A Toronto convention... and a Toronto hitter (05/17/98)

A Toronto convention... and a Toronto hitter

by Paul Fenchak

When Ukrainians gather in Toronto for the 1998 Convention of the Ukrainian National Association beginning on May 15, some sports enthusiasts may recall a Ukrainian American who excelled in baseball for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Triple-A International League in the days before major league baseball arrived in 1977 under the name of the Blue Jays.

After a season split between Toronto and Philadelphia in 1949, Mike Goliat of Yatesboro, Pa., had the distinction of playing second base on the National League champion Philadelphia Phillies of 1950 - the year the Phillies won their first league championship since 1915, ridding themselves of the long-held description "futile Phillies." In the World Series the New York Yankees defeated the Phillies in four straight games, mostly on the strength of superb pitching and fielding, and not the traditional Yankee power hitting.

In 1950 Goliat hit 13 homers and batted in 64 runs, while compiling an average of .234 for Manager Eddie Sawyer's Phillies, a team on which Robin Roberts, Curt Simmons, Richie Ashburn, Jim Konstanty and Del Ennis rated front-line mentions.

In a minor league career that began in Vandergrift of the Middle Atlantic League in 1947 (12 HR, 86 RBI, .370 average) and in 1948 led to Wilmington of the Inter-State League (17 HR, 86 RBI, and .315 average, Goliat climbed into the higher echelons rapidly by hitting .286 with homers at Toronto of the International League until he was called to Philadelphia in the middle of the 1949 season.

After the 1950 championship season in Philadelphia, Golait slumped to a batting average of .225 in 1951 and was waived to the St. Louis Browns for the latter part of 1951 and the start of 1952.

For most of the 1952 season Goliat was back in Toronto, where he batted .290. From 1953 to 1958 he played various infield positions at Toronto and in 1956 he was named the International League's most valuable player, finishing third with 23 homers and driving in 83 runs with a .278 batting average. He was third with 28 homers in 1957 and fifth in 1958 with 22 round-trippers.

In six full seasons at Toronto he fell a fraction short of walloping an average of 20 homers per season, while also serving as a player-coach on four pennant winners.

Despite his good performances in the International League, fate denied Goliat a second chance to play in the major leagues.

It is ironic that a somewhat similar misfortune plagued the pitching great Robin Roberts of the 1950 Philadelphia champions, who by 1966 needed only 14 more wins to reach the celebrated marked of 300 big league victories. Roberts was advised to return to the minors and sharpen up, with the intention of being brought back to Philadelphia. He did well, but no recall notice ever arrived. In baseball circles, the adage might be that many are called but not all are chosen or recalled.

Goliat, who now resides in Seven Hills, Ohio, is the son of Michael and Caroline Melnyk Golait. Their home, town of Yatesboro, Pa., is not far from Vandergrift, where Mike broke into professional baseball and became a member of Vandergrift's all-time great team.

Steve Souchock, veteran major league player with the Yankees, White Sox and Tigers, who now scouts for Detroit, also hails from Yatesboro and is of Ukrainian ancestry. Both players are sons of immigrants who worked in the coal mining industry.

Paul Fenchak, is president of UNA Branch 320 in Baltimore. He is a life member of the Association of Professional Baseball Players of America and was a minor league pitcher and college coach.