In a 12-season career, Tresh posted a .249 batting average with two home runs and 297 RBI in 1027 games played. His best season was 1940, when he batted .281 with 64 RBIs, 62 runs, and 135 hits—all career-highs. Tresh was durable enough to catch all 150 White Sox games in 1945, and is just one of three 20th century catchers to catch every one of an MLB team's games in a season. The others are Frankie Hayes (Philadelphia Phillies) and Ray Mueller (Cincinnati Reds), each with 155 games caught in 1944.
After having suffered from a heart attack earlier in the year,[3] Tresh died from cancer at the age of 52 in Detroit, Michigan,[4][5] and is interred at Michigan Memorial Park in Flat Rock, Michigan.[6]
Early life
Tresh was born in Hazleton, Pennsylvania[7] to Michael Tresh, a Galician immigrant, and Mary, a Pennsylvania native. He grew up with three sisters; Anna, Katherine, and Margaret. In the 1920s, his family moved from Pennsylvania to Detroit, and Michael worked as a truck driver before becoming a baseball player. [8][9] In the late 1930s, he moved in with his wife Doris's family in Allen Park, where his wife gave birth to their son, Thomas Michael Tresh.[10]
^Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. Volume 7: September, 1964-August, 1967. New York: H.W. Wilson Co., 1968. (BioIn 7) Who's Who in Professional Baseball. By Gene Karst and Martin J. Jones, Jr. New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House Publishers, 1973. (WhoProB)
^Ancestry.com. U.S., Professional Baseball Player Profiles, 1876-2004 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004
^"Mike Tresh". retrosheet.org. Retrosheet, Inc. Retrieved November 19, 2010.
^National Archives at St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; WWII Draft Registration Cards for Michigan, 10/16/1940-03/31/1947; Record Group: Records of the Selective Service System, 147; Box: 1216
