Player #136B Part 1: Henry E. "Heinie" Manush. Outfielder for the Washington Senators in 1930-1935. 2,524 hits and 110 home runs in 17 MLB seasons. Had a .330 career batting average. 1934 All-Star. 1926 AL batting champion. Had more than 200 hits four times. In 1964, was inducted to the MLB Hall of Fame. Debuted with the Detroit Tigers in 1923. Leading batter on the 1933 Washington Senator team that won the AL pennant. First and last player to be ejected from a World Series game. Had 241 hits in 1928. Coach for the Washington Senators in 1953-1954.
Manush's SABR biography goes on . . . the Tigers paid for their quick dismissal of the former batting champ, who returned to the top of the batting race in 1928. He was in a battle with Washington slugger Goose Goslin for the batting title. Again, Manush finished the season at .378, almost completely reversing his 80-point slide from the prior season. Fittingly, the Tigers and Senators faced off on the final day of the season. After July, Goslin was still hitting above .400, and had a comfortable lead in the batting race. He cooled off in August, but by the end of the month was still leading the league and appeared on his way to his first batting title. In September, Manush got hot and closed in on Goslin, setting the stage for an unusual conclusion to the season.
As luck would have it the Senators were scheduled to play the last four games of the season in St. Louis, with Goslin’s average at .376, Manush’s at .372. In the first two games Manush went 5-for-8, but Goslin retained his lead by going 2-for-3 in the third game and had a two-point lead with one game left to be played. Players on both teams wanted to help their respective teammate win the title, and the umpiring crew was fully aware of the close battle, including the man who would get the assignment to work behind the plate for the final game of the season, Bill Guthrie.
Goslin struck out and grounded out the first two times he came to the plate, then got hold of one and sent it over the center field fence. But in his next at-bat he grounded out to fall three-tenths of a point behind. Manush, however, made an out in his last at-bat to give Goslin a one-point lead.
With the game headed into the top of the ninth, Goslin was due to bat. A note came to the dugout from the press box updating Goslin on the batting race, with the author including his advice to sit out the at-bat, reminding him if he batted and made an out he would lose the title. Joe Judge warned him Manush might think he was yellow if a pinch-hitter batted for him. The other players got involved in the conference, with everyone giving his opinion, and as the debate went on Goslin made a decision. He would bat. (We'll finish this tomorrow.)
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