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 (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U ...

. 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 Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

. 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 cat ...

, while his peak number of games played in a season was 130 in 1954. Collins often platooned with

Moose Skowron William Joseph Skowron (December 18, 1930 – April 27, 2012), nicknamed "Moose", was an American professional baseball first baseman. He played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1954 to 1967 for the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dod ...

. 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 The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

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 TripleS (stylized as tripleS; Help:IPA/English, /ˈtɹɪpəl:ɛs/; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by MODHAUS. They aim to be the world's first decentralized K-pop idol group. The members will rotate between the group, sub-unit, and solo ac ...

, 86

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

, 329 RBI, 338

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

, .350

on-base percentage In baseball statistics, on-base percentage (OBP) measures how frequently a batter reaches base. An official Major League Baseball (MLB) statistic since 1984, it is sometimes referred to as on-base average (OBA), as it is rarely presented as a ...

and .421

slugging percentage In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at bats for a given player, ...

. He finished his career with a .990

fielding percentage In baseball statistics, fielding percentage, also known as fielding average, is a measure that reflects the percentage of times a defensive player properly handles a batted or thrown ball. It is calculated by the sum of putouts and assists, div ...

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 Gauge

Baseball ReferenceBaseball Reference (Minor Leagues)Joe Collins BiographyVenezuelan Professional Baseball League
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Joe 1922 births 1989 deaths Akron Yankees players Amsterdam Rugmakers players 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 (International League) players Norfolk Tars players People from Union Township, Union County, New Jersey Baseball players from Union County, New Jersey Springfield Rifles players Baseball players from Scranton, Pennsylvania

See also

References

External links