Curt Blefary Marquee

b. July 5, 1943 · Baltimore Orioles 1965–1968, Houston Astros 1969, New York Yankees 1970–1971, Oakland Athletics 1971–1972, San Diego Padres 1972

Curt Blefary won American League Rookie of the Year in 1965 with 22 home runs for Baltimore, and hit 22 or more in each of his first four seasons. He was on the club that swept Los Angeles in the 1966 World Series.

Frank Robinson nicknamed him Clank, for the sound a glove was said to make when the ball hit it, and Blefary spent the rest of his career trying to disprove it — he played left field, right field, first base and, in Oakland, catcher.

Born in Brooklyn in 1943, he hit 112 home runs and drew 456 walks across 974 games for five clubs, finishing in 1972. He was fifty-seven when he died, in January 2001.

Honors

Award	Times	Years
Rookie of the Year	1	1965
The Sporting News Rookie Player of the Year	1	1965

Batting, season by season

Year	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG
1965	BAL	144	462	72	120	23	4	22	70	88	73	4	.260
1966	BAL	131	419	73	107	14	3	23	64	73	56	1	.255
1967	BAL	155	554	69	134	19	5	22	81	73	94	4	.242
1968	BAL	137	451	50	90	8	1	15	39	65	66	6	.200
1969	HOU	155	542	66	137	26	7	12	67	77	79	8	.253
1970	NYY	99	269	34	57	6	0	9	37	43	37	1	.212
1971	NYY/OAK	71	137	19	29	3	0	6	14	18	20	0	.212
1972	OAK/SDP	82	113	11	25	5	0	3	10	19	19	0	.221
Career	—	974	2947	394	699	104	20	112	382	456	444	24	.237

On this day & linked events

1943

Born July 5, 1943

Brooklyn, NY, USA

2001

Died January 28, 2001

1967

Curt Blefary's Three-Home-Run Game, 1967

Curt Blefary hit three home runs for the Baltimore Orioles against the California Angels on June 6, 1967.

Image: Unknown author Unknown, public domain