American baseball player and manager
Baseball player
Sam Mele
|
---|
|
Right fielder
/
Manager
|
Born:
(
1922-01-21
)
January 21, 1922
Astoria, New York
, U.S.
|
Died:
May 1, 2017
(2017-05-01)
(aged 95)
Quincy, Massachusetts
, U.S.
|
Batted:
Right
Threw:
Right
|
|
April 15, 1947, for the Boston Red Sox
|
|
September 16, 1956, for the Cleveland Indians
|
|
Batting average
| .267
|
---|
Home runs
| 80
|
---|
Runs batted in
| 544
|
---|
Managerial record
| 524?436
|
---|
Winning %
| .546
|
---|
|
---|
|
As player
As manager
|
Sabath Anthony
"
Sam
"
Mele
(January 21, 1922 – May 1, 2017) was an American
right fielder
,
manager
,
coach
and
scout
in
Major League Baseball
. As a manager, he led the
Minnesota Twins
to their first
American League
championship in
1965
.
[1]
Early life
[
edit
]
Mele was born in 1922 in
Queens
, New York, where his parents had immigrated to from Italy.
[2]
Mele was the nephew of major league baseball players
Tony
and
Al Cuccinello
, but did not play baseball until he attended
William Cullen Bryant High School
. The high school gave up baseball after his freshman year, but Mele played with other local baseball teams. Mentored by his uncle Tony, Mele gained major league attention and worked out with several teams while still in high school.
After high school, Mele attended
New York University
. In 1940, he broke his leg sliding into third base but, in 1941, he posted a
batting average
of .405, and in 1942, he hit .369. He also excelled as a
basketball
player. NYU basketball
head coach
Howard Cann
called Mele one of the finest players he ever coached. In the summer of 1941, Mele also played baseball for the
Burlington, Vermont
team of the
Northern League
where he made contact with the
Boston Red Sox
and signed a five-figure contract.
World War II service
[
edit
]
But before he could join the Sox, he first signed up for the
United States Marine Corps
in 1942 and was called in July 1943. As part of the
V-12 Navy College Training Program
, Mele played baseball for
Red Rolfe
at
Yale University
. He was sent to the Pacific Ocean where he was able to play baseball with
Joe DiMaggio
and others. Mele led the Navy league with a .358 average in 1944.
Playing career
[
edit
]
Mele threw and batted
right-handed
and was listed as 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and 183 pounds (83 kg).
[1]
In 1946, after the Marines, Mele joined the Red Sox in
Sarasota, Florida
, before being sent to the
Louisville Colonels
and, later, the
Eastern League
Scranton Red Sox
. Mele won the Eastern League
Most Valuable Player
award, leading the league in
batting average
(.342),
total bases
and
triples
. Along the way, he acquired the nickname "Sam" from his initials.
[3]
The following year, the
1947 Red Sox
, the defending American League champions, went into
spring training
with uncertainty at the
right field
position, but Mele won the job with a 5-for-5 performance, started in 90 games, and hit .302 for the season. He also substituted well in
center field
when
Dom DiMaggio
was injured.
[4]
During his big-league career (1947?56), Mele saw duty with six major league clubs: the Red Sox,
Washington Senators
,
Chicago White Sox
,
Baltimore Orioles
,
Cincinnati Reds
and
Cleveland Indians
,
batting
.267 with 80
home runs
in 1,046 games. His 916
hits
also included 168
doubles
, 39
triples
, 406
runs
and 311
bases on balls
. Although he never duplicated his .302 rookie batting average, Mele had two strong back-to-back seasons for Washington in 1950?51. Playing as the Senators' regular right fielder, he drove home 86 and 94
runs
and led the American League in doubles with 36 in
1951
. In
1953
, he knocked in 82 runs for the White Sox, second on the club. Defensively, Mele posted a .988
fielding percentage
at all three outfield positions and at first base.
[1]
Managing career
[
edit
]
Minnesota Twins
[
edit
]
Early managerial and coaching career
[
edit
]
Immediately after his playing career ended in the minor leagues in 1958, Mele became a scout for the Washington Senators. But in
1959
, on July 4, Mele joined the Major League coaching staff of the Senators under manager
Cookie Lavagetto
when
Billy Jurges
departed to become skipper of the Red Sox.
[5]
He followed the franchise when it moved to
Bloomington, Minnesota
, as the
Minnesota Twins
in
1961
. With the maiden edition of the Twins struggling at 19?30 (.388) on June 6, 1961, Mele filled in as manager, winning two of seven games while Lavagetto took a leave of absence. Mele then formally succeeded to the job on June 23, 1961. The Twins moved up two places in the standings under Mele, going 45?49 (.479) and finishing seventh.
[1]
But fortified by young players such as
Hall of Famer
Harmon Killebrew
,
Jim Kaat
,
Zoilo Versalles
and
Bob Allison
, the Twins challenged the powerful
New York Yankees
in
1962
before placing second. After finishing third in
1963
, the team suffered through a poor season in
1964
,
[1]
leading to speculation that Mele would be replaced by his new third base coach,
Billy Martin
.
1965 American League championship
[
edit
]
1965 proved a surprise as Mele's Twins broke through the Yankees' stranglehold. That team had won the American League pennant 15 of the past 18 seasons (1947?1964) while the Twins languished out of contention. Led by Versalles, who was named the American League's
Most Valuable Player
, batting champion
Tony Oliva
, and pitcher
Mudcat Grant
, who won 21 games, Minnesota won 102 games?still a franchise record?and coasted to the league title (the Yankees, in the beginning of a downfall for years, were not competitive). Minnesota won the first two games in the
1965 World Series
, but the superior pitching trio of the
Los Angeles Dodgers
in
Sandy Koufax
,
Don Drysdale
and
Claude Osteen
asserted itself as Los Angeles won in seven games.
[1]
1966 and beyond
[
edit
]
The
1966
Twins won 13 fewer games, and finished runners-up to the
Baltimore Orioles
.
[1]
Mele also became embroiled in a clash between two of his coaches, Martin and pitching tutor
Johnny Sain
,
[6]
which was later described by Martin as Sain's efforts to try to get Mele fired.
[7]
His action (or inaction) alienated him from some of the players.
[8]
The club swung a major trade for
pitcher
Dean Chance
during the offseason and unveiled star rookie
Rod Carew
in
1967
. Expectations were high in Minnesota, but when the Twins were only .500 after 50 games, Mele was fired. His successor was not Martin, as had been anticipated, but longtime
minor league
manager
Cal Ermer
.
[1]
Mele's record as a manager was 524?436 (.546).
[9]
He never managed again at any level in baseball, but returned to the Red Sox, where he served as a special assignments scout from the midseason of 1967 until his 1994 retirement.
Managerial record
[
edit
]
Team
|
From
|
To
|
Regular season record
|
Post?season record
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Minnesota Twins
|
1961
|
1961
|
2
|
5
|
.286
|
?
|
Minnesota Twins
|
1961
|
1967
|
522
|
431
|
.548
|
3
|
4
|
.429
|
Total
|
524
|
436
|
.546
|
3
|
4
|
.429
|
:
[9]
|
Death
[
edit
]
Mele died on the night of May 1, 2017 at his residence in
Quincy, Massachusetts
of natural causes at the age of 95.
[10]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Career statistics and history
at
Baseball-Reference.com
- ^
Goldstein, Richard (4 May 2017).
"Sam Mele, Major League Player, Manager and Scout, Dies at 95"
.
The New York Times
. p. B14
. Retrieved
15 May
2017
.
- ^
The Washington Senators, 1901?1971
by Tom Deveaux.
ISBN
0-7864-0993-2
.
- ^
Rumill, Ed (1948).
"He Hoops It Up for the Red Sox Now"
.
Baseball Digest
.
7
(3): 14?16
. Retrieved
27 August
2011
.
- ^
The Associated Press
(July 5, 1959). "Sam Mele named Senators' coach".
Reading Eagle
.
- ^
Gross, Milt (June 13, 1967). "Mele's number was up long before firing".
Miami News
.
- ^
Number 1
, Billy Martin with Peter Golenbock, 1980.
- ^
United Press International, "Kaat Calls Loss of 2 Coaches Big Error", quoted in
The New York Times
, October 7, 1966
- ^
a
b
"Sam Mele"
.
Baseball Reference
. Sports Reference LLC
. Retrieved
August 3,
2016
.
- ^
"Former Red Sox player, scout Sam Mele dies at 95"
.
Boston Herald
. May 2, 2017
. Retrieved
May 2,
2017
.
External links
[
edit
]