Van Lingle Mungo
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| Pitcher | |||
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Born: June 8, 1911 Pageland, South Carolina |
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Died: February 12, 1985 (aged 73) Pageland, South Carolina |
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| MLB debut | |||
| September 7, 1931, for the Brooklyn Robins | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| September 2, 1945, for the New York Giants | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Win–loss record | 120–115 | ||
| Earned run average | 3.47 | ||
| Strikeouts | 1,242 | ||
| Teams | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
Van Lingle Mungo (June 8, 1911 – February 12, 1985) was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher known for his career with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Mungo played for the Dodgers from 1931 to 1941 and finished his baseball career with the New York Giants.
Mungo began his career with the Charlotte Hornets when he was 18 years old. A succession of managers over the years, including Casey Stengel, was convinced that the hard-throwing right-hander would be a surefire star for years to come. These lofty expectations can be attributed in part to a phenomenal debut performance in which he shut out the Boston Braves over 9 innings, striking out 12; but he was never able to live up to his perceived potential. While he finished his career with two 18-win seasons, one of them also included 19 losses. Mungo's teammates contended that he could easily have won more games had he not tried to strike out every batter; Mungo countered that he wouldn't have tried to strike everyone out if he had more confidence in his teammates' fielding abilities.
Mungo averaged 16 wins per season from 1932 through 1936, and led the National League in strikeouts with 238 in 1936. He was named to the All-Star team in 1934, 1936, and 1937. Though his strikeout counts were impressive, he also led the league in walks several times. Following an arm injury in 1937 he won only 13 games over the next six seasons. After a spring training injury in 1943 he was released by the Dodgers and played his final season with the Giants. He completed his major league career with a 120-115 won-lost record over 2113 innings pitched and a 3.47 earned run average.
Stories and anecdotes about Mungo tend to emphasize his reputation for combativeness, including episodes of drinking and fighting. "Mungo and I got along just fine", reported Casey Stengel, his manager on the Dodgers. "I won't stand for no nonsense, and then I duck." The most widely told story concerns a visit to Cuba where, supposedly, Mungo was caught in a compromising position with a married woman by her husband. Mungo punched the husband in the eye, leading him to attack Mungo with a butcher knife or machete, requiring Dodgers executive Babe Hamberger to smuggle Mungo in a laundry cart to a seaplane waiting off a wharf in order to escape the country.
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