Ralph Kiner...RIP

[ls7plus]

Ralph was one of my four favorite players, a hero of mine since my childhood days, when I first read about him in Arthur Daley's book, "Kings of the Home Run," so please pardon me if this post is a bit long. As noted above, he only played 10 years in what was truly a spectacular slugging career, cut short by back problems. But what a career it was! 51 HR, 127 RBI, .313 BA with 98 walks in 1947; 54 HR, 127 RBI, .310 BA, with 117 walks in 1949; 47 HR, 118 RBI, .272 BA with 122 walks in 1950; and 42 HR, 108 RBI, .309 BA with 137 walks in 1951 (a year in which he also led the NL in OBP at .452 and slugging percentage at .627). It should be superfluous to state that had he played on the Dodgers, or another contender each of those years, he would have had a significant chance for 4 MVP awards. Also, as many of you know, he is the only man to lead the league in home runs seven straight seasons (in six of those, he led the major leagues in home runs). Named to six straight all-star teams, six seasons of more than 100 runs scored, six 100 RBI seasons. A career .946 OBPS, which is virtually unheard of for a career .279 hitter. Interestingly, if you go to www.baseballreference.com and use that site's neutralization factor, plugging his stats into the 1930 NL, which was the most favorable era in history for hitters, he would have had several 150+ RBI seasons; his 54 homer season in that context would have converted to a record-shattering 61, and his career OBPS would (going by recollection) have been elevated to something like 1.063!

Bill James said the following regarding Ralph in the 1988 edition of his Historical Baseball Abstract: "Ralph Kiner was, in terms of an established ability at a given moment, the second greatest home run hitter of all time. Only Ruth dominated the home run hitting business the way Kiner did in his best seasons..."

Prior to the steroid era, Kiner had the second best career HR frequency of all time, second only to the Babe. He was just the third man in baseball history to hit 50 or more HR in two different seasons (following Ruth and Foxx). As Arthur Daley concluded in his chapter on Kiner in "Kings of the Home Run," "For Kiner, it was a remarkable decade." A short career indeed, but one overflowing with quality, if not absolute quantity. Truly a tremendous slugger!

As a side note, I got his autograph once at a card show in the late '90's or early 2000's. The line was moving very, very slowly; so slowly that I left my place in line to see just what in the world was going on. I got closer to the stage area where Ralph was seated and signing, and saw him take the greatest of care to ensure that each and every autograph seeker got one of his best, most legible signatures. He was proud of his belated HOF status, and added "HOF 1975" to each autograph request without anyone even asking. And deservedly so--quality counts, and sometimes we overlook it in the grand scheme of overall total numbers. May this hero of mine RIP with all of God's grace beside him!

Highest regards to all,

Larry

[the 'stache]

Great post, Larry. It blows my mind that it took the BBWAA 15 years to vote him in (and by 1 vote). You lead your league in home runs your first seven seasons (and as you mentioned, all the Major Leagues for six of the seven), yet that's not impressive enough?

He just missed making it to the playoffs in '55, his last year with the Indians. They won 93 games, and the Yankees won 96. So close.

This should be the top story on ESPN's home page, not some dumb basketball score. He deserves that respect.

[MattyC]

Imagine if someone came up and led in HR even three times. Let alone seven. This man needs far more respect. No one will do that again. Plus served in a war. They don't make men like that these days.

His 48 Bowman was one of the first "old" cards I saw as a kid. The write up on that card is great, btw.

[kmac32]

Just found out that he lived and died right here in Rancho Mirage

[tjb1952tjb]

Another great one gone............RIP

[MattyC]

[Koufax32fan]

Underrated player; underrated set. My latest Kiner, bought off the Bay in January.