LizzieMaine
Bartender
- Messages
- 33,755
- Location
- Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
Mungo is one of baseball's greatest what-might-have-beens. He was the only front rank star the floundering mid-30s Dodgers had, and he was arguably the fastest pitcher in the National League until he got hurt. (That 1937 All Star Game was brutal -- that was the same game where Dizzy Dean, Mungo's only rival for speed, also suffered a career-changing injury.) He probably would have been a good candidate for Tommy John surgery had he been born 40 years later, and could have been a Hall of Famer if he hadn't been hurt. But he didn't have a chance of a comeback once Durocher took over the club -- Leo thought he was dumb, and that he drank too much, and had no patience with trying to ease him back.
All those might-have beens -- but he did end up as the star of what is without doubt the greatest baseball song ever written:
All those might-have beens -- but he did end up as the star of what is without doubt the greatest baseball song ever written: