1938
Born April 5, 1938
Oxford, NE, USA
Ron Hansen Marquee
b. April 5, 1938 · Baltimore Orioles 1958–1962, Chicago White Sox 1963–1969, Washington Senators 1968, New York Yankees 1970–1971, Kansas City Royals 1972
He hit 22 home runs with 86 runs batted in for Baltimore in 1960 and took the Rookie of the Year award with 22 of the 24 votes, finishing fifth in the Most Valuable Player voting as well. He was 6 feet 3 and played shortstop, which almost nobody that size did then.
On July 30, 1968, playing for Washington, he caught a line drive, stepped on second and tagged the runner coming from first — the eighth unassisted triple play in major-league history and the first in forty-one years. Two days later Washington traded him.
Fifteen seasons gave him 1,007 hits, 106 home runs, 501 runs batted in, 551 walks and a .234 average, with 1,143 games at shortstop. He led American League shortstops in assists three times. He scouted and coached for decades after. No Hall of Fame ballot has listed him.
Honors
| Award | Times | Years |
|---|---|---|
| All-Star selection | 1 | 1960 |
| Rookie of the Year | 1 | 1960 |
| The Sporting News Rookie of the Year | 1 | 1960 |
Batting, season by season
| Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | BAL | 12 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | .000 |
| 1959 | BAL | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
| 1960 | BAL | 153 | 530 | 72 | 135 | 22 | 5 | 22 | 86 | 69 | 94 | 3 | .255 |
| 1961 | BAL | 155 | 533 | 51 | 132 | 13 | 2 | 12 | 51 | 66 | 96 | 1 | .248 |
| 1962 | BAL | 71 | 196 | 12 | 34 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 17 | 30 | 36 | 0 | .173 |
| 1963 | CHW | 144 | 482 | 55 | 109 | 17 | 2 | 13 | 67 | 78 | 74 | 1 | .226 |
| 1964 | CHW | 158 | 575 | 85 | 150 | 25 | 3 | 20 | 68 | 73 | 73 | 1 | .261 |
| 1965 | CHW | 162 | 587 | 61 | 138 | 23 | 4 | 11 | 66 | 60 | 73 | 1 | .235 |
| 1966 | CHW | 23 | 74 | 3 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 10 | 0 | .176 |
| 1967 | CHW | 157 | 498 | 35 | 116 | 20 | 0 | 8 | 51 | 64 | 51 | 0 | .233 |
| 1968 | CHW/WSA | 126 | 362 | 35 | 71 | 15 | 0 | 9 | 32 | 46 | 61 | 0 | .196 |
| 1969 | CHW | 85 | 185 | 15 | 48 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 22 | 18 | 25 | 2 | .259 |
| 1970 | NYY | 59 | 91 | 13 | 27 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 14 | 19 | 9 | 0 | .297 |
| 1971 | NYY | 61 | 145 | 6 | 30 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 20 | 9 | 27 | 0 | .207 |
| 1972 | KCR | 16 | 30 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 0 | .133 |
| Career | — | 1384 | 4311 | 446 | 1007 | 156 | 17 | 106 | 501 | 551 | 643 | 9 | .234 |
On this day & linked events
1958
Major-league debut: Ron Hansen
Ron Hansen made a major-league debut on April 15, 1958.
1972
Final major-league game: Ron Hansen
Ron Hansen played a final major-league game on June 20, 1972.
Image: Unknown author Unknown, public domain