Posted by Joe O Link: The Daily Times Sports
on 9/25/2008, 12:48 am
65.78.48.68
Daily Times, Delco Sport: Delco legend Mickey Vernon dies
By HARRY CHAYKUN, Of the Times Staff
James B. "Mickey" Vernon, the Marcus Hook native who went on to a distinguished career in major league baseball, died Wednesday afternoon at Riddle Memorial Hospital. He was 90. He had suffered a stroke Saturday.
Vernon, an outstanding athlete at Eddystone High School, began his major-league career in 1939 with the Washington Senators. He won American League batting championships while playing for the Senators in 1946 (.353) and 1953 (.337).
He ended his playing career in 1960 as a player/coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who were managed by Chester High's Danny Murtaugh. The Pirates defeated the New York Yankees, four games to three, in the 1960 World Series.
Earlier this year, Vernon was one of 10 players named by the Baseball Veterans Committee for consideration for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. A 12-member panel selected by the Veterans Committee will meet in December. If nine of the 12 members of the committee include Vernon's name on their ballot, he will be inducted into the Hall of Fame posthumously in July 2009.
Be sure to pick up Thursday's Daily Times for full coverage of the passing of a Delco legend.
Pictured below...Mickey Vernon poses with the statue erected in his honor in the park that bears his name in his home town of Marcus Hook.
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