Thompson Orville "Mickey" Livingston (November 15, 1914 – April 3, 1983) 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 ...

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

. He played ten 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), ...

(MLB) between and for the Washington Senators, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, New York Giants, Boston Braves and Brooklyn Dodgers."Mickey Livingston Statistics and History"
"baseball-reference.com. Retrieved May 23, 2017. Born in Newberry, South Carolina, he batted and threw right-handed, stood tall and weighed . He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, missing the season. Livingston began his professional career at age 22 in 1937 after playing semipro baseball in South Carolina's textile leagues. He made his

MLB 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), ...

debut the following season, on September 17, 1938, by collecting three hits in four

at bats In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a batt ...

, including a

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

, as his Senators outlasted the

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they p ...

10–9 at

Sportsman's Park Sportsman's Park was the name of several former Major League Baseball ballpark structures in St. Louis, Missouri. All but one of these were located on the same piece of land, at the northwest corner of Grand Boulevard and Dodier Street, on th ...

. Much of Livingston's decade-long big-league tenure was spent as a backup catcher, although he was the 1943 Cubs' regular receiver (starting in 100 games) and the pennant-winning 1945 Cubs' most-used backstop, starting in 64 regular-season contests and catching 541 innings.

Retrosheet Retrosheet is a nonprofit organization whose website features box scores of Major League Baseball (MLB) games from 1906 to the present, and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest since the 1930s. It also includes scores from every major ...

1945 Chicago Cubs roster
/ref> Livingston followed that by starting six of the seven games at catcher for the Cubs in the

1945 World Series The 1945 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1945 season. The 42nd edition of the World Series, it matched the American League champion Detroit Tigers against the National League champion Chicago Cubs. Th ...

. He had eight hits in 22 at bats ( .364), including three doubles. Chicago went 3–3 in those six games, including the decisive Game 7, which the Cubs dropped to the Series champion Detroit Tigers. Livingston was a teammate of Jackie Robinson on the 1951 Brooklyn Dodgers. He played for the last time on September 20 and did not appear in the tie-breaker postseason series, which ended October 3, 1951, with the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" pennant-winning

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 ...

by the Giants'

Bobby Thomson Robert Brown Thomson (October 25, 1923 – August 16, 2010) was a Scottish-born American professional baseball player, nicknamed the "Staten Island Scot". He was an outfielder and right-handed batter for the New York Giants (1946–53, 1957), M ...

. From 1952 to 1956, Livingston was a

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the s ...

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 No ...

. During his 561-game MLB playing career, Livingston batted .238. His 354 hits included 56 doubles, nine triples and 19 home runs, with 153

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

References

External links

1914 births 1983 deaths Baseball players from South Carolina Beaumont Exporters players Boise Braves players Boston Braves players Brooklyn Dodgers players Charlotte Hornets (baseball) players Chattanooga Lookouts players Chicago Cubs players Colorado Springs Sky Sox managers Colorado Springs Sky Sox (WL) players Fort Worth Cats players Lubbock Hubbers players Major League Baseball catchers New York Giants (NL) players People from Newberry, South Carolina Philadelphia Phillies players St. Paul Saints (AA) players Sanford Lookouts players Shreveport Sports players Springfield Nationals players Texas City Texans players Trenton Senators players United States Army personnel of World War II Washington Senators (1901–1960) players {{US-baseball-catcher-1910s-stub