Van Lingle Mungo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Van Lingle Mungo
Van Lingle Mungo
Pitcher
Born: June 8, 1911
Pageland, South Carolina
Died: February 12, 1985 (aged 73)
Pageland, South Carolina
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
September 7, 1931
for the Brooklyn Robins
Final game
September 2, 1945
for the New York Giants
Career statistics
Win-Loss     120-115
ERA     3.47
Strikeouts     1242
Teams
Career highlights and awards
  • All star in 1934, 1936, 1937, and 1945
  • Led NL in strikeouts in 1936 with 238
  • Led NL in innings pitched in 1934 with 315.3
  • Led NL in shutouts in 1935 with 4

Van Lingle Mungo (June 8, 1911 - February 12, 1985) was a Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher known for his long career with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Mungo played for the Dodgers from 1931 to 1941. At the end of his baseball career, he played with the New York Giants.

Mungo was fairly successful in his early career, averaging 16 wins per season from 1932 through 1936 and leading the National League in strikeouts with 238 in 1936. He was named to the All-Star team in 1934, 1936, and 1937. However, following an arm injury in 1937, he only won 13 Major League games over the next six seasons. He completed his Major League career with a 120-115 won-lost record over 2113 innings pitched, with a 3.47 earned run average.

Stories and anecdotes about Mungo tend to emphasize his reputation for combativeness, including episodes of drinking and fighting. The most widely told story concerns a visit to Cuba where, supposedly, Mungo was caught in a sexually compromising position with a married woman by her husband. The husband was punched in the eye by Mungo, leading the husband 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.

Mungo was largely forgotten after he retired from baseball after the 1945 season, but was brought back into considerable notoriety in 1969 because of the use of his prosodic name as the title of a novelty song by Dave Frishberg. The song lyrics consist entirely of the names of baseball players of the 1940s, strung together with a bossa nova beat, but Mungo is one of only five players mentioned more than once and his name functions as a kind of refrain. According to Frishberg, The Dick Cavett Show arranged to have him sing the song to Mungo in person, and Mungo asked him backstage if there would ever be any financial remuneration for the use of his name in the song. Frishberg then told him no, but maybe Mungo could make some money if he wrote a song called "Dave Frishburg." Ironically, today Mungo is remembered primarily because of the song.

Mungo's place of birth is Pageland, South Carolina, where he also died. During his retirement in Pageland, he owned and operated the Ball Theatre until it burned down in the fifties. During its time, the theatre played such films as The Outlaw, starring Jane Russell, and was a popular entertainment center for the town. Since this was before integration. V.L. Mungo provided balcony seating for the African American population, then referred to as 'colored'. This was an innovation, since the other small movie theatre in town was segregated.

The Sporting News reported on September 13, 1961, that Van Mungo's son, Ernie Mungo, was signed as a player by the Washington Senators organization.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Watty Clark		 Brooklyn Dodgers Opening Day
Starting pitcher
1934-1935		 Succeeded by
George Earnshaw
Preceded by
Dizzy Dean		 National League Strikeout Champion
1936		 Succeeded by
Carl Hubbell
Preceded by
George Earnshaw		 Brooklyn Dodgers Opening Day
Starting pitcher
1937-1938		 Succeeded by
Red Evans