Mike Blazo

Michael Blazo

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 190 lb

• Born January 30, 1917 in New Jersey, USA
• Died April 24, 1988 in New Jersey, USA

BR minors page

Biographical Information

Mike Blazo began his professional baseball career with the 1937 Portsmouth Red Birds, batting .238. The next year, he spent most of the year with the Newport Cardinals. He managed the club for part of the season after Thorpe Hamilton was axed. He was a player on the team and appeared in 92 of the team's 107 games, getting 75 hits in 326 at bats, with 34 RBI and 2 home runs. He also hit 14 doubles, had 7 sacrifice hits and 4 steals. He was walked 48 times, was hit 3 times and struckout on 49 occasions. His batting line was .230/~.334/.291 and fielded .982, the best of any regular catcher in the Northeast Arkansas League. Blazo also played in 13 games for the Pine Bluff Judges of the Cotton States League that year. His 5 hits in 34 at bats gave him a .147 batting average. He had one double and RBI, but scored 4 times thanks to his 8 walks, so his OBP was around .310 and he slugged .176. He also struck out 4 times.

Mike played in 1939-40 with the Cedar Rapids Raiders, hitting .220 the first year and .213 the latter.

Blazo managed the Northern League's Fargo-Moorhead Twins for parts of the 1941 and 1942 seasons. He hit .280 in '41 and .262 in '42. He moved to the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association for the 1943 season. In his first season with the Millers, Blazo appeared in 100 games at catcher and hit .223 with 30 RBI, sluggjing just .235. The following season, he played primarily third base and a little shortstop in addition to being behind the the plate. In 142 games, he hit .267 with 2 home runs and 63 RBI, slugging .337. In 1945, Blazo again split time at third and catcher hitting .269 with one home run and 38 RBI. He basically retired as a player in 1946 but signed on as manager of the Middletown Rockets of the Ohio State League, and managed the Muncie Reds of the same loop in 1947. He would stay with the team for four years and managed them to a record of 303 wins and 249 losses for a .549 winning percentage. The team would never place first or win a league championship, but would did make the finals of the playoffs twice. He played for Muncie in '48, hitting .319. He was the player/manager of the 1951 Welch Miners, posting a .225 average. He began 1952 as the manager of the Salisbury Reds before being replaced by Dick Porter.

Year-by-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs	Notes
1938	Newport Cardinals	Northeast Arkansas League		3rd	None	Lost League Finals	Replaced Thorpe Hamilton
1941	Fargo-Moorhead Twins	Northern League	34-43	6th	None		Replaced Wes Griffin (14-26) on June 26
1942	Fargo-Moorhead Twins	Northern League	37-51	--	None		Replaced by Ben Tincup (17-17) on August 4
1946	Middletown Rockets	Ohio State League	56-83	8th	Cincinnati Reds
1947	Muncie Reds	Ohio State League	75-62	3rd	Cincinnati Reds	Lost in 1st round
1948	Muncie Reds	Ohio-Indiana League	80-59	3rd	Cincinnati Reds	Lost League Finals
1949	Muncie Reds	Ohio-Indiana League	75-63	3rd	Cincinnati Reds	Lost League Finals
1950	Muncie Reds	Ohio-Indiana League	73-65	5th	Cincinnati Reds
1951	Welch Miners	Appalachian League	54-74	6th	Cincinnati Reds
1952	Salisbury Reds	Interstate League	50-60	--	Cincinnati Reds		Replaced by Dick Porter (15-13) on August 16

Sources include the 1939 Spalding Guide, 1945 Baseball Guide and Pat Doyle's Professional Baseball Player Database