While Heath played most of his games as a catcher, he started his professional baseball career as a shortstop and played every position except pitcher during his major league career. He played 1,083 games at catcher, 142 games in right field, 79 games in left field, 39 games as a DH, 38 games at third base, four games each at first base and shortstop, and one game each at second base and center field.
Careeredit
Heath during his one season with the St.Louis Cardinals, 1986.
Drafted by the New York Yankees in the second round of the 1973 Major League Baseball draft, Heath made his major league debut with the team on June 3, 1978, at the age of 23. He hit .228 in 33 games with the 1978 Yankees and appeared in one game of the 1978 World Series.
Heath was known for his strong throwing arm. In 1989, playing with the Detroit Tigers, Heath led the AL's catchers with 66 assists and 10 double plays.
Heath singled in his last plate appearance vs. the Cincinnati Reds on July 2, 1991.
mike, heath, baseball, other, people, with, same, name, michael, heath, disambiguation, michael, thomas, heath, born, february, 1955, american, former, professional, baseball, catcher, played, seasons, major, league, baseball, with, york, yankees, 1978, oaklan. For other people with the same name see Michael Heath disambiguation Michael Thomas Heath born February 5 1955 is an American former professional baseball catcher He played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball MLB with the New York Yankees 1978 Oakland Athletics 1979 1985 St Louis Cardinals 1986 Detroit Tigers 1986 1990 and Atlanta Braves 1991 Mike HeathHeath in 1978CatcherBorn 1955 02 05 February 5 1955 age 69 Tampa Florida U S Batted RightThrew RightMLB debutJune 3 1978 for the New York YankeesLast MLB appearanceJuly 2 1991 for the Atlanta BravesMLB statisticsBatting average 252Home runs86Runs batted in469TeamsNew York Yankees 1978 Oakland Athletics 1979 1985 St Louis Cardinals 1986 Detroit Tigers 1986 1990 Atlanta Braves 1991 Career highlights and awardsWorld Series champion 1978 While Heath played most of his games as a catcher he started his professional baseball career as a shortstop and played every position except pitcher during his major league career He played 1 083 games at catcher 142 games in right field 79 games in left field 39 games as a DH 38 games at third base four games each at first base and shortstop and one game each at second base and center field Career edit nbsp Heath during his one season with the St Louis Cardinals 1986 Drafted by the New York Yankees in the second round of the 1973 Major League Baseball draft Heath made his major league debut with the team on June 3 1978 at the age of 23 He hit 228 in 33 games with the 1978 Yankees and appeared in one game of the 1978 World Series On November 10 1978 the Yankees traded Heath Sparky Lyle Larry McCall Dave Rajsich Domingo Ramos and cash to the Texas Rangers for Dave Righetti Juan Beniquez Mike Griffin Paul Mirabella and Greg Jemison 1 The following June after never playing at the major league level for Texas Heath was traded to the Oakland Athletics where he got substantial playing time in seven seasons with the Athletics Heath hit 333 for the A s in the 1981 American League Championship Series While with the A s Heath caught Mike Warren s no hitter on September 29 1983 2 After a season in which he batted 250 with 13 home runs Heath was traded along with Tim Conroy from the Athletics to the Cardinals for Joaquin Andujar during the Winter Meetings on December 10 1985 The Cardinals were in need of a catcher after releasing Darrell Porter and having only a barely tested Tom Nieto on its depth chart 3 Heath was known for his strong throwing arm In 1989 playing with the Detroit Tigers Heath led the AL s catchers with 66 assists and 10 double plays Heath singled in his last plate appearance vs the Cincinnati Reds on July 2 1991 In 1325 games over 14 seasons Heath posted a 252 batting average 1061 for 4212 with 462 runs 173 doubles 27 triples 86 home runs 469 RBI 54 stolen bases and 278 bases on balls He finished his career with an overall 981 fielding percentage In nine postseason games he batted 190 4 for 21 with 2 runs 1 home run and 2 RBI References edit Chass Murray 1978 11 11 Yankees Send Lyle To Rangers The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 2023 09 14 Retrosheet Boxscore Oakland Athletics 3 Chicago White Sox 0 www retrosheet org Durso Joseph Cardinals Trade Andujar to A s The New York Times Wednesday December 11 1985 Retrieved January 21 2023 External links editCareer statistics and player information from Baseball Reference Mike Heath Baseballbiography com Portals nbsp Biography nbsp Baseball Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Mike Heath baseball amp oldid 1180265717, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
