Emile Michael Meola (October 19, 1905 – September 1, 1976) was a

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

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), ...

who played between the

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

and

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

seasons. Listed at , 175 lb., Meola batted and threw

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

. He was born in New York City.

Career

Meola started his baseball career in 1928 with the

Chambersburg Maroons The Chambersburg Maroons were a baseball team located in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. They called historic Henninger Field their home, and had done so since the club's creation in 1895. They played their last season in 2010, ending 116 years of ex ...

of the Class D

Blue Ridge League The Blue Ridge League was the name of two minor league baseball organizations that operated in the first half of the twentieth century in the United States. History The first league operated for the better part of sixteen years, from 1915 throu ...

. He pitched six years 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 ...

before joining the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

in 1933. In 1934, Meola enjoyed one of the best seasons ever for a pitcher in minor league history, after going 20–5 with a 2.90

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Compa ...

for the

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 ha ...

of the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade bel ...

. The next year he finished with a 19–8 mark. He divided his playing time between 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 ...

and Boston Red Sox in 1936, his last major league season.

Records

In a three-year majors career, Meola posted a 0–3 record with 15

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s and an 8.16 ERA in 18 appearances, including three starts, one

complete game In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...

, one save, and 43.0 innings of work. He also spent more than a decade in the minors, pitching for the Charlotte, Jersey City, Toronto and Syracuse teams, among others. Following his baseball retirement in 1939, he worked as a demolition contractor in New York.

Death

A resident of

Fair Lawn, New Jersey Fair Lawn is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, and a bedroom suburb located northwest of New York City. As of the 2020 United States Census, the borough’s population was 34,940, which constituted a 7.7% increase from 32, ...

, Meola died there at age 70.Nowlin, Bill
"Mike Meola"

Society for American Baseball Research The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New ...

. Accessed May 10, 2016. "He moved to New Jersey and was active in church and Republican Party affairs in the Fair Lawn, New Jersey, area where he made his home."

References

Sources

1934 Los Angeles AngelsBaseball Reference
Boston Red Sox players St. Louis Browns players Chambersburg Maroons players Hagerstown Hubs players Major League Baseball pitchers Baseball players from New York City 1905 births 1976 deaths People from Fair Lawn, New Jersey {{US-baseball-pitcher-1900s-stub