Joseph Edward Collins (born Joseph Edward Kollonige; December 3, 1922 – August 30, 1989) was an American

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player born in

Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming V ...

. On September 25, he began his major league career playing for the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

. He played in 10 Major League seasons and seven World Series, all for the Yankees. At 6'0" tall and 185 pounds, he batted left and threw left, which made him unavailable to play most infield positions, where he was a

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

in 715 games regular-season games. He also played 114 games as an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

, while his peak number of games played in a season was 130 in 1954. Collins often platooned with Moose Skowron. Collins hit 86 regular-season home runs, but more importantly, four in the World Series with powerful Yankee teams. He was a teammate of both

Joe DiMaggio Joseph Paul DiMaggio (November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999), nicknamed "Joltin' Joe", "The Yankee Clipper" and "Joe D.", was an American baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career in Major League Baseball for the New York Yank ...

and

Mickey Mantle Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 – August 13, 1995), nicknamed "the Commerce Comet" and "the Mick", was an American professional baseball player. Mantle played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career (1951–1968) with the New York ...

. His last Major League game was on September 29, 1957. His entire major league career was spent with the Yankees. He was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies at the start of the 1958 season, but he chose to retire rather than join the Phillies, thus cancelling the trade. In 908 games over 10 seasons, Collins posted a .256

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

(596-for-2329) with 404 runs, 79 doubles, 24 triples, 86 home runs, 329 RBI, 338 bases on balls, .350 on-base percentage and .421 slugging percentage. He finished his career with a .990 fielding percentage primarily as a first baseman but also played at all three outfield positions. In 36 postseason games, he made his hits count. He hit only .163 (15-for-92) with 15 runs, 3 doubles, 4 home runs, 10 RBI and 14 walks. He died in

Union Township, Union County, New Jersey Union Township is a township in Union County, New Jersey, United States. In the 18th century, the area that is now Union was then called Connecticut Farms. As of the 2020 United States Census, the township population was 59,728, the highest rec ...

in 1989, and there is a small park there named in his honor. The park is located off of Liberty Avenue and also has a memorial plaque honoring him.

References

External links

Baseball AlmanacBaseball GaugeBaseball ReferenceBaseball Reference (Minor Leagues)Joe Collins BiographyVenezuelan Professional Baseball League
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Joe 1922 births 1989 deaths Akron Yankees players Amsterdam Rugmakers players Baseball players from California Baseball players from New Jersey Baseball players from Pennsylvania Beaumont Exporters players Birmingham Barons players Butler Yankees players Easton Yankees players Indios de Oriente players Kansas City Blues (baseball) players Major League Baseball first basemen New York Yankees players Newark Bears (IL) players Norfolk Tars players People from Union Township, Union County, New Jersey Springfield Rifles players Sportspeople from Scranton, Pennsylvania Sportspeople from the New York metropolitan area

See also

References

External links