Happy Birthday to the late and great Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner. In a career that only lasted ten seasons, mainly for the Pittsburgh Pirates and also for the Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians, Kiner made the most of what would be a Hall of Fame career. Kiner, who played primarily as a Left Fielder, wasn’t well known as a good fielder, having an above average Fielding Percentage throughout his career. But let’s just say that his bat did all the talking.

Career Statistics/Accolades (1946-1953):

.279 BA 1,451 HITS 369 HR 1,015 RBI .398 OBP 971 RUNS

  • 6x All-Star

In his first few seasons, he was teammates with fellow Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg, who was at the end of his career and gave him advice during their short time as teammates. While he led the NL his rookie year with 23 home runs, he led the majors with 51 the following year while striking out under 100 times. The old Forbes Field was once built for Hank Greenberg with a shortened left-field and left-center-field porch, and now it was made for a new right-handed slugger named Ralph Kiner. After Greenberg retired, they went from calling “Greenberg Gardens” to “Kiner’s Korner.” In his first eight seasons, Kiner led the league or majors seven times in Home Runs and had six seasons featuring 100 Walks, Runs & RBIs. While he was known for being a pure slugger, Kiner did bat over .300 three times. 

The final couple of years saw Kiner miss time due to back problems and called it quits at the age of 32. Also, please consider that his career started a little late due to serving in the United States Navy during WWII. So, between the two that kept him from the game, you’re talking about another guy in the 500 HR and 1,500 RBI club. Everyone, especially Met fans, knows he became the Broadcaster in 1962 when the Mets arrived as a new franchise. That was his forever gig because he sat in the chair until the day he died. It took until his final year of eligibility, but in 1975, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1987, the Pirates retired his #4 jersey and, in 2022, put him in their team’s Hall of Fame in its inaugural class. Also, in 1999, he was ranked #90 on The Sporting News list of 100 Greatest Ballplayers.

References:

  1. Ralph Kiner via Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Kiner#
  2. Ralph Kiner Career Statistics via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kinerra01.shtml