Mike Naymick

Michael John Naymick

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 8", Weight 225 lb.
• Debut September 24, 1939
• Final Game July 6, 1944
• Born September 6, 1917 in Berlin, PA USA
• Died October 12, 2005 in Stockton, CA USA

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Biographical Information

Mike Naymick was working in a West Virginia steel mill and toiling for the company's baseball team when he signed with the Cleveland Indians and assigned to the Springfield Indians of the Middle Atlantic League in 1937; he went 8-7 with a 5.79 ERA and was assigned to another class C club in 1938, going to the Oswego Netherlands.

He set a Canadian-American League record with 230 strikeouts (the record was later broken), 181 walks and a record 37 wild pitches in 213 innings and went 10-12 with a 4.18 ERA. In one game he walked 11 batters in under 3 innings of work. He went 13-10 with a 4.63 in the Three-I League the next year and was a late-season call-up to the Indians.

He spent the next 5 years bouncing between Cleveland and the minors (he went 12-18 in the minors from '40-'44). While the team was impressed with his speed (Jimmie Foxx said he threw harder than Bob Feller), he could not develop good control.

The 6' 8" man with the size 15 shoe was turned down by the military due to his size.

Naymick's career finished up in the St. Louis Cardinals system in 1944.

Sources: "Baseball's Canadian-American League" by David Pietrusza and Pat Doyle's Old-Time Professional Baseball Player Database