the World Championship. The Dodgers did not return to the World Series until 1947 and didn't win the series until 1955. A member of the National League's All-Star team for four consecutive seasons, from 1941 to , in Owen became the first player to pinch-hit a home run in an All-Star game, and during the 1944 regular season, he became the third National League catcher to ever record an unassisted double play. Owen played for Brooklyn until the end of the 1945 season. He then served in the Navy at the end of World War II. After his discharge from the military in 1946, Owen expected to return to Brooklyn, but he failed to reach an agreement with the Dodgers and signed a contract to be a player-manager in the Mexican League, which was then outside of organized baseball and offering MLB players constrained by the reserve clause higher pay to "jump" their contracts. Other big leaguers who fled to Mexico included Alex Carrasquel, Danny Gardella, Max Lanier, Sal Maglie, Luis Olmo, Fred Martin, and (briefly) Vern Stephens, attracted by very good salaries. In retaliation for the defections, Commissioner Happy Chandler sought a lifetime suspension for all of them, although his initial penalty was later reduced to three years. Owen's suspension was lifted in June . By then, Roy Campanella and Bruce Edwards were entrenched as Brooklyn's catchers. Owen was claimed off waivers on July 2 by the Chicago Cubs and he returned to the majors on July 4 against the Cardinals at Wrigley Field. Starting at catcher, he went hitless in three at bats (ironically, against Lanier and Martin, whose suspensions had also been lifted the month before, and who pitched for St. Louis that day). Owen played for the Cubs through the 1951 season, became a player-manager with the Norfolk Tars in the Yankees' farm system, then finished his major league playing career with the Boston Red Sox in 1954. Following his retirement as a player, Owen spent two seasons (1955–56) as a Red Sox coach, managed the Jacksonville Braves of the Sally League for part of the 1957 campaign, then worked for the Cubs as a scout. He returned to the Ozarks and founded the Mickey Owen Baseball School on Route 66 near Miller, Missouri, in 1959. Owen sold the school in 1963, but remained an instructor until the 1980s. Notable alumni include Michael Jordan, Joe Girardi,