Mike Jorgensen

Michael Jorgensen (born August 16, 1948) is a former Major League Baseball player drafted by the New York Mets in the fourth round of the 1966 Major League Baseball Draft. He currently works in the Cardinals front office.

Early career

Jorgensen made his major league debut with the New York Mets as a September call-up in 1968 at only 20-years-old. He wasn't part of the 1969 World Series championship team as he spent that entire season in the minors. On April 5, 1972, he was traded with Tim Foli and Ken Singleton to the Montreal Expos for Rusty Staub. It was in Montreal where Jorgensen enjoyed his greatest success. In 1973, he earned his only Gold Glove Award as a first baseman (though he played some outfield also throughout his career). It was also the only time between 1967 and 1977 that a Los Angeles Dodger first baseman did not win the Gold Glove Award. Jorgensen broke Wes Parker's six-year run from 1967-72 (after which season Parker retired from Major League Baseball), and Steve Garvey won the Award from 1974-77. In 1974, he broke the Expos' single season on-base percentage record with .444. In 1975, he enjoyed his most productive season with the bat—clubbing 18 home runs, and driving in 67 runs.

He became expendable when the Expos acquired future hall of fame first baseman Tony Pérez and was traded to the Oakland Athletics at the start of the 1977 season. Following one season with the A's, he signed as a free agent with the Texas Rangers.

Beanball

On Monday, May 28, 1979, Jorgensen was hit in the head by a pitch from Boston Red Sox pitcher Andy Hassler. Dave Roberts needed to come into the game to pinch run for Jorgensen, and Pat Putnam took over as the Rangers' regular first baseman for the next month. Excluding one pinch hitting appearance on May 31, he didn't play again until July 1. After suffering headaches, it was discovered he had a small blood clot inside his head, which apparently caused a seizure, and could have resulted in his early demise.^[1] Following the season, he was traded back to the Mets to complete a mid-season deal where the Mets had sent Willie Montanez to the Rangers for two players to be named later (the other player the Mets received was pitcher Ed Lynch).

During the first-ever fireworks night hosted at Shea Stadium on July 4, 1980, Montreal Expos Rookie Bill Gullickson sailed a pitch over Jorgensen's head in the second game of a doubleheader. Having been the victim of one of the worst beanball injuries in baseball history the previous season, Jorgensen didn't appreciate this, and motioned toward Gullickson his disapproval. Mets catcher John Stearns, who wasn't even in the line-up for this game, charged out of the dugout and welcomed Gullickson to the majors by slamming him to the ground.^[2]

First post-season

Jorgensen's second go around with the Mets lasted until June 15, 1983. The Mets sold him to the Atlanta Braves the day they acquired first baseman Keith Hernandez from the St. Louis Cardinals for pitchers Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey. A year to the day later, the Braves traded him with Ken Dayley to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ken Oberkfell. With the Cardinals, he reached the World Series for the first time in his career in 1985. It was also the final season of his career. Coincidentally, Andy Hassler was also a member of this team. This was also his first World Series and the final year of his career.

Cardinals manager

Following Joe Torre's firing as manager of the Cardinals, he finished the 1995 season as their interim manager. He managed the Cardinals to a 42-54 win-loss record.

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Ultimate Mets Database
• Mike Jorgensen managerial career statistics at Baseball-Reference.com