Joseph Martin Napoleon Munson (November 6, 1899 – February 24, 1991; born Joseph Martin Napoleon Carlson) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

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 ...

who played for the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

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), ...

(MLB) in 1925 and 1926. Listed at and , he batted left-handed and threw right-handed.

Biography

Munson attended

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epis ...

, where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

. He then played in the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

from 1918 through 1932, initially playing under the name "Joe Martin". With the

Harrisburg Senators The Harrisburg Senators are a Minor League Baseball team of the Eastern League, and the Double-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, who play their home games at FNB Field on City Island, which opened in 1987 a ...

in 1925, he won the Eastern League

triple crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Trip ...

, leading the league with a .400

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 ...

, 33

home run 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 ...

s and 129 RBIs, while also recording 188 hits, 132 runs scored, and 17 triples. For the

Tulsa Oilers The Tulsa Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and play in the ECHL. The Oilers played their home games at the Tulsa Convention Center until 2008 when they moved into the new BOK Center. For many years, the Tuls ...

in the Western League, he batted .383 in 1927, won the batting title with .385 in 1928, and then hit .369 in 1929. After the 1932 season, he retired with a .335 minor league lifetime average and 2,050 hits. Munson played in a total of 42 major league games, all with the

. In 1925, he played in nine games, batting .371 (13-for-35) with three RBIs. In 1926, he played in 33 games, batting .257 (26-for-101) with three home runs and 15 RBIs. Overall in MLB, Munson was a .287 hitter (39-for-136) with three home runs and 18 RBIs. Defensively, he played 21 games in right field and 16 games in left field, with a .922

fielding average 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, divi ...

. Munson was born in

Renovo, Pennsylvania Renovo is a borough in Clinton County, Pennsylvania, United States, northwest of Lock Haven. In 1900, 4,082 people lived there, and in 1910, 4,621 lived there, but in the 2010 census the borough population was 1,228. The borough is located on t ...

. A 1925 newspaper article noted that he was studying art in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

during the baseball offseason. On his draft registration card of February 1942, he listed his employer as the

Union Tank Car Company Union Tank Car Company or UTLX is a railway equipment leasing, rail car maintenance, and rail car manufacturing company headquartered in metro Chicago, Illinois. A direct descendant of Standard Oil, the firm today is owned by Berkshire Hathaway. ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. He died at the age of 91 in

Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania Drexel Hill is a neighborhood and census-designated place (CDP) located in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. The population was 29,181 at the 2020 census, up from 28,043 at the 2010 census, and accounting for over a third of Upper Darby's population. G ...

, and was buried under his birth name.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Munson, Joe 1899 births 1991 deaths Major League Baseball outfielders Baseball players from Clinton County, Pennsylvania Chicago Cubs players Lehigh Mountain Hawks baseball players Martinsburg Mountaineers players Suffolk Nuts players Raleigh Nats players Dallas Submarines players Galveston Sand Crabs players Marlin Bathers players Harrisburg Senators players Terre Haute Tots players Indianapolis Indians players Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players Waco Cubs players Des Moines Demons players Topeka Senators players Galveston Buccaneers players Clarksburg Generals players

Biography

References

Further reading

External links