Mystery of "mungo" (from Van Lingle Mungo?)

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I was looking for "san man" and spotted a "mungo." 
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The HDAS has "mongo {orig. unk.]." There are citations from 1985 and 1995,  
and both involve Brooklyn.
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Grant Barrett made a "mongo" entry on Double-Tongued Word Wrester. He noted  
that the term was spotted as "mungo" in the 1938 WPA Lexicon of Trade  Jargon.
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I think this may answer the question. If the term is "mungo," and if it's  
from the 1930s, and if it's from Brooklyn, all signs point to a spread from the  
Brooklyn Dodger pitcher Van Lingle Mungo. Was he known for throwing garbage  
pitches?
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I'll try to check "mungo" and "hero sandwich" at the Brooklyn Historical  
Society Library. It's now open "by appointment." It's been closed for renovation  
for what, five years, ten years now?
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The continuing digitization of the Brooklyn Eagle will help, but don't hold  
your breath on that.
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(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
 
2 June 1984, New York <i>Times</i>, pg. 27:
Other furnishings are of the "mungo" variety, a term used by sanitation  
workers for objects retrieved from the trash.
(...)
Part of the show will be "San-man's Place," an actual outdated sanitation  
office moved piece by piece to the gallery.

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_http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/dictionary/mongo/_ 
(http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/dictionary/mongo/) 
mongo n. material or goods salvaged from items intended for  disposal.  
_English._ (http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/newcats/C112/)   _NYC._ 
(http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/newcats/C54/)   _Slang._ 
(http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/newcats/C36/)    
(http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/newcats/C8/)  _United  States._ 
(http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/newcats/C8/)  New evidence from the unpublished  Lexicon of Trade Jargon, 
compiled by the Works Progress Administration,  has a form of this word from before 
1938: mungo, referring to the person  who salvages discarded items, rather 
than the things being salvaged. This term  appears to be specific to New York 
City.   
1984 James Brooke New York Times (Sept.  10) “Sanitation Art Showings 
Brighten Workers’ Image” p. B4: Other exhibits at  the gallery were a 
1,500-square-foot transparent map showing the locations of  Sanitation Department offices; 
three piles of televisions on which videotapes of  sanitation workers were 
shown, and an old, department-section office furnished  in “mongo,” discarded 
furniture salvaged by  sanitation men. 1996 Mierle Laderman Ukeles  
(http://www.hints.hu/backinfo/sanitationart295.pdf) 
(Spring)  “Interview: Mierle Laderman Ukeles on Maintenance and Sanitaton Art”
 p. 20 @ _Dialogues in Public  Art_ 
(http://www.hints.hu/backinfo/sanitationart295.pdf)  (2001) Tom Finkelpearl: Besides furniture and bathroom, I crammed  
the section with a decor of “Mongo,” items workers  selected from the waste 
flow, that they refused to put in the truck—art,  religious figures, dolls.  
2004 Jane and Michael Stern _New York  Times_ 
(http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/books/review/20STERNL.html)  (June 20) “‘Mongo’: I Love Trash”:  “Mongo” 
is slang for garbage salvaged from streets  and trash heaps. Any rubbish can 
qualify, whether it’s edible, wearable, useful  or indescribable.  
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