Mike Chartak
From BR Bullpen
Michael George Chartak (Shotgun)
- Bats Left, Throws Left
- Height 6' 2", Weight 180 lb.
- Debut September 13, 1940
- Final Game September 27, 1944
- Born April 28, 1916 in Brooklyn, NY USA
- Died July 25, 1967 in Cedar Rapids, IA USA
[edit] Biographical Information
Mike Chartak was 25 when World War II started. He played for the New York Yankees, Washington Senators and St. Louis Browns in 1940 and from 1942 to 1944. He had 10 home runs in both 1942 and 1943, each years in which he had around 390 at-bats. In the 1944 World Series he was a pinch-hitter in Games 5 and 6.
Chartak was an outfielder on the 1938 Newark Bears, one of the great minor league teams with a record of 104-48. During seven seasons in the minors, he posted a batting average of .306 and a slugging percentage of .509.
The book As Good As it Got: The 1944 Browns has a photo of him, and says he was working at a war plant job until May 1944 when he joined the Browns to play fulltime.
In April 1945 it was discovered the had tuberculosis in his left lung and he stopped playing baseball.
Doctors discovered spots on Chartak's lungs during a preinduction military examination. He had tuberculosis and was sent to a sanatorium. Over the next 23 years, Chartak spent the majority of his time in sanatoriums. He died of Pulmonary Tuberculosis on July 25, 1967 at a sanatorium in Oakdale, Iowa.
The Deadball Era site lists him as a bartender after his baseball days.
The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract gives "The Volga Batman" as a nickname of Chartak.
