Mike Pasquella

Michael John Pasquella
(Toney)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 167 lb.
• School Villanova University
• High School Roman Catholic High School
• Debut July 9, 1919
• Final Game July 31, 1919
• Born November 7, 1898 in Philadelphia, PA USA
• Died April 5, 1965 in Bridgeport, CT USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Born in Philadelphia, PA, Mike Pasquella was at Villanova University from 1917-1919 and on July 9, 1919, made his major league debut with the Philadelphia Phillies, getting a single. Later that month he found himself with the St. Louis Cardinals, where he got one more at-bat, ending his major league career at age 20 with a .500 batting average.

Mike also managed five seasons in the minors, beginning in 1926. That brings up the question of what he did from 1920 to 1925, and it's a bit of a puzzle, as shown below.

Mike played some games in the minors for the Waco Navigators in 1919. As for the rest of his minor league career, it is unclear. The minor league database shows no other Mike Pasquella, but it does show a couple entries for a John Pasquella, and Mike's middle name was John. There is also an entry for just "Pasquella". The main problem is that there was a contemporary of Mike called Dan Pasquella who played in the minors from 1920-1937. Dan and "John" sometimes played on the same team, and once it appears that Mike managed Dan, but it is possible that some of Dan's long record might have been misattributed to Dan instead of to Mike. That this is possible is shown by an article [1] which refers to Dan, not Mike, as the manager of the 1926 Crisfield Crabbers. In any case, the database formally shows only that Mike played in 1919 and then suddenly re-appeared as a minor league manager in 1926.

His real name was apparently Michael Pasquariello. There are, however, no known minor leaguers with that last name.

Related Sites

• Mike Pasquella at the SABR Bio Project