finalyear death_date debutyear statvalue finalteam birth_date death_place finaldate image statlabel debutteam name throws caption birth_place debutdate bats position article_title
1953 14 august 1999 1940 .271 87 385 detroit tigers 1 november 1917 brownsville , pennsylvania september 27 pat mullin 1953.jpg batting average home runs runs batted in detroit tigers pat mullin right mullin in 1953 . fayette county , pennsylvania september 18 left outfielder pat mullin

pat mullin

patrick joseph mullin -lrb- november 1 , 1917 -- august 14 , 1999 -rrb- was a major league baseball outfielder for the detroit tigers from 1940 to 1941 and 1946 to 1953 .
born in trotter , near connellsville in fayette county , pennsylvania , mullin was signed by the tigers before the 1937 season as a 19-year-old amateur free agent .
a left-handed hitter who threw right-handed , mullin was listed at and .
mullin reached the major leagues at age 22 in the final week of the 1940 season , going hitless in four at bats .
the tigers won the american league pennant in 1940 , but mullin did not play in the world series .
he started the 1941 season in the minor leagues at buffalo , but was brought back up midseason and made a big impression , batting .345 with a .400 on-base percentage and a .509 slugging percentage .
in just 54 games , mullin had 76 hits , scored 42 runs , and 21 extra base hits .
based on his performance in 1941 , mullin appeared to be a rising star .
however , world war ii intervened and mullin joined the united states army , missing four full seasons during the prime of his athletic life from ages 25 -- 28 .
mullin returned to the tigers after the war in 1946 and became a solid performer .
his best seasons were 1947 and 1948 , the only seasons he played in more than 110 games .
in 1947 , mullin was among the american league leaders with 28 doubles and 49 extra base hits .
he was elected to the american league all star team and finished the 1947 season with a .459 on-base percentage , a .470 slugging percentage and an ops -lrb- on-base plus slugging -rrb- rating of .829 .
in 1948 , mullin was again chosen for the all star team .
he finished the 1948 campaign with a .385 on-base percentage -lrb- driven by 143 hits and 77 bases on balls -rrb- and a .504 slugging percentage -- 8th best in the al. .
his ops rating in 1948 was .889 ops -- 7th best in the al behind the likes of hall of famers ted williams , joe dimaggio , and lou boudreau .
mullin was also among the 1948 league leaders in triples -lrb- 22 -rrb- , home runs -lrb- 23 -rrb- , and at bats per home run -lrb- 21.6 -rrb- .
after the 1948 season , mullin played largely as a reserve outfielder and left-handed hitting pinch hitter .
on june 26 , 1949 , mullin hit three home runs in a single game .
mullin had 57 pinch hitting appearances in 1953 .
mullin retired at the end of the 1953 season , a month shy of his 36th birthday .
in ten major league seasons , mullin played in 834 games for the tigers , 637 as an outfielder and the rest as a pinch hitter .
he finished with a career .271 batting average , 676 hits , and 385 rbis , a .358 on-base percentage , .453 slugging percentage , and .811 ops rating .
mullin remained in baseball after his playing days ended as a scout , minor league manager and -lrb- from mid-1963 through 1966 -rrb- first-base coach for the tigers , and a coach for the cleveland indians -lrb- 1967 -rrb- and montréal expos -lrb- 1979 -- 81 -rrb- .
he died at age 81 in brownsville , pennsylvania , and is buried at lafayette memorial park , in brownsville , pennsylvania .
