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Ralph Kiner
#4
| Left Field | Pittsburgh
Pirates
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Ralph Kiner |
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| Ralph Kiner |
Signed by the Pirates for an $8,000 bonus, Kiner was a powerful right-handed slugger who became baseball's greatest home run hitter during the years after WWII. In a relatively brief career of 10 years, shortened by a back ailment, Ralph Kiner hit 369 home runs, winning or sharing the National League home run title in each of his first seven seasons in Pittsburgh. He topped out at 54 dingers in 1949, but he also had 51 in 1947. His ratio of 7.1 home runs per 100 at-bats is second only to Babe Ruth among retired players.
Kiner averaged better than 100 RBIs a season as he led the National League in slugging percentage three times.
He hit 27 home runs in two minor league seasons before the war. Following military service (1943-45), he became Pittsburgh's starting left fielder in 1946. Despite starting slowly, he hit 23 homers to tie the club record and lead the NL, the lowest total to lead the league since 1921. Kiner was the Pirates' first home run champion since 1906, and home attendance rose to its highest level since the pennant year of 1927 even though the team tumbled to seventh place.
In 1947, the Pirates acquired Hank Greenberg and modified spacious Forbes Field to make it more friendly for Hammerin' Hank. A double bullpen, 30 feet wide by 200 feet long, significantly cut the distances in left field, reducing the left-field line from 365 to 335 feet and the left-center power alley from 406 to 355 feet. While Greenberg hit 25 home runs in his farewell season, Kiner was the real beneficiary - his home run total soared from 23 to 51, his batting average jumped to a career-high .313, and he led the NL with a slugging percentage of .639. All told, between 1946 and 1952 Kiner strung together seven straight seasons of league-leading home run totals. And so "Greenberg Gardens" became "Kiner's Korner."
Meanwhile, attendance
boomed at Forbes, despite the Pirates' poor record. Fans would stay in the
stands until Kiner had his final at-bat, then file for the exits - more than
five million fans paid to watch losing Pirates teams from 1947 to 1950. In
1948, Kiner tied Mize for the NL homer championship for the second year in a row,
with 40. The following year, a stretch drive of 16 September homers
brought him to 54, only two shy of Hack Wilson's NL record. He also became
the first player to hit 50 homers twice in the NL. His 47 home runs in
1950 established a league record of 102 in two consecutive seasons, and he was
named
Kiner was sometimes labeled a poor outfielder. He lacked speed, but he was sure-handed and had an accurate (though weak) arm. His back problems were also beginning to plague him. On June 3, 1953 he was traded to the Cubs in a famous "we finished last with you, we can finish last without you" deal. In Chicago, Kiner teamed in the outfield with the equally slow and powerful Hank Sauer - the 1952 NL MVP - with whom he had shared the NL home run title the year before. Before the 1955 season, Cleveland GM Greenberg acquired him for the Indians. He hit 18 homers for the Tribe in his final season.
Only thirty-three when his bad back ended his career, Kiner retired having hit a home run in every 14.1 at-bats.
Picture from National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc.
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