Medwick, Joseph M.
Baseball
b. Nov. 24, 1911, Carteret, NJ
March 21, 1975
Medwick dreamed of playing football at Notre Dame, so he took the name "Mickey King" to protect his amateur standing when he entered professional baseball in 1930. After hitting .419 in the minor leagues, he decided baseball was his calling and he began using his real name.
He joined the NL's St. Louis Cardinals late in the 1932 season. The 5-foot-10, 187-pound Medwick liked the nickname "Muscles," but he was more often called "Ducky" by his teammates because they thought he walked like a duck.
The Cardinals of his era were known as the "Gas House Gang" because of their aggressive style, on and off the field. Medwick was a charter member, often engaging in clubhouse fights with teammates. He led the league in triples with 18 in 1934, when he hit .319, scored 110 runs, and had 106 RBI to help take St. Louis to the pennant.
In the seventh inning of the seventh game of the World Series, against the Detroit Tigers, Medwick slid hard into Detroit third baseman Marv Owen after hitting a triple. When he took the field in the top of the eighth, Detroit fans showered him with garbage and bottles. Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis finally ordered Medwick to leave the game for his own protection. Since St. Louis was winning 11-0 at the time, there was little protest.
Medwick led the league with 223 hits, 64 doubles, and 138 RBI in 1936 and he won his only batting title with a .374 average in 1937, when he was also the league leader with 11 runs, 237 hits, 56 doubles, 31 triples, 154 RBI, and a .641 slugging percentage. He was the tenth man in baseball history to win a triple crown; no NL player has done it since. Medwick also led NL outfielders in fielding percentage that season and was an easy winner of the most valuable player award.
During the 1940 season, Medwick was traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers. He hit .318 when they won the pennant in 1941 but batted only .235 in their five-game loss to the New York Yankees in the World Series. The Dodgers sent him to the New York Giants in July of 1943 and he was traded to the Boston Braves during the 1945 season.
Released by the Braves early in 1946, Medwick sat out the early part of the season before signing with the Dodgers. He was released again in October and returned to the Cardinals as a part-time player in 1947 and 1948. Medwick then became a playing manager in the minor leagues for several years. He was the Cardinals' minor league hitting instructor when he died of a heart attack during spring training of 1975.