Frank Mancuso

Who was Frank Mancuso?

Frank Octavius Mancuso was a catcher in Major League Baseball who played for two teams between 1944 and 1947. Listed at 6 ft 0 in, 195 lb., Mancuso batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Houston, Texas. His older brother, Gus Mancuso, also was a major league catcher. Following his 18-year baseball career, Mancuso almost certainly had the longest continuous tenure of any elected city official in Houston history.

Mancuso began playing baseball in 1937 in the minor league system of the New York Giants. After hitting .417 for Fort Smith in 1938, the Giants moved him up to their major league roster for the entire 1939 season as a third string catcher, but he did not get into a single game during the regular season. That disappointment was offset by the opportunity he had to warm up pitcher Carl Hubbell, and sharing the company of other great Giants like OF Mel Ott and manager Bill Terry. He was sent back to the minors before the 1940 season.

After hitting .300 or more in three minor league seasons, Mancuso entered the U.S. Army as a paratrooper at Fort Benning, Georgia in December 1942 and was on his way to an accident that forever altered the course of his baseball career. In 1943, he suffered a broken back and leg when his chute opened late and improperly. He almost died from his injuries and was subsequently discharged from the service for medical reasons. A part of his injury was an unfortunate condition for a catcher, where in looking straight up caused him to lose the flow of oxygen to the brain, and he would pass out. As a result, he never regained all of his mobility after the parachute jump and was never responsible for catching pop-ups.