hit .302 for the season. He also substituted well in center field when Dom DiMaggio was injured. During his big-league career (1947–56), Mele saw duty with six major league clubs: the Red Sox, Washington Senators, Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians, batting .267 with 80 home runs in 1,046 games. His 916 hits also included 168 doubles, 39 triples, 406 runs and 311 bases on balls. Although he never duplicated his .302 rookie batting average, Mele had two strong back-to-back seasons for Washington in 1950–51. Playing as the Senators' regular right fielder, he drove home 86 and 94 runs and led the American League in doubles with 36 in . In , he knocked in 82 runs for the White Sox, second on the club. Defensively, Mele posted a .988 fielding percentage at all three outfield positions and at first base. Managing career Minnesota Twins Early managerial and coaching career Immediately after his playing career ended in the minor leagues in 1958, Mele became a scout for the Washington Senators. But in , on July 4, Mele joined the Major League coaching staff of the Senators under manager Cookie Lavagetto when Billy Jurges departed to become skipper of the Red Sox. He followed the franchise when it moved to Bloomington, Minnesota, as the Minnesota Twins in . With the maiden edition of the Twins struggling at 19–30 (.388) on June 6, 1961, Mele filled in as manager, winning two of seven games while Lavagetto took a leave of absence. Mele then formally succeeded to the job on June 23, 1961. The Twins moved up two places in the standings under Mele, going 45–49 (.479) and finishing seventh. But fortified by young players such as Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew, Jim Kaat, Zoilo Versalles and Bob Allison, the Twins challenged the powerful New York Yankees in before placing second. After finishing third in , the team suffered through a poor season in , leading to speculation that Mele would be replaced by his new third base coach, Billy Martin. 1965 American League championship Instead, Mele's 1965 Twins broke the Yankees' stranglehold on the American League pennant, as from 1947 to 1964, the Yankees had won all but three pennants. Led by Versalles, who was named the American League's Most Valuable Player, batting champion Tony Oliva, and pitcher Mudcat Grant, who won 21 games, Minnesota won 102 games—still