James McAnany (September 4, 1936 – December 16, 2015) 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 leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

player. Primarily a

right fielder A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...

, he played all or part of five seasons in

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), ...

, from 1958 until 1962, for the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

and Chicago Cubs. He was in the White Sox starting lineup for three of the six games in the 1959 World Series. The 1959 pennant-winning season was by far his best in the majors. It included 210 of his 241 career at-bats, as McAnany, a contact hitter with little power, batted .276 for the White Sox with no home runs but just 26 strikeouts. A native of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, he attended Loyola High School and the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

there. He made his professional debut in 1955 with the

Waterloo White Hawks Based in Waterloo, Iowa, the Waterloo White Hawks were a minor league baseball team that existed from 1946 to 1956. They played in the Three-I League and were affiliated with the Chicago White Sox. They played their home games at Riverfront Stadium ...

. Called up to the majors in late 1958, McAnany made his MLB debut on September 19, 1958 in Kansas City, pinch-hitting for White Sox pitcher

Early Wynn Early Wynn Jr. (January 6, 1920 – April 4, 1999), nicknamed "Gus", was an American professional baseball right-handed pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Washington Senators, Cleveland Indians, and Chicago White Sox, dur ...

in the fifth inning. He struck out against

Ralph Terry Ralph Willard Terry (January 9, 1936 – March 16, 2022) was an American baseball player who played as a right-handed starting pitcher for twelve seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the New York Yankees, Kansas City Athletics ...

and ended up a hitless 0-for-13 for the '58 season. He then had his breakout season in 1959, becoming an integral part of a Sox team that captured the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

pennant for the first time since 1919. After the Sox won Game 1 of the World Series with the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

11–0, McAnany started in right field for Game 2 against Dodger left-handed pitcher

Johnny Podres John Joseph Podres (September 30, 1932 – January 13, 2008) was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in the majors from 1953 to 1969, spending most of his career with the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers. Podres ...

. He went 0-for-3 as the Sox, after taking a 2–0 lead, lost the game 4–3. In baseball's 1960 expansion draft, the new

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team h ...

franchise claimed McAnany with the 49th pick. He was then traded on April 1, 1961 to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for

Lou Johnson Louis Brown Johnson (September 22, 1934 – October 1, 2020), nicknamed Sweet Lou, was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. Johnson's professional baseball career lasted for 17 seasons, and included 8 years in the majors: parts of 1960� ...

. Hampered by injury, he had 16 at-bats as a Cub and 12 in the minors before retiring in 1963. McAnany was mentioned in Jane Leavy's 2010 book ''The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle''. In it is a story in which McAnany was hit by a

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 ...

line drive In the sports of baseball and softball, a batted ball is a pitch that has been contacted by the batter's bat. Batted balls are either fair or foul, and can be characterized as a fly ball, pop-up, line drive, or ground ball. In baseball, a fou ...

during the 1959 season and stated, "I think I have a hole in my chest." According to a

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

column of Oct. 21, 2005 by

Mike Downey Mike Downey (born August 9, 1951 in Chicago Heights, Illinois, and raised in the nearby village of Steger, Illinois) is a retired American newspaper columnist. From 2003 to 2008, Downey wrote the "In the Wake of the News" column for the ''Chica ...

, McAnany, employed by an insurance agency in Southern California, returned to Chicago to participate in a "Turn Back the Clock" weekend sponsored by the White Sox in June 2005 when the

played at Comiskey Park for the first time since the '59 World Series. Four months later, the White Sox would return to the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

for the first time in 46 years. McAnany died December 16, 2015.

Sources

External links

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Retrosheet
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SABR Biography Project
1936 births 2015 deaths Baseball players from California Chicago White Sox players Chicago Cubs players Colorado Springs Sky Sox (WL) players Davenport DavSox players Houston Buffs players Indianapolis Indians players Major League Baseball right fielders Rapiños de Occidente players San Diego Padres (minor league) players Seattle Rainiers players USC Trojans baseball players Waterloo White Hawks players {{US-baseball-outfielder-1930s-stub