| Jerry Adair | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Second baseman /Shortstop | |
| Born:(1936-12-17)December 17, 1936 Sand Springs, Oklahoma, U.S. | |
| Died: May 31, 1987(1987-05-31) (aged 50) Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| September 2, 1958, for the Baltimore Orioles | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| May 3, 1970, for the Kansas City Royals | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .254 |
| Home runs | 57 |
| Runs batted in | 366 |
| NPB statistics | |
| Batting average | .300 |
| Home runs | 7 |
| Runs batted in | 36 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
As player
As coach | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
Kenneth Jerry Adair (December 17, 1936 – May 31, 1987) was an American professionalbaseball player andcoach. He played inMajor League Baseball (MLB) and theNippon Professional Baseball league (NPB) as asecond baseman andshortstop from1958 to1971, most prominently as a member of theBaltimore Orioles where he was the starting second baseman for five seasons.
Adair was known as one of the best fielding second basemen of his era, setting a Major League record for second basemen when he fielded 458 consecutive chances without an error. He also played for theChicago White Sox,Boston Red Sox andKansas City Royals. Adair played his final season as a professional baseball player with theHankyu Braves (now known as the Orix Buffaloes) of the NPB. After his playing career, he worked as a coach for several Major League organizations.
Adair was born inSand Springs, Oklahoma on December 17, 1936, to Kinnie and Ola Adair. He was of partialCherokee descent, and Kinnie Adair spoke Cherokee.[1] Adair graduated from Sand Springs High School[2][3] (which was later replaced byCharles Page High School). He earned nineletters in high school, three each in baseball, football, and basketball, and was his school's quarterback. His high school coach, former professional baseball and basketball player and star college athleteCecil Hankins, considered Adair the greatest all-around athlete he ever coached. Adair was known as the "Iceman" in high school because of his coolness under pressure. He was selected to the All-State basketball team in 1955, and was most outstanding player in the summer 1955 All-Star game.[1]
Adair enteredOklahoma State University (OSU) in the fall of 1955 on a basketball and baseball scholarship. He playedcollege baseball under coachToby Greene, and basketball underNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame coachHank Iba. Adair's role as a basketball player was more prominent at OSU. He started for Iba as a sophomore, and was the team's second leading scorer that year and in his junior year (his last year at OSU). On February 21, 1957, he was part of the OSU team that came back to defeatWilt Chamberlain'sUniversity of Kansas team 56-54, scoring sixpoints, with sevenrebounds. He later played an instrumental role in OSU defeatingOscar Robertson'sCincinnati Bearcats team, scoring 12 points, with five rebounds.[1][4][5][6][7][8][9]
Adair was OSU's shortstop in his junior year, with a team leading .438batting average. He was named to the All-Big Eight team, an OSU first. He was selected to theAll-American second team by theAmerican Baseball Coaches Association. In his two years on the team, the Cowboys were 29–9, with Adair hitting .387.[10]
Adair also played one year in a work/play program for the McPherson (Kansas) BJs in the Ban Johnson League. That year, McPherson went to the National Ban Johnson League tournament finals played in Wichita. He pitched many games as well as playing the infield. In one game, while being scouted by coach Greene, he was called on to pitch in relief with a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the ninth inning, with the bases loaded and no outs. Adair struck out the next three batters.[1][11][12]
Adair was signed by theBaltimore Orioles out of Oklahoma State University on September 2, 1958, for a $40,000 bonus.[11][13] He made hisMajor League Baseball debut with the club that day against theWashington Senators, coming into the game in the bottom of the 8th inning as a defensive replacement for shortstopChuck Oertel. He did not get an at bat in the game.[14] Adair's first big league at bat came on September 5 against theBoston Red Sox. After drawing a walk and scoring in the 8th inning, Adair reached base again in the ninth inning on a fielder's choice.[15] He picked up his first big league hit (a single to left field) in a 3–2 Orioles win over the visitingNew York Yankees on September 21. That season, he hit .105 (2-for-19) in 11 games with the Orioles, primarily playing shortstop.[11][16]
He spent most of the 1959 season withAmarillo Gold Sox, the Orioles affiliate in theDouble-ATexas League. He had a .309 batting average in 146 games.[17] When he was called up to the Orioles at the end of the season, Adair hit .314 (11-for-35) in 12 games.[16] He played most of the 1960 season for theTriple-AMiami Marlins, batting .266, and playing principally at shortstop, where he had a .967 fielding percentage.[18] When he was called up to the Orioles at the end of the season, he went 1-for-5 (.200) in 3 games.[19]
Adair's first full season in the big leagues came in 1961 with the Orioles, hitting .264 with 9 home runs and 37 RBIs (runs batted in) in 133 games. Although the majority of his time was spent at second base, he also played some shortstop and third base that year. He had a .987fielding percentage at second base, and .946 at shortsop.[16] In 1962, his .969 fielding percentage at shortstop was fourth in the league, led by Chicago White Sox shortstopLuis Aparicio at .973.[20] In 1963, Adair played in only 109 games, the fewest he played between 1961 and 1966. He hit only .228 with six home runs, but had a .985 fielding percentage at second base.[16] Had he played in enough games, this would have given him the third best percentage among second basemen that year.[21]
In 1964, the Orioles had Aparicio at shortstop (via a 1963 trade[22]), Adair at second base, andBrooks Robinson playing third base.[23] Aparicio led American League shortstops with a .979 fielding percentage, Adair led the league's second basemen with a .994 fielding percentage (making only five errors all year[16]), and Robinson led AL third basemen with a .972 fielding percentage.[24] Orioles first basemanNorm Siebern was third among AL first basemen in fielding percentage.[24] Both Robinson (16 consecutiveGold Glove Awards) and Aparicio (nine Gold Glove Awards) were elected to theHall of Fame, in large part based on their fielding ability.[25][26] Aparicio and Adair ultimately played three years together (1963-1965), and are considered one of the topmiddle infield combinations in baseball history. Their combined fielding percentage during that time was .984.[27]
Once, during the 1964 season, he was struck in the mouth by a bad throw during the first game of a doubleheader with theDetroit Tigers. The resulting laceration required 11 stitches, but Adair was back in the park in uniform in time to play the entire second game.[1] In 1964, the Orioles finished in third place, two games behind the Yankees for the AL championship.[28]
In 1965, 28-year-old Adair hit .259 with 7 home runs and a career-high 66 RBIs in 157 games with the Orioles.[16] He was amongAmerican League leaders with 157 games (8th in the AL), 582at bats (10th in the AL), 26doubles (7th in the AL), 115singles (10th in the AL) and 6sacrifice flies (8th in the AL). As a result, Adair finished 17th in the AL MVP vote that was won byZoilo Versalles of theMinnesota Twins.[16][29] He again led all AL second basemen in fielding percentage (.985), and Aparicio led all shortstops (.971).[30] Over the course of the 1964 and 1965 seasons, Adair set a Major League record for second basemen when he handled 458 consecutivechances without committing an error.[31] His record was broken byManny Trillo in 1982.[32]
On June 12, 1966, Adair was traded by theOrioles with minor leaguer John Riddle to theChicago White Sox forEddie Fisher.[13] He had been supplanted byDavey Johnson as the starting second base to begin the regular season and angrily requested to be traded "any place but Washington; Washington's too near Baltimore."[33] In 105 games with the White Sox, Adair started more games at shortstop than second base, and batted .243 with four home runs for the White Sox.[16]
On June 2, 1967, Adair was traded by the White Sox to theBoston Red Sox forDon McMahon and minor leaguer Rob Snow.[13] Adair played well down the stretch with the Red Sox, hitting .291 with 3 homers and 26 RBIs in 89 games,[34] rounding out his season stats to .271 with 3 HR and 35 RBIs in 117 games.[16] With his pennant push performance at the plate, coupled with stellar defensive play, Adair finished 15th in the AL MVP balloting.[16] TeammateCarl Yastrzemski won the award that year after claiming the elusive triple crown.[35] The Red Sox lost to the Cardinals in the1967 World Series, with Adair appearing in five games.[1][36]
Adair was taken by theKansas City Royals with the 51st pick of the1968 MLB expansion draft.[13] In the Royals' inaugural season of 1969, the 32-year-old Adair hit .250 with 5 home runs and 48 RBIs in 126 games.[37] His .984 fielded percentage at second base was second in the league (only behindDick Green, .986).[38]
In 1970, Adair hit just .148 (4-for-27) before being abruptly released on May 5 as he was about to board a plane to make a road trip toBaltimore with the team. Adair had spent much of spring training that year with his six-year-old daughter, Tammy, who had terminal cancer and eventually died[39] and claimed the Royals let him go without taking the family's problems into consideration. Royals General ManagerCedric Tallis defended the team's decision to release Adair, saying "We just felt he couldn't help the club".[40]
In 1970, he also played 33 games for theTulsa Oilers of the Triple-A American Association, in theSt. Louis Cardinals minor league system. He had only 27 at-bats. In 1971, Adair finished his professional career playing 90 games for theHankyu Braves in theJapan Pacific League.[17][41]
Adair's nickname during his major league days was Casper the Friendly Ghost.[42]
Adair later coached for theOakland Athletics (1972–74, their World Championship years) and theCalifornia Angels (1975), working under his former Oriole teammate and manager in BostonDick Williams in 1972-1973 and 1975, and forAlvin Dark in 1974.[1][43][44][45]
While having only a .254 career batting average, he was considered a good clutch hitter (Carl Yastrzemski wrote in his autobiographyBaseball, The Wall, and Me "That man was one of the coolest clutch hitters I had seen").[12] However, his greatest strength was his defensive ability. Adair set then-major league records for single-season fielding percentage (.994) and fewest errors (5) in 1964, and followed that up by leading the league in fielding percentage again in 1965. He also set a record for consecutive errorless games by a second baseman (89), and consecutive chances handled without an error (458) from July 22, 1964, through May 6, 1965. His .985 lifetime fielding percentage at second base is better than his Hall of Fame contemporariesNellie Fox,Joe Morgan andBill Mazeroski.[1][11] As of 2025, he has the 43rd highest fielding percentage in major league history.[46] In addition, he was considered a "gamer" who would often play when injured.
Adair was inducted into the OSU Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001.[10]
The glove Adair used in 1964 is in the Baseball Hall of Fame.[3]
Adair was inducted into the Sand Springs Sandite Hall of Fame in 1992.[1]
The Jerry Adair Baseball Complex in Sand Springs' River City Parks in Oklahoma was named in honor of Adair.[47]
Adair died of liver cancer on May 31, 1987, inTulsa, Oklahoma, at the age of 50.[3][48]
· Baseball Almanac
