get a jump on loose seams headed to the gaps. In both 1968 and 1970, Stanley led all American League outfielders with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage. His 1973 Range factor of 2.74 was well above the league average of 2.02.
Stanley was an adequate but not overwhelming hitter. In 1970, the speedy Stanley was second in the American League with 11 triples. Until 1968, he was used mainly as a defensive replacement, pinch-hitter and even part-time first baseman.
He earned a regular spot in the lineup in 1968 with his slick fielding, .259 average and hustle, and led the Tigers with 583 at-bats that season. The fact that outfielder Al Kaline spent part of the year injured also boosted Stanley's playing time.
With the American League pennant clinched and two weeks left in the '68 season, manager Mayo Smith asked Stanley to play the last nine games of the regular season at shortstop, the first time he had ever played the position. This was in preparation for the World Series, in which Smith planned to replace weak-hitting regular shortstop Ray Oyler (who was hitting a paltry .135 at the time) in favor of Stanley's superior bat. This would also allow the other 3 power hitting Tiger outfielders (Willie Horton, Jim Northrup, and Al Kaline) to all be in the lineup for the World Series. Stanley did a decent job, committing two errors in 34 chances, and became the starting shortstop for the entire 1968 World Series. Oyler did not have an official at-bat in the Series and appeared in only four games as a defensive replacement—the four games the Tigers needed to win the series. Stanley made two errors in the seven-game series, neither of which led to a run. He did not have a stellar series at the plate, hitting .214, but he did triple and score two runs in a pivotal Game 5 comeback win for the Tigers. And his move allowed Horton, Northrup, and Kaline to all play full-time; Horton batted .304 with 1 HR and 3 RBI, Northrup batted .250 with 2 HR and 8 RBI, and Kaline batted .379 with 2 HR and 8 RBI.
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