| Ralph Kiner | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Kiner with the Pittsburgh Pirates,c. 1948 | |
| Left fielder | |
| Born:(1922-10-27)October 27, 1922 Santa Rita, New Mexico, U.S. | |
| Died: February 6, 2014(2014-02-06) (aged 91) Rancho Mirage, California, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| April 12, 1946, for the Pittsburgh Pirates | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| September 25, 1955, for the Cleveland Indians | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .279 |
| Home runs | 369 |
| Runs batted in | 1,015 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
| Member of the National | |
 Baseball Hall of Fame | |
| Induction | 1975 |
| Vote | 75.4% (13th ballot) |
Ralph McPherran Kiner (October 27, 1922 – February 6, 2014) was an AmericanMajor League Baseball player and broadcaster. Anoutfielder, Kiner played for thePittsburgh Pirates,Chicago Cubs, andCleveland Indians from 1946 through 1955.
Following his retirement, Kiner served from 1956 through 1960 asgeneral manager of thePacific Coast LeagueSan Diego Padres.[1] He also served as anannouncer for theNew York Mets from the team's inception until his death. Though injuries forced his retirement from active play after 10 seasons, Kiner led all of hisNational League contemporaries in home runs between 1946 and 1952. He was elected to theBaseball Hall of Fame in 1975.
After Kiner's death, baseball writer Marty Noble called him "one of baseball's genuine and most charming gentlemen."[2]
Kiner was born inSanta Rita, New Mexico to Beatrice (née Grayson) and Ralph Macklin Kiner. His father died when Ralph was four and his mother took a job inAlhambra, California where Kiner was subsequently raised. He was ofPennsylvania Dutch andScots-Irish descent, with German-Jewish ancestry through his maternal grandmother. Kiner graduated fromAlhambra High School inAlhambra, California.[3]
Kiner served as aU.S. Navypilot duringWorld War II.[3]
Kiner was inducted into the Navy during the spring of 1943. As a cadet, he attended St. Mary's Pre-Flight School in California and earned his pilot's wings and commission at Corpus Christi, Texas in December 1944. Kiner flewPBM Mariner flying boats on submarine patrols fromNaval Air Station (NAS) Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii, accumulating 1,200 flying hours. Kiner enlisted the day afterPearl Harbor.[4][5]
Kiner made his major league debut on April 12, 1946, with thePittsburgh Pirates. He finished the season with 23 home runs, but 109 strikeouts. After the season, the Pirates convinced future Hall of FamerHank Greenberg not to retire. Greenberg gave Kiner hours of instruction,[6] and in 1947, Kiner led the major leagues with 51 home runs while striking out fewer than 100 times.[7]
Many of Kiner's homers were hit into a shortened left-field and left-center-field porch atForbes Field (originally built for Greenberg and known in the press as "Greenberg Gardens"); the porch was retained for Kiner and redubbed "Kiner's Korner".[8] Kiner would later use "Kiner's Korner" as the title of his post-game TV show in New York.[2]
In 1949, Kiner topped his 1947 total with 54 home runs, falling just two short ofHack Wilson's then-National League record. It was the highest total in the major leagues from 1939 to 1960, and the highest National League total from 1931 to 1997. It made Kiner the first National League player with two 50 plus home run seasons. Kiner also matched his peak of 127 RBIs. From 1947 to 1951, Kiner topped 40 home runs and 100 RBIs each season. Through 2011 he was one of seven major leaguers to have had at least four 30-HR, 100-RBI seasons in their first five years, along withChuck Klein,Joe DiMaggio,Ted Williams,Mark Teixeira,Albert Pujols,Ryan Howard andRyan Braun.[9][10]
Kiner's string of seasons leading the league inhome runs reached seven in 1952, when he hit 37. This also was the last of a record six consecutive seasons in which he led Major League Baseball in home runs, all under the guidance of managerBilly Meyer and Pirate greatHonus Wagner. He was selected to participate in theAll-Star Game in six straight seasons, 1948 to 1953.[11]
The equally famous "Home run hitters driveCadillacs and singles hitters driveFords," frequently misattributed to Kiner himself, was, by his own account, actually coined by teammateFritz Ostermueller.[12][13] Footage of Kiner hitting a home run in Forbes Field can be seen in the 1951 filmAngels in the Outfield.[14]
On June 4, 1953, Kiner was sent to theChicago Cubs as part of a ten-player trade. The Pirates traded Kiner,Joe Garagiola,George Metkovich, andHowie Pollet to the Cubs in exchange forBob Addis,Toby Atwell,George Freese,Gene Hermanski,Bob Schultz,Preston Ward, and $150,000.[15] This was largely due to continued salary disputes with Pirates general managerBranch Rickey, who reportedly told Kiner, "We finished last with you, we can finish last without you."[16]
Kiner played the rest of 1953 and all of 1954 with the Cubs, finishing his career with theCleveland Indians in 1955. A back injury forced him to retire at the age of 32, finishing his career with 369 home runs, 1,015runs batted in and a .279 lifetimebatting average.[2] He hit better than .300 three times, with a career best .313 with the Pirates in 1947.
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| Ralph Kiner was honored alongside theretired numbers of theNew York Mets in 2014. |
In 1961, Kiner entered the broadcast booth for theChicago White Sox. The following year, Kiner,Lindsey Nelson, andBob Murphy began broadcasting the games of theexpansionNew York Mets onWOR-TV inNew York City. The trio rotated announcing duties. Kiner also hosted a post-game show known as "Kiner's Korner" on WOR-TV. Nationally, he helped call the Mets' appearance in the1969 and1973 World Series forNBC Radio. He won a localEmmy Award for his broadcasting work.[16]
Kiner was known for his occasionalmalapropisms, usually connected with getting people's names wrong, such as calling broadcasting partnerTim McCarver as "Tim MacArthur" and callingGary Carter "Gary Cooper".[16] He even once called himself "Ralph Korner".[17]
Despite a bout withBell's palsy, which left him with slightly slurred speech,[18] Kiner continued broadcasting for 53 seasons.[19] Kiner's tenure with the Mets was the third-longest for an active broadcaster with a single team as of his final season. He is the third longest-tenured broadcaster in baseball history, trailing onlyLos Angeles Dodgers announcersVin Scully (1950–2016) andJaime Jarrín (1959–2022). His traditional home run call—"It is gone, goodbye," was a signature phrase in baseball.
As illness reduced his appearances, Kiner featured less frequently onSportsNet New York (SNY) andWPIX, which currently televise Mets games. During these visits (usually once a week), regular announcersGary Cohen,Keith Hernandez, andRon Darling would welcome Kiner as he shared stories of theGolden Age of baseball, as well as the contemporary game. During his final season in 2013, he was the oldest active announcer in Major League Baseball.
Partly because Hollywood megastarBing Crosby was part-owner of the Pirates, Kiner was often closely linked with celebrities such as Crosby's colleagueBob Hope andFrank Sinatra, but even more to publicized romances, dates, or photos with leading ladies, such asElizabeth Taylor,Ava Gardner, andJanet Leigh.[20] He was Taylor's date to the premiere ofTwelve O'Clock High in 1949 and began dating Leigh whenAngels in the Outfield was being filmed at Forbes Field.[1]
Kiner was married four times; his first spouse was 1950s tennis starNancy Chaffee from 1951 to 1968. They had three children together: Michael, Scott, and Kathryn.[21][22]
Kiner was also married to Barbara (née George)[1] Kiner from 1969 to 1980, and to DiAnn Kiner from 1982 until her death in 2004.[23][24]
In his 80s, Kiner married, then divorced, Ann Benisch.[3]
He is the second cousin twice removed of MLB infielderIsiah Kiner-Falefa.[25]
Ralph Kiner died from natural causes inRancho Mirage, California, on February 6, 2014, at the age of 91.[26] Upon his death, New York Mets ownerFred Wilpon said, "Ralph Kiner was one of the most beloved people in Mets history - an original Met and extraordinary gentleman."[27] At the time of his death, Kiner had been battlingBell's palsy, and the effects of a stroke that he had suffered a decade prior that forced him to reduce his broadcast schedule to a handful of games a season.[28]
On February 21, 2014, an onlineTwitter petition was started to rename Citi Field Sections 132–134 as 'Kiner's Korner', to commemorate the 52-year Mets career of Ralph Kiner.[29] As of March 29, 2014, the petition had over 5,000 followers.[30]
Kiner was inducted into theBaseball Hall of Fame in 1975.[31] Kiner had garnered 273 votes by theBaseball Writers' Association of America, one more than the minimum required for election. It was in his final year of eligibility (his 13th, as no vote was held in 1963 and 1965), and it was the closest call possible for any player elected by the BBWAA (any further votes would be before the Veterans Committee if he was not elected). Kiner was also the only player voted in that year.[32][33] He attended every Hall of Fame ceremony from the time he was inducted until his death.[2]
Kiner was elected to theNew York Mets Hall of Fame in 1984.[34]
The Pittsburgh Pirates retired his uniform number 4 on September 19, 1987.[35] He was inducted into thePirates Hall of Fame in 2022 as part of the inaugural class.[36]
In 1999,The Sporting News placed Kiner at number 90 on its list of "The 100 Greatest Baseball Players".[37] That same year, he was one of the 100 finalists for theMajor League Baseball All-Century Team that year.
The Mets honored him with an on-field ceremony on "Ralph Kiner Night" atShea Stadium on Saturday, July 14, 2007. On that night, fans were given photos of Kiner. Franchise iconTom Seaver gave a commemorative speech recalling Kiner's legacy. Other guests of note wereYogi Berra,Bob Feller, and broadcasterErnie Harwell. To honor his tenure, the Mets announced that the home broadcast booth at future homeCiti Field would be named for Kiner (the booth at Shea had previously been named for him in 2002).[38] As a present from the Mets, Kiner received a cruise of his choice.[39]
In 2013, theBob Feller Act of Valor Award honored Kiner as one of 37 Baseball Hall of Fame members for his service in the United States Navy during World War II.[40]
In 2014, the Mets "retired" Kiner's broadcast microphone and added a logo featuring his name, dates and a vintage broadcast microphone to the left-field wall at Citi Field. They also wore patches with the logo for the season.[41] The logo was later moved from the wall to the stadium's top tier alongside the franchise's other non-player honorees.[42]
| Awards and achievements | ||
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| Preceded by | Hitting for the cycle June 25, 1950 | Succeeded by |
Links to related articles | |
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| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
