Ralph Kiner

Infobox MLB retired
name=Ralph Kiner
position=Outfielder


bats=Right
throws=Right
birthdate=birth date and age|1922|10|27
city-state|Santa Rita|New Mexico
debutdate=April 12
debutyear=by|1946
debutteam=Pittsburgh Pirates
finaldate=September 25
finalyear=by|1955
finalteam=Cleveland Indians
stat1label=Batting average
stat1value=.279
stat2label=Home runs
stat2value=369
stat3label=Runs batted in
stat3value=1,105
teams=
* Pittsburgh Pirates (by|1946-by|1953)
* Chicago Cubs (by|1953-by|1954)
* Cleveland Indians (by|1955)
highlights=
* 6x All-Star selection (1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953)
* Pittsburgh Pirates #4 retired
* Led NL in home runs from 1946-1952
hofdate=by|1975
hofvote=75.41%

Ralph McPherran Kiner (born October 27, 1922) is an American former Major League Baseball player and current announcer. Though constant injuries forced his retirement from the game after only ten seasons, Kiner's tremendous slugging output during his short career outpaced nearly all of his National League contemporaries between the years 1946 and 1954. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in by|1975

Playing career

Kiner was born in Santa Rita, New Mexico, and grew up in Alhambra, California. He made his major league debut on April 16, by|1946 with the Pittsburgh Pirates. In by|1947, he gained notice for hitting 51 home runs. Many of Kiner's homers were hit into a shortened left-field and left-center-field porch at Forbes Field, originally built for Hank Greenberg, and known in the press as "Greenberg Gardens"; the porch was retained for Kiner and redubbed by the media as "Kiner's Korner".("Lost Ballparks", Lawrence Ritter, Penguin Books, 1992, p.66-67) Kiner would later use "Kiner's Korner" as the title of his post-game TV show in New York. [http://www.baseball-almanac.com/quotes/quokiner.shtml]

In by|1949, Kiner topped his by|1947 total with 54 home runs, falling just two short of Hack Wilson's National League record. It was the highest total in the major leagues from by|1939 to by|1960, and the highest National League total from by|1931 to by|1997. It made Kiner the first National League player with two fifty-plus seasons. Kiner also matched his peak of 127 RBIs. From by|1947 to by|1951, Kiner topped 40 home runs and 100 RBIs each season. His string of seasons leading the league in home runs reached seven in by|1952, when he hit 37. This was also the last of a record six consecutive seasons in which he led Major League Baseball in home runs, all under the guidance of manager Billy Meyer and Pirate great Honus Wagner. He was selected to participate in the All-Star Game in six straight seasons, by|1948 to by|1953. [http://www.baseball-reference.com/k/kinerra01.shtml] He holds (by himself) the major league record of eight home runs in four consecutive multi-homer games, a mark that he set in September, 1947.

A quote variously attributed to Kiner himself, as well as to teammates talking about Kiner, was "Home run hitters drive Cadillacs and singles hitters drive Fords." [http://bioproj.sabr.org/bioproj.cfm?a=v&v=a&bid=1066&pid=7516] Footage of Kiner hitting a homer in Forbes Field can be seen in the 1951 film, "Angels in the Outfield".Fact|date=July 2008

On June 4, by|1953, Kiner was sent to the Chicago Cubs as part of a ten player trade. This was largely due to continued salary disputes with Pirate general manager Branch Rickey, who reportedly told Kiner, "We finished last with you, we can finish last without you." (This may be an all-purpose baseball quote, as a similar comment was reportedly made by Casey Stengel in reference to a possible trade of Van Lingle Mungo - "The Gospel According to Casey", p.6)

Kiner played the rest of the 1953 season and all of by|1954 with the Cubs, and finished his career with the Cleveland Indians in by|1955; a back injury forced him out of baseball at that point. He retired at the age of 32. At the end of his ten seasons, he had amassed 369 home runs and 1019 runs batted in to go along with a career .279 batting average.

Kiner was not known for speed. In contrast to radio's "Quiz Kids" or the 1950 Philadelphia Phillies "Whiz Kids", according to Chicago columnist Mike Royko the 1950s Cubs had an outfield "that was so slow they were known as the Quicksand Kids." Hank Sauer played left field, Frank Baumholtz played center field, and Kiner split his time between left, center and right field. ("One More Time: The Best of Mike Royko", University of Chicago, 1999, p.29-31)

Broadcasting career

In by|1961, Kiner made his way into the broadcast booth with the Chicago White Sox. The next year, Kiner, along with Lindsey Nelson and Bob Murphy, started announcing the games of the expansion New York Mets on WOR-TV in New York. The trio rotated announcing duties on the Mets' radio broadcasts, as well. Among Kiner's jobs on WOR-TV was to host a post-game show known as "Kiner's Korner".

Kiner was known for his occasional malapropisms, usually connected with getting people's names wrong, such as calling broadcasting partner Tim McCarver as "Tim MacArthur". He even once called himself "Ralph Korner". [http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1119482/index.htm]

Despite a bout with Bell's palsy, which left him with slightly slurred speech,cite news
last = Sandomir
first = Richard
coauthors =
title = Kiner Signs A 2-Year Deal
work = The New York Times
pages =
language =
publisher = The New York Times Company
date = 1999-03-12
url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F04E1D9143EF931A25750C0A96F958260
accessdate = 2008-05-06] Kiner is still broadcasting, entering his 46th year of doing Mets broadcasts as of the start of the 2008 baseball season, though only as an occasionally guest analyst. He is the only broadcaster to survive all of the Mets history; Nelson had left the Mets for the San Francisco Giants in by|1979, and Murphy retired in by|2003. (Nelson died in 1995 and Murphy in 2004.) Kiner's traditional home-run call -- "it is gone, goodbye" or "that ball is gone, goodbye" -- is a signature phrase in baseball.

Legacy

Kiner was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in by|1975. [http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers/detail.jsp?playerId=117072] Kiner had garnered 273 votes by the Baseball Writers Association, one more than the minimum required for election. It was in his final year of eligibility, and it was the closest call possible for any player elected by the BBWAA. (He would have had a chance later with the Veteran's Committee had he not been elected by the BBWAA). Kiner was also the only player voted in that year. [http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/enterworkflow.do?flowId=playerDetails.playerDetails&searchType=sort] [http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers/voting_year.jsp?year=1975]

Kiner was also elected to the New York Mets Hall of Fame in by|1984. [http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/nym/history/nym_history_halloffame.jsp]

The Pittsburgh Pirates retired his uniform number 4 in by|1987. [http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/pit/history/retired_numbers.jsp]

The Sporting News placed him at number 90 on its by|1999 list of "The 100 Greatest Baseball Players", and he was one of the 100 finalists for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team that year. The Mets honored him with an on-field ceremony on "Ralph Kiner Night" at Shea Stadium on Saturday, July 14, 2007. On that night, fans were handed out photos of Kiner. Tom Seaver was present on that night. Seaver gave a commemorative speech recalling Kiner's legacy. Other guests of note were Yogi Berra, Bob Feller, and broadcaster Ernie Harwell. As a present from the Mets, Kiner received a cruise of his choice. [cite web
url=http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070715/SPORTS01/707150395/1108
title=Kiner honored before Mets game
accessdate=2007-07-15
author=Brian Heyman
last=Heyman
first=Brian
date=2007-07-15
publisher= [http://www.thejournalnews.com The Journal News] ] Dead link|date=September 2007

See also

* 50 home run club
* Hitting for the cycle
* List of Major League Baseball Home Run Records
* List of top 500 Major League Baseball home run hitters
* List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI
* List of Major League Baseball RBI champions
* List of Major League Baseball home run champions
* List of Major League Baseball runs scored champions
* Major League Baseball hitters with three home runs in one game
* Major League Baseball titles leaders

References

External links

*bbhof|117072
*baseballstats |mlb= |espn= |br=k/kinerra01 |fangraphs=1006923 |cube=K/ralph-kiner
* [http://www.cmgww.com/baseball/kiner/index.htm Ralph Kiner official site (CMG Worldwide)]
* [http://www.baseball-almanac.com/quotes/quokiner.shtml Famous Kiner quotes (Baseball Almanac)]
* [http://www.rotowire.com/baseball/c_stats.htm?id=kinerra01 Statistics at Rotowire]