Eddie Miksis

Edward Thomas Miksis

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 185 lb.
• High School Burlington City High School
• Debut June 17, 1944
• Final Game September 26, 1958
• Born September 11, 1926 in Burlington, NJ USA
• Died April 8, 2005 in Huntingdon Valley, PA USA

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Biographical Information

Eddie Miksis had a long major league career, logging 14 years by age 31, despite his light hitting and low OBP. He played 382 games at second base in his major league career, 219 in the outfield, 179 at third base, 137 at shortstop, and a couple at first base.

Signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1944 during wartime, the frail, baby-faced rookie - truly a Boy-of-Summer - came to the major leagues that same year at the tender age of 17, and appeared in 26 games. He then served in the Navy and missed almost two full seasons.

His first six major league seasons, and part of his seventh, were spent with the Brooklyn Dodgers. With them, he appeared in the 1947 World Series and in the 1949 World Series. Miksis would appear in over 1000 games with a career batting average of .236.

Coming to the Chicago Cubs in 1951, he was the regular second baseman when Ernie Banks came up in September 1953. Banks and Gene Baker, another black player, came up at almost the same time to become the first black double play combination in the major leagues, and Baker was the second baseman the following season. When teamed with middle infield mate Roy Smalley, Smalley's throwing led to the saying among Cubs fans of "Miksis to Smalley to Addison Street." This was shortly before Banks and Baker would replace them as the double play combo. Miksis remained with the Cubs for several more years, playing more in both the outfield and third base.

In 1957 the Cubs traded him to the St. Louis Cardinals, and he made it to September before the Baltimore Orioles selected him off waivers. They released him in May of 1958, and he finished out his career with the Cincinnati Redlegs that season - just barely age 32, with an amazing 14 major league seasons already behind him.

Related Sites

• Eddie Miksis at the SABR Bio Project