Morrie Arnovich
Encyclopedia : M : MO : MOR : Morrie Arnovich
Morrie Arnovich (November 16, 1910 - July 20, 1959) was a former Major League Baseball outfielder who played seven seasons for the Philadelphia Phillies, the Cincinnati Reds and the New York Giants between 1936 to 1941 and again for one game in 1946.
One of the most religious Jewish major leaguers, Arnovich kept kosher his whole life. Arnovich was a two-time All-Wisconsin basketball star at the University of Wisconsin-Superior.
Arnovich's professional baseball career began at age 22 with the Superior Blues, the champions of the newly revived Northern League in 1934. A shortstop that year, he hit .331 and slugged .495 with 17 steals. He was fifth in average and fourth in homers with fourteen. His .918 fielding was best of any shortstop with 50 or more games that season and he made the unofficial All-Star team listed by the Spalding Guide. Returning to Superior in 1934, Arnovich hit .374 to take the Northern League batting title and his 21 homers tied for 5th in the loop. He hit three homers in one game that year.
The Philadelphia Phillies purchased his contract in 1835 and assigned him to the Hazleton Mountaineers of the New York-Penn League. He hit .305 in 1935 and the next year hit .327 with 19 homers and 109 RBI. He tied for the league lead in homers and was one RBI off of the top pace. He got a cup of coffee with the Phils that season and hit .312 with a 104 OPS+ in late-season action. By this time Arnovich had moved to the outfield and he would not play any other position in the major leagues.
Arnovich was a decent hitter in the next three years with the Phillies. In 1939 he was the top contact hitter in the National League most of the season before fading late and finishing 5th in the league with a .324 batting average. He was sixth in OBP, made the NL All-Star team and had a 121 OPS+ in his best season.
At the age of 29, Arnovich was sold to the Cincinnati Reds in 1940 and had a disappointing season, though he continued to hit for solid contact (.284, 86 OPS+); he failed to homer and his lack of power was not good for an outfielder. He made his only World Series appearance that season. He was traded to the New York Giants in 1941 and had a 104 OPS+ in 85 games.
Arnovich tried to volunteer for the United States Army but was turned down because he was missing a pair of molars. He got false teeth and volunteered again after Pearl Harbor - this time he was permitted in and spent the next four years in the Army. Out of condition and now 35 years old, Morrie played in one game for New York and was sent down to the Jersey City Giants and went just 5 for 25 in 10 contests before being released in a wasted season. In 1947 Arnovich hit in the .370s in the Three-I League and Western Association, then batted .353 in limited time in the 1948 Southeastern League before retiring at the age of 37.
Morrie coached basketball for a Catholic high school in Superior after retiring, then ran a jewelry store and a sporting goods store. On 1959, he died of a coronary occlusion at his home shortly after his third wedding anniversary.
External link
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.