Mankovitch pitched in minors, Japan
North Union standout Frank Mankovitch was one of several Fayette County products to join the ranks of professional baseball during the 1950s and 1960s.
He followed the route of a lot of players, attending a tryout camp and making an impression on the Baltimore Orioles scouting staff.
Mankovitch graduated from North Union High School in 1955 after pitching three seasons in high school. He also pitched in the Fayette County League for three years as a member of the Lemont mound staff and he pitched two seasons for the Youngstown entry.
The lanky 19-year-old right-hander signed a contact with the Orioles in June of 1957 following a two-day tryout in Brownsville.
Mankovitch reported to the Kingsport, Tenn., team in the Class D Appalachian League. He posted a 3-7 record in 1957 with a 3.96 ERA. He had a solid season with Dublin in the Georgia-Florida League in 1958, going 12-9 with a 4.41 ERA.
In 1959 at Class C Aberdeen, S.D., he appeared in 14 games, but wasn’t happy with his role on the pitching staff.
“I asked to be used either as a starter or given my release and I got the latter,” Mankovitch told the Evening Standard.
At Aberdeen, which was overstocked with bonus pitching talent, the North Union youngster was given only one start. The rest of the time he was used strictly as a reliever and didn’t feel he was able to show his best that way.
When Mankovitch left Aberdeen, he had pitched only 26 innings and had a 1-2 record while giving up 13 earned runs and 31 hits. He notched 17 strikeouts and issued 13 walks. In contrast, the previous season in Dublin, Mankovitch pitched 194 innings.
Mankovitch then signed a contract with the St. Louis Cardinals organization and reported to Class A York in the Eastern League. In eight games, including three starts, he went 1-2 with a 3.48 ERA.
In 1960, Mankovitch pitched with the Little Rock Travelers, who were not affiliated with a Major League team at the time. The team was owned by its fans, something unusual in professional sports. In 1960, shares were sold to fans to ensure that the team would not leave Little Rock.
At the age of 23, Mankovitch appeared in 32 games for the Travelers (22 starts) and posted a record of 8-10 with a 5.09 ERA.
While pitching for Little Rock, Mankovitch was involved in a most unusual play.
Rod Kanehl was standing on third in a bases-loaded, none-out situation at home in Nashville (Southern Association) in the second game of a doubleheader on July 17, 1960. With the score tied at 5-5, Mankovitch fell behind in the count to Crawford Davidson at the plate.
When catcher Don (Stumpy) Williams started for the mound to settle down his pitcher, Kanehl noticed that he had not asked the umpire for time out.
As Williams neared the mound, Kanehl broke for the plate and scored easily with the winning run.
Nashville manager, Jim Turner, coaching at third base, said it was the first time in his 38-year career in organized baseball that he had seen such a play.
Mankovitch was recalled to Fort Bragg during a military buildup for the Berlin crisis in 1961. After returning from the military, Mankovitch latched on in the Kansas City A’s organization and pitched for Portsmouth-Norfolk of the Class A Sally League. He was 0-1 there with a 5.27 ERA. He then wound up with the Class AA Mobile Bears of the Southern Association, an affiliate of the expansion New York Mets.
“I felt I had a good spring with Mobile,” Mankovitch stated. “I was going to get the starting assignment for the opening game, but a leg injury put me in the hospital and I was out of action for almost three weeks. When I got back they couldn’t wait for me to work my way back to top form, so I obtained my release.”
Mankovitch appeared in eight games with Mobile and struggled with a 1-2 record and 7.40 ERA.
He made a couple of appearances in the County League before joining the New York Yankees farm system. Mankovitch was headed to Class AA Raleigh. In the County League he hurled a seven-hit win for Pal’s Club and contributed three hits to his own cause in a 10-4 win over Marianna.
“I feel the leg won’t cause me any more trouble,” Mankovitch said. “I’m happy to have the opportunity in the Yankee farm system.”
Mankovitch did not stick with Raleigh and ended up pitching in the Japanese Pacific League with the Daimai Dragons in 1962. He appeared in 12 games with the Dragons, pitching 29 innings and posting a 0-0 record with a 3.72 ERA. After being released by Daimai he tried to latch on with the Mainichi Orions. An interesting note about Mankovitch’s time in Japan: His last name was difficult for Japanese to write and pronounce, but they couldn’t shorten it since it would have sounded like a certain dirty Japanese word, so they settled on Manny.
After baseball, Mankovitch had an interesting career in business. He formed a company in Georgia, Manko Enterprises, and another, DT&S Enterprises, in Atlanta. Countless aspiring entrepreneurs were swept up by the spirit of the Olympic Games when they came to Atlanta in 1996. Mankovitch, bankrupt and bitter, was one of the many entrepreneurs who lost money on the Olympics.
He bounced back and had the exclusive license to put Jackie Robinson’s likeness on T-shirts during the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s major league debut in 1997.
Mankovitch was involved a high-profile court case in 2011. The Georgia Supreme Court ruled against two men who sought $5 million in damages from the Georgia Lottery Corporation in a lawsuit over the logo. The suit was filed by George Kyle, who obtained a registered trademark for the logo and game in 1995, and Mankovitch, with whom Kyle had been given the exclusive right to market the game. The state Supreme Court said the Georgia Lottery is shielded from liability by sovereign immunity. The court also said that Kyle and Mankovitch had failed to legally establish trademark rights for their logo.
On March 27, 2011, Mankovitch died at the age of 74 in Statesboro, Georgia.