1934-1936 Diamond Stars: #102 Van Mungo

Sunday, March 12, 2023

#102 Van Mungo - Brooklyn Dodgers

Van Lingle Mungo

Brooklyn Dodgers

Pitcher

Bats: Right Throws: Right Height: 6'2" Weight: 185

Born: June 8, 1911, Pageland, SC

Major League Teams: Brooklyn Dodgers 1931-1941; New York Giants 1942-1943, 1945

Died: February 12, 1985, Pageland, SC (73)

I had heard of Van Lingle Mungo through the 1969 novelty song by Dave Frishberg, before I knew about his baseball career. By most accounts, Mungo was a character known for his off-field adventures but he was also a five-time All-Star for the Dodgers and he led the National League in strikeouts in 1936 with 238. He averaged 16 wins per season between 1932 and 1936, but his erratic fastball also contributed to him leading the league in walks in 1932, 1934 and 1936. Mungo was combative on the field, often clashing with his own teammates and by his own estimation he led all of baseball in terms of fines for his era, tallying in excess of $15,000 for his behavior. His Dodgers won the pennant in 1941, but Mungo spent most of that season playing for their top farm team in Montreal. After a decade-plus with the Dodgers, Mungo was dealt to the cross-town Giants before the 1942 season. He missed the entire 1944 season while serving in the military during World War II and after 26 starts for the Giants in 1945, his big league career was over.

In 364 games, Mungo had a career record of 120-115 with a 3.47 ERA and 1,242 strikeouts to 868 walks.

Building the Set

February 28, 2023 from Port Washington, NY - Card #75

On Wednesday night, February 22nd, I sat in the parking lot outside my oldest son Doug's baseball practice between 8:30 and 10pm, too tired to read and bored by what I was scrolling through on my Twitter feed. As is usually the case in these circumstances, and with no other options to pass the time, I turned to eBay and did some shopping for our growing Diamond Stars set. We're nearly two-thirds of the way through the set, as I'm focused on my version of a master set - the 108 base cards and 11 notable variations. I know the set-building is going to slow down considerably once I get down to needing 30 cards or so as the last remaining cards will be expensive, hard to find or both.

By the time the night was over, and Doug and his teammates lumbered outside to find their rides home, I had ordered three more cards for our set, including this Mungo card. However, the Mungo card I ordered is not the Mungo card seen here. Knowing the cards in the set's third series are somewhat scarce, I found a Mungo card, #102, for sale at what had to have been a mistaken price. I clicked Buy It Now on the way too low price, the dealer must have figured out his/her error, and the sale was canceled later that night. The reason for the refund was the card was "out of stock or damaged." Bummed out, I set about looking to add this card through other means, and found the card shown here from Clean Sweep Auctions out of Port Washington, New York.

Variations Available

1 - 1936 / blue back / 1935 statistics / 1934 copyright

The Card / Dodgers Team Set

This is the second Mungo card in the set, and this card completes the Dodgers team set, the first team set finished off in the set. The first version is #19, with that version released in 1934 and 1935. I've no clue why the artist for this card decided to give Mungo a yellow/orange warm-up jacket and a red hat. It's one of the more striking cards in the entire set since the photo's colors are so vivid and contrary to what you'd expect to see on a Dodgers card.

The tip on the back of the card, which is the same for cards #19 and #102, explains how to bunt, and cautions against alerting the fielders too soon you're about to bunt. This version of the card ages Bartell a year and displays his 16-10 record from the 1935 season, but it keeps the original 1934 copyright date.

1936 Season

Mungo's career year, he was 18-19 for the Dodgers with a 3.35 ERA, and was clearly the team's MVP. He led the league with 37 games started, 118 walks and 238 strikeouts. Both walk and strikeout totals were career highs for Mungo, accomplished over 311 2/3 innings pitched. He was named to the National League All-Star team, but did not appear in the game. The Dodgers were 67-87-2 in 1936 under manager Casey Stengel (#150), falling to seventh place in the league. Only the lowly Phillies, at 54-100, kept the Dodgers out of the basement.