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| Norm Larker | |
|---|---|
 | |
| First baseman/Outfielder | |
| Born:(1930-12-27)December 27, 1930 Beaver Meadows, Pennsylvania, U.S. | |
| Died: March 12, 2007(2007-03-12) (aged 76) Long Beach, California, U.S. | |
Batted: Left Threw: Left | |
| MLB debut | |
| April 15, 1958, for the Los Angeles Dodgers | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| September 28, 1963, for the San Francisco Giants | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .275 |
| Home runs | 32 |
| Runs batted in | 271 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Norman Howard John Larker (December 27, 1930 – March 12, 2007) was an American professionalbaseball player. Afirst baseman who, early in his career, also frequently played corneroutfielder, he appeared in 667games inMajor League Baseball (MLB) (1958–1963) for fourNational League clubs, most notably theLos Angeles Dodgers. Larker also spent two years (1965 and 1966) inNippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He was listed as 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and 185 pounds (84 kg), and batted and threw left-handed.
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Larker was born inBeaver Meadows, Pennsylvania, and graduated fromHazleton High School. He began his pro career with the localHazleton Mountaineers of the Class DNorth Atlantic League in 1949, andbatted .299. When theBrooklyn Dodgers signed a working agreement with the Mountaineers for 1950, Larker joined the Dodger organization and promptly rose through theirfarm system, reaching theTriple-A level in 1954. He batted over .300 for three consecutive years (1955–1957) in theAmerican Association but was unable to crack the Brooklyn lineup, which featured eight-timeAll-Star first basemanGil Hodges. Larker was selected by theChicago White Sox in the 1956Rule 5 Draft, but failed to make the1957 ChiSox roster and was offered back to the Dodger organization.
Placed on the 28-man, early-season squad of the first-ever edition of theLos Angeles Dodgers as a 27-year-oldrookie in 1958, Larker proceeded to win a permanent roster spot. He started five games inleft field during April, but struggled offensively and was relegated topinch hitting duty. He was still hitting only .214 on June 30 when his slumbering bat awakened. Starting 23 games at first base and left field in July 1958, Larker raised his batting average to .338 by August 1 on the strength of nine multi-hit games.[1] He finished1958 with 70 hits and a .779OPS.
Then, in his sophomore season, he was a key contributor to the Dodgers'1959 National League and World Series championship team. Larker started 85 of Los Angeles' 156 regular season games (55 at first base and 30 in the outfield), raised his batting average to .289, and hit eighthome runs. The Dodgers rose from seventh place in 1958 to a flat-footed tie with the defending NL championMilwaukee Braves, forcing a best-of-three playoff. In the1959 National League tie-breaker series, Larker was the Dodgers' startingright fielder in Game 1 and starting left fielder in Game 2. He collected five hits in eightat bats, with threeruns batted in, as the Dodgers swept the Braves to win thepennant. He then started all six games of the1959 World Series in the outfield against the White Sox and notched three hits and twobases on balls. He batted only .188, but the Dodgers took the series to win the second world championship in their history, and their first inLos Angeles.
Larker's most productive MLB season came in1960. With the 36-year-old Hodges hobbled by injury and limited to only 41 games started in the field, Larker took over as Los Angeles' regular first baseman. Starting 112 games and appearing in 133 contests overall, Larker reached career bests in hits (142),doubles (26), runs batted in (78), batting average (.323) and OPS (.798). He battled for the National League batting title into the season's final days with NLMost Valuable PlayerDick Groat of thePittsburgh Pirates before finishing second by two one-thousandths of a point. Still, his .323 mark allowed him to finish ahead ofWillie Mays (.319),Roberto Clemente (.314) andKen Boyer (.304). He finished 15th in NL MVP voting for 1960, but was selected to the Senior Circuit'sAll-Star team.[2] In the two All-Star games played that season, Larker appeared in each game as a pinch hitter, hitting into aforce play in the first contest, and drawing a base on balls in the latter.
The1961 season was Larker's fourth and last in a Dodger uniform. He started 79 games at first base, but his production declined: his average fell to .270 and his OPS to .712. With Larker approaching his 31st birthday and the Dodgers anxious to integrate rising young starsFrank Howard andRon Fairly into their lineup, Larker was left unprotected in theNL expansion draft. Selected by the brand-newHouston Colt .45s with the 23rd overall pick, Larker became theexpansion team's starting first baseman in1962. He battedcleanup in Houston's first-ever major league game on April 10, 1962, going one-for-four with an RBI in an 11–2 Colt .45 win. In 1962, Larker got into 147 games played and hit nine home runs, with 58runs scored, all career bests. He led the Colt .45s in doubles (19) andon-base percentage (.358) and tied for the team lead in bases on balls (70).
But at season's end, he was traded to the Milwaukee Braves in a four-player deal that sentstarting pitcherDon Nottebart to Houston. The Braves'1963 regular first-base job was wide open with the trading away of veteranJoe Adcock, but Larker could not claim it. After two months of action and 25 games started, he was hitting only .220, and his production worsened as his playing time became even more limited. He was hitting an anaemic .177 with one home run when the Braves sold his contract to theSan Francisco Giants on August 8, 1963. His slump continuing, Larker collected only one hit with the Giants in very limited service over the last two months of the season, his last in the majors.
In his six-season career, Larker was a .275 hitter (538-for-1,953) with 32 home runs and 271RBI in 667 games, including 227 runs, 97 doubles, 15 triples, and threestolen bases. He also collected a .347 OBP and a solid 1.28walk-to-strikeout ratio (211-to-165). Defensively, Larker compiled a career .991fielding percentage at first base (in 483 games) and in the outfield (82 games).
After spending 1964 with the Giants' Triple-ATacoma farm club, Larker signed with theToei Flyers in Japan'sPacific League, where he played in 1965–1966. In 224 NPB games, he batted .267 with 194 hits, 28 doubles, 14 homers and 85 runs batted in. During his career, Larker also played winter ball with theNavegantes del Magallanes club of theVenezuelan Professional Baseball League, where he captured the batting crown with a .340 average in the 1955–1956 season.[3]
After leaving baseball, Larker entered private business inLong Beach, California, where he'd moved in the late 1950s during his tenure with the Dodgers. He died from cancer in Long Beach at the age of 76, survived by his wife, four sons and eight grandchildren.[4]