Philip Anthony Mankowski (born January 9, 1953) is a former

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 ...

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

. He played all or parts of six 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), ...

with the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

(1976–1979) and

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

(1980, 1982).

Early years

Mankowski was born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, in 1953. His father Ben played in the Brooklyn Dodgers farm system in the early 1940s, and his brother Paul played in the Minnesota Twins' farm system from 1965 to 1969. Mankowski played four years of varsity baseball at Bishop Turner High School in Buffalo and was drafted in 1970 at age 17 in the ninth round by the Detroit Tigers.

Major League Baseball

With Aurelio Rodriguez holding the third baseman position for Detroit, Mankowski spent six years in the minor leagues before making his major league debut. As a rookie in 1976, Mankowski appeared in 24 games, 22 of them as the Tigers' starting third baseman. In 1977, he appeared in a career-high 94 games, including 78 as the starter at second base. During the 1977 season, he also had career highs in

at bat 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 ...

s (286),

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

s (79),

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * ...

s (three), and

RBIs 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 bat ...

(27). The only other season in which Mankowski had at least 100 at bats was 1978, when he hit .275, scored 28 runs, hit four home runs, and drove in 20 runs. On April 7, 1978, Mankowski hit a three-run home run to help

Mark Fidrych Mark Steven Fidrych ( ; August 14, 1954 – April 13, 2009), nicknamed "The Bird", was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) baseball pitcher. He pitched his entire career for the Detroit Tigers (1976–1980). Known for his quirky antics ...

get the win in a five-hitter against the Toronto Blue Jays. On October 31, 1979, the Tigers traded Mankowski and

Jerry Morales Julio Ruben "Jerry" Morales Torres (born February 18, 1949) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder who played from -. Career Morales was originally signed by the New York Mets as an amateur free agent at the age of 17 in 1966. He went to th ...

to the New York Mets for

Richie Hebner Richard Joseph Hebner (born November 26, 1947) is an Americans, American former professional baseball player and Coach (baseball), coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a third baseman from through , most prominently as a member of the Pi ...

. He appeared in 21 games for the Mets during the 1980 and 1982 seasons. In 269 major league games, Mankowski hit .264 with 195 hits, 72 runs scored, 64 RBIs, 55 bases on balls, 23 doubles, eight home runs, four triples, and three stolen bases.

Later years

Mankowski played third baseman Hank Benz in the 1984 movie ''

The Natural ''The Natural'' is a 1952 novel about baseball by Bernard Malamud, and is his debut novel. The story follows Roy Hobbs, a baseball prodigy whose career is sidetracked after being shot by a woman whose motivation remains mysterious. The story mo ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mankowski, Phil Major League Baseball third basemen Detroit Tigers players New York Mets players Bristol Tigers players Batavia Trojans players Lakeland Tigers players Clinton Pilots players Montgomery Rebels players Evansville Triplets players Tidewater Tides players Baseball players from Buffalo, New York Living people 1953 births