Top Tigers #38: Heinie Manush
By Blake VandeBunte • Feb 7th, 2009 • Category: Heinie Manush, Top 100 Tigers- Rank: 38
- Name: Henry Emmett Manush
- Position: Outfield
- Tigers Tenure: 1923-1927
- Awards: Fifth in MVP voting (1926), Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame (1964)
- Best Season: 1926. Aside from Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, one could make the argument that Heinie Manush was the top offensive player in the game in 1926. If injuries had not caused him to miss 18 games his totals would be even more impressive. Manush led the American League in batting average with a .378 mark, besting Ruth by six points. Manush finished second in the league –trailing Ruth– in OPS+ was mark of 154, just besting teammate Harry Heilmann. Manush spent the bulk of his time in the field in center field where he was taking over for an aging Ty Cobb. He posted better than league average numbers in fielding percentage and range factor.
- Good Stuff: Manush was one of the top young players in the game when he came up with the Tigers in the mid 1920s. Players like Cobb were beginning to show their age and Manush was coming into his own. During his brief stay with the Tigers, Manush had an OPS+ over 100 in each season and looked like his was going to become one of the great offensive weapons of the 1930s. He drove in over 100 runs twice in his career (never with the Tigers) and collected over 200 hits on four occasions (never with the Tigers). Of all players with at least 600 games in a Tigers uniform, Manush is fifth all time in batting average and 13th in OPS.
- Bad Stuff: His time in Detroit was brief. Through no fault of his own, 1927 was his last season with the Tigers a move I’m certain the organization went on to regret. The Tigers traded Manush and Lu Blue to the St. Louis Browns for Chick Galloway, Elam Vangilder and Harry Rice. Galloway and Vangilder played in a combined 97 games for the Tigers. Rice would put up two league average seasons before the Tigers got rid of him while Blue would have a few good years in St. Louis. The real story here though is Manush. Manush would go on to collect 2,524 hits and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame for his efforts in 1964.
- Place In Tigers History: Manush has his name up on the wall of Comerica Park in right-center field. His time in Detroit was long enough to gain that kind of respect, but brief enough to have the Tigers kicking themselves for giving up on him. Manush is the first Hall of Famer to appear on this list. Too bad he did the bulk of his work outside of the Motor City.
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