1940

Marvin Owen was born on March 22, 1906, in Agnew, California. He attended San Jose High, and then transferred to Bellarmine College Preparatory, a Catholic school in the town. Besides playing for his school teams, he also played games for several semipro teams when it did not conflict with the school team’s schedule.

At the insistence of his mother, Marv spent four years at Santa Clara college. At Santa Clara, he continued to star in baseball while also playing on a number of local teams in the summers. Throughout these years he received many offers from major-league and Pacific Coast League teams. He drew raves for his hitting and for his play at first base. He left Santa Clara with a degree in physical education in May 1930.

When word got out that Marv had agreed to sign with Seattle in the PCL after his graduation, he lost his eligibility and could not play his senior season. Though he joined the club late, he played 105 games in the Coast League, mostly at shortstop because of an injury to the incumbent, and hit .300. This performance led to his sale to the Detroit Tigers and in his rookie 1931 season with the Tigers he played shortstop, first base, and third base, and hit just .223 before being optioned to Toronto for the final six weeks of the season. 

He spent all of 1932 in the minors, with Toronto and Newark, and hit a combined .317 with 63 extra-base hits.  For his efforts, he was named the MVP of the International League. 

For 1933, Tigers manager Bucky Harris awarded the third-base position to Marv and he kept it, hitting .262.  In 1934, he had his greatest year in baseball, batting .317. He played all 154 games, and helped form one of the best-hitting infields in history, with Hank Greenberg, Charlie Gehringer, and Bill Rogell. The Tigers offense scored 957 runs, well more than anyone else, and won the pennant by seven games over the Yankees.  In the hard-fought seven-game World Series loss to the Cardinals, Marv managed just two singles in 29 at-bats.

In 1935, the Tigers won the pennant again in 1935, though Marv slumped to .263. He had another disappointing World Series, going just 1-for-20.

His bat recovered in 1936, as he hit .295 with a career-high nine home runs. After hitting .288 in 107 games in 1937, he was part of a six-player trade that landed him on the Chicago White Sox.  He started all of 1938, batted .288, but lost his third-base job early the next season.

Sold to the Red Sox after the 1939 season, Marv found playing time even harder to come by. After he got into 20 games, and batted .211, his major-league career was over.

Marv spent the next six years with the Portland Beavers of the Pacific Coast League. He hit over .290 in the first five of those seasons, and by 1944 he had become the player-manager. In 1945 the Beavers won the PCL title with the 39-year-old managing and hitting .311 as the third baseman. 

After leaving Portland, and his playing career, Marv managed five years in his hometown of San Jose, and later for Davenport, Durham, and Valdosta.  Beginning in 1955 he scouted for the Tigers. He retired in 1973 and spent several years volunteering with the baseball team at Santa Clara.

Marv Owen passed away on June 22, 1991 in Mountain View, California, at the age of 85, having suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.