His teammates and coaches used terms such as loyal, professional, intense, hard-working, and leader to define his character. Although Williams was prone to long batting slumps and a high number of strikeouts, he was a popular player in the clubhouse and with the fan base. Matt Williams was everything a big-league player should be.

In 2007, Williams was listed on the Mitchell Report as a player who had used performance-enhancing drugs or steroids. His clean-cut reputation took a hit, as did those of many of the players who were singled out. Williams has worked hard to restore his image. After he retired as a player in 2003, Williams worked in the Arizona Diamondbacks front office for several years, before embarking on a long coaching and managing career. Through it all, Williams has remained a model parent and person, living up to his motto of “father first, baseball second.”       

Matthew Derrick Williams was born on November 28, 1965, in Bishop, California,  the youngest of four sons (after Kelly, Art and Bart) born to Arthur and Sarah (née Griffith) Williams. Arthur Williams, who was blind in his right eye, made his living as a carpenter.

Athletic ability was prevalent in the Wiliams family. Matt’s grandfather, Bert Griffith, was an outfielder for three seasons with the Brooklyn Dodgers (1922-23) and the Washington Senators (1924). Arthur was a superb softball pitcher and Sarah excelled in tennis. All four sons participated in various sports in their formative years. “How he could fast-pitch with one eye, I don’t know – but he did,” Matt said, referring to his father.1

Arthur Williams said that he pushed his oldest son, Kelly, hard to become a ball player – but later tried a different tack. “By the time Matt came along, I didn’t do that at all,” said Arthur. “I just let him go and he had a natural love for the game. We moved to Carson City his last season of Little League, and it turned out to be the best thing we ever did because they have a tremendous baseball program.”2   

Williams was a starting quarterback on the Carson High School football team in his sophomore and junior seasons. “Matt got so involved with baseball (American Legion) that summer he missed our summer program his senior year so I had someone else start at quarterback,” said football coach Carl Vinci. “Matt ended up playing 10 or 12 positions his senior year. Wherever I needed him, he could play and I knew he would do a good job. He was a great leader; the guys loved being around him.”3    

Nicknamed the “Carson Crusher,” Williams was the starting third baseman for the Senators. He was named the Northern AAA Player of the Year after his junior and senior seasons.

After high school graduation in 1983, Williams was selected by the New York Mets in the 27th round of the free agent draft. However, Williams chose to attend college at the University of Nevada – Las Vegas. One reason Williams chose the Rebels was because Coach Fred Dallimore promised to start him as a freshman.4

Dallimore moved Wiliams to shortstop, a position he had never played. However, Williams made the transition with little difficulty. Offensively, Wiliams was a power-hitting machine. The right-handed slugger played three seasons and 187 games at UNLV, recording 58 home runs and 217 RBIs while batting .327. Following his senior year, Williams was named first team All-American.

The San Francisco Giants selected Williams with the third overall pick of the free agent draft on June 2, 1986. Initially, the Giants’ plan was to keep Williams at shortstop. But a shift to third base was not out of the question. Williams admitted that he needed to work on ground balls hit to his right, although if the Giants moved him to third base, he would not have to cover as much ground in that direction. As for hitting, Williams shifted from using an aluminum bat to a wooden one. “I’ve been working out with a wooden bat since I was drafted,” said Williams. “I think if you hit the ball well, there’s not much difference. But, if you get jammed, you don’t get the cheap dink over the infield that you get with an aluminum bat.”5

Williams started his professional career at Everett (Washington) of the short-season Northwest League. Williams, who was 6-foot-2, drew comparisons to Cal Ripken of Baltimore. The  6-foot-4 Orioles shortstop was also known to hit with power. “That’s a compliment right there, being compared to Cal Ripken because he’s a great player,” said Wiliams. “But right now, I’ve got a lot of learning to do and a lot of things to work on. I need to work on every aspect of my hitting.”6  

Williams played only four games at Everett. He capped his stay in the Northwest with a grand slam and six RBIs in one game, leading Everett to an 18-13 win over Spokane.7

Williams headed to Clinton (Iowa) of the Class A Midwest League to finish out the year. In 68 games, 57 as the starting shortstop, Williams batted .240 with seven home runs and 29 RBIs.

The Giants sent Williams to AAA Phoenix at the start of the 1987 season. When starting shortstop José Uribe was sidelined with a hamstring injury on April 10, Williams was called up, making his major-league debut the next day at Dodger Stadium.

On July 4, 1987, Williams and his .192 batting average were demoted to Phoenix. “I didn’t hit the ball away real well, so they kept hitting my weak spot,” said Wiliams, “throwing me curveballs away, fastballs away, sliders away. Everything was away. So I have to come down here and work on that. As soon as I can master that, I think I’ll be able to be competitive in the big leagues.”8

San Francisco recalled Williams in September. He alternated between shortstop and third base as the Giants (90–72 record), won the NL West for the first time since 1971. They were eliminated in the NLCS by the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.

The next two seasons were more of the same. Williams was sent to Phoenix for more seasoning. “We did things out of dire necessity, and were not in his best interests,” said Al Rosen, the Giants general manager. “Because Matt has a great makeup and tremendous determination, he was able to handle it. I’m not proud of the way we handled him.”9     

The 1989 season was a breakout for Williams, both at Phoenix and San Francisco. After beginning the season with the Giants, he was sent down to Phoenix on May 2. In 76 games, he batted .320 with 26 home runs and 61 RBIs for the Firebirds. Williams returned to the Giants in late July.

On August 11, at Candlestick Park, Williams drove in a career-high six runs as he hit two home runs, one a grand slam, in a 10-2 rout of Los Angeles. He finished the season with 18 home runs and 50 RBIs for the Giants. San Francisco manager Roger Craig started to use Williams more at third base, penciling him into the starting lineup for 62 games. “It’s nice to see Matt swinging the bat like that,” said Craig. “He’s hitting the ball hard. This is the potential I always knew he had; now it’s surfacing. Matt is going to get better and better.”10

Williams was finding footing not only in his career but also in his personal life. During the All-Star break, on July 10, Williams, bypassed the PCL All-Star Game to marry the former Tracie Ann Duncan in Carson City.11 They had met while he was playing baseball in Phoenix. Matt and Tracy had three children: daughters Alysha and Rachael and son Jacob.

The Giants (92-70) captured the NL West again in 1989. Williams got his first taste of the postseason. He hit two home runs and drove in nine in the NLCS as San Francisco disposed of the Chicago Cubs in five games. However, the Giants were swept in four games by the Oakland A’s in the World Series. The bigger story of the series was the earthquake that hit the Bay Area before Game Three. On October 17, 1989, the game was just about to begin when an earthquake shook Candlestick Park. The series was delayed 10 days and resumed on October 27.  

Craig installed Williams as the Giants’ starting third baseman for the 1990 season. He responded by swatting 33 home runs and led the NL in RBIs with 122. Williams was selected to his first All-Star Game, played at Wrigley Field on July 10, 1990. He entered the game as a pinch-hitter for pitcher John Franco in the bottom of the ninth inning and struck out. He was awarded his first Silver Slugger Award for hitting the most home runs of all third basemen in the NL.

The Giants finished with an 85-77 record in 1990, landing in third place, six games behind division-winner Cincinnati (91–71).

Williams won his first Gold Glove Award in 1991, fielding his position at a .964 clip. Offensively, he clubbed 34 home runs while driving in 98, but the Giants (75-87) fell to fourth place.

In 1992, the Giants (70-92) sank lower in the standings. Part of the reason may have been that the franchise was up for sale. It seemed as if the Giants would be moving to St. Petersburg, Florida. But a last-minute deal with local investors kept the Giants in the Bay Area. The change in ownership also brought new personnel. Bob Quinn replaced Rosen as general manager and Dusty Baker relieved Craig as manager.  

On December 8, 1992, the Giants signed free agent Barry Bonds. San Francisco had drafted Bonds in 1982. Instead, he chose to attend Arizona State University. Now, he was returning to the same franchise after building an All-Star career in Pittsburgh for seven seasons. Batting ahead of Bonds in the Giants’ order, Williams nearly doubled his home run total from the previous season, going from 20 home runs in 1992 to 38 in 1993, third in the league. Bonds led the league in home runs (46) and RBIs (123), while Williams drove in 110 runs. Together with Will Clark, Robby Thompson, and Royce Clayton, the Giants had a solid lineup which finished second in the NL in runs scored.

On September 15, the Giants (89–56) trailed first-place Atlanta (93-53) by 3½ games, San Francisco won 14 of 17 games to close out the season – but Atlanta went 11-5 and held off the Giants to win the division by one game.

The 1994 season brought about two major changes to major-league baseball. The first was division realignment. Each league would be composed of three divisions: East, West, and Central. The NL West included San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and the expansion Colorado Rockies. The first change segued into the second: a new playoff format. Three division winners and a wild card team in each league expanded the postseason and doubled the number of eligible teams. It was an alignment identical to what the National Football League had implemented in 1970.

However, the new format would have to wait, as play shut down on August 12. A players’ strike canceled the rest of the season and the World Series and carried over to 1995. Williams was especially stung by the strike. He had hit 43 home runs and was on pace to break the home run record of 61 for a season set by Roger Maris in 1961. But it was not to be.

The real losers, of course, were the fans. “I used to root for Jeff Bagwell to set a new RBI record and Matt Williams to set a new home run record. Now, I just root for baseball to set a new strike record,” wrote Jesse Gogo of Rialto, California in The Sporting News.12    

Because of the strike, teams did not begin regular-season play in 1995 until April 26, with a 144-game schedule. Williams fouled a pitch off his right foot in a game against Philadelphia on June 3, breaking a bone. As a result, he missed almost half the season.

San Francisco finished in last place in 1995 and 1996. To shake things up, and to ease financial constraints, the Giants traded Williams and a player to be named later (outfielder Trenidad Hubbard) to Cleveland on November 13, 1996. In return, the Giants received infielders Jeff Kent, José Vizcaino, pitcher Julian Tavarez and a player to be named later (pitcher Joe Roa). Slugger Albert Belle left the Indians via free agency and the club was looking for a big bat in the middle of its lineup.

“In our view, this is an old-time baseball deal,” said new Giants general manager Brian Sabean. “We gave them a four-time All-Star, and we are really excited about the return…It’s a rarity in this day and age where you make something this good and both teams feel good.”13  

If the trade was a shock to Williams, it was nothing compared to the news that Tracie was filing for divorce. Williams, who put his family first, above all else, was now in a new city and a new league, without his children. “He is a very family-oriented person,” said Indians manager Mike Hargrove. “You see him with his kids, and his eyes light up and it’s real obvious he adores them. I would have to imagine it would be extremely difficult to come into a new league and then be getting a divorce in the middle of it all.”14     

Williams struggled at first but did set a career-high with a three-home run game on April 25, 1997, at Milwaukee. The Indians, like the Giants, had a potent lineup in 1997 with Jim Thome, David Justice, Sandy Alomar Jr., Manny Ramirez and Williams.

Williams smacked 32 home runs and drove in 105 while batting .263 for the Tribe in 1997. He won his fourth Gold Glove Award, making him the first third baseman and one of only three in MLB history to be awarded a Gold Glove in each league (Robin Ventura and Matt Chapman followed). He also received his fourth Silver Slugger Award, becoming the first and so far, the only third baseman to be so honored in both leagues.

Cleveland won the American League Central for the third year in a row and captured its second pennant in three seasons. However, despite Williams’ efforts (.385 with a homer), it lost the World Series in seven games to the Florida Marlins.

After the season, Williams requested a trade so that he would be closer to his children. Cleveland GM John Hart, after much discussion with various teams, was able to work out a deal. On December 1, 1997, Cleveland sent Williams to the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks for third baseman Travis Fryman and pitcher Tom Martin. “The way I presented it to the Indians was that it was a life decision, not a baseball decision. And they understood,” said Wiliams. “If it was strictly a baseball decision, I would have never left. Cleveland is a tremendous place to play, and they have a fantastic team. But nothing, including baseball, is more important to me than my kids.”15

Williams returned to familiar territory, as the Diamondbacks were placed in the NL West. Like most expansion teams, Arizona (65–97) struggled and finished in last place in 1998. A stress fracture in his left foot, combined with a stiff back and nagging injuries to his wrists and hands, limited Williams to 135 games. Also, without the big boppers surrounding him in the lineup, Williams’ numbers sagged. He tied for second on the team in home runs with Jay Bell (20) and drove in 71 runs.

On January 15, 1999, Williams married actress Michelle Johnson.

The Diamondbacks made four moves that changed them from expansion team to contender. They acquired outfielders Luis González and Tony Womack in separate trades. Arizona also signed free agent outfielder Steve Finley and pitcher Randy Johnson.

Womack led the NL in stolen bases with 72. Gonzalez was tops in hits with 206. Johnson led all pitchers in strikeouts (364) and ERA (2.48). Finley smashed 34 home runs and collected 103 RBIs. Johnson singled out Williams’ intensity and the team’s thirst for success as the reasons he signed on with the Diamondbacks. “I really get into the game,” said Williams. “I take it very seriously. I’ve worked very hard to be successful. Sometimes I don’t think the public realizes how hard we work, how much time and effort goes into it.”16    

Williams bounced back to have a superb season. He smacked 35 home runs and set a club record in RBIs with 142. Arizona (100-62) went from worst to first in the NL West, easily outdistancing second-place San Francisco (86-76) by 14 games. Their dream season ended when the New York Mets defeated them in the NLDS in four games.

Over the next three seasons, various injuries curtailed Williams’ playing time. In 2000, a broken right foot kept him out of action until late May. A right quadriceps strain sidelined him for a few more games. In 2001, he suffered tears in his left hamstring and left quadriceps that removed him from the Diamondbacks lineup for two months. In 2002, a broken left leg and dislocated left ankle kept him out of action until after the All-Star break.

In 2001, the Diamondbacks (92-70) edged the Giants (90-72) by two games and were crowned champions of the NL West. Williams hit 16 home runs and collected 65 RBIs in his abbreviated season. Arizona rode the performance of 20-game winners Johnson (21-6) and Curt Schilling (22-6), to the postseason.

The D-backs knocked off St. Louis in the NLDS and toppled Atlanta in the NLCS to reach their first World Series. Their opponent was the New York Yankees, who were making their 38th appearance in the Fall Classic and going for their fourth straight world championship.

In a classic Game Seven, the Diamondbacks scored two runs (one unearned) off of ace reliever Mariano Rivera for a 3-2 series-clinching win. Johnson pitched 1 1/3 innings of relief to get the win. Bell crossed home plate with the winning run off a single to center by Gonzales. Waiting for him at home plate was Williams. “If I was going to score the winning run, Matty had to be the first guy there,”17 said Bell about his teammate on that first Diamondbacks squad in 1998.

Williams batted .269 in the series. He hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning of Game Two off Andy Pettitte to lead the Diamondbacks to a 4-0 victory. “I’m a huge Matt Williams fan,” said Arizona manager Bob Brenly. “There were a lot of people through the course of the season who were ready to give up on him, but I was never one of them.”18

Williams played his last game on May 31, 2003. Following the game, Arizona designated him for assignment19. After considering his options, he retired as an active player, aged 37. “I’ll say it again, I’m a father first,” said Williams. “Baseball certainly is a big part of my life and has given me a lot. I think I gave back a lot with a lot of desire.

“But my kids are ages 13, 12, and 10, and I’ve been a baseball player and missed a lot of their time. It’s more important to be present with them.”20

In 17 seasons and exactly 7,000 at-bats. Williams finished his career with a .268 batting average. He hit 378 home runs and drove in 1,218 runs. A free swinger, his lifetime on-base percentage was .317, but he struck out in just 18% of his plate appearances – quite moderate by today’s standards,

Williams and Michelle Johnson divorced in 2002. He remarried, to newscaster Erika Monroe, in 2003. They had one daughter, Madison.

In 2005, Williams joined the Arizona front office. His title was Special Assistant, but he wore many hats. Williams was a part-time coach under Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin. He appeared at community events and provided color commentary on Arizona games for radio and TV.

In 2007, former U.S. Senator George Mitchell published the Mitchell Report, the product of a 20-month investigation into major-league players using performance-enhancing drugs and steroids. The report listed Williams as purchasing human growth hormone to help in the recovery of his dislocated ankle in 2002. It was published in the San Francisco Chronicle that Williams had paid $11,000 for the HGH products. “The other side of that coin is, you still have to hit the ball out of the ballpark,” said Williams. “You still have to hit the ball properly. If you put some foreign substance in your body, you don’t all of a sudden learn how to hit homers.”21  

From 2010 through 2013, Williams joined the coaching staff of A.J. Hinch and then Kirk Gibson in Arizona. On October 25, 2013, Williams was named the manager of the Washington Nationals. He guided the Nats to a 96-66 record in 2014, finishing in first place in the NL East. They were eliminated by San Francisco in the NLDS. Williams was named Manager of the Year by The Sporting News and the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Williams was fired following the 2015 season. The Nationals had slipped to an 83-79 record, seven games behind the first-place New York Mets. “We had some things that went sideways and we had a whole bunch of injuries,” said Williams,” and there’s not much you can do about that except adjust and move on.”22     

In 2016, Williams joined Chip Hale’s staff in Arizona as the third base coach. He was dismissed after the season. In 2018 he reunited with Melvin and was the Oakland A’s third base coach for two seasons. In 2020 and 2021, Williams managed the Kia Tigers of the KBO League in Korea.

Williams returned to the major leagues in 2022, joining Melvin’s staff in San Diego. On March 31, 2023, it was discovered that Williams had colon cancer. He underwent treatment, missing part of the season.

As of 2025, Williams was in his second season with the San Francisco Giants as their third base coach. For the fourth time, he was a member of Melvin’s staff.

Matt Williams succeeded at every step in his journey through baseball. For years as a coach and manager, he lent his knowledge to those coming up behind him and demonstrated leadership as both a player and coach. The respect Williams earned was evident in 2024 when Matt Chapman, who had played in Oakland when Williams was on the coaching staff, signed as a free agent with San Francisco, reuniting him with Williams.

“Matt Williams is definitely someone who helped me out so much in 2018 and 2019 when he was in Oakland,” said Chapman. “Just from a guy who’s been in my shoes, somebody who’s done it. We have a lot of similarities.”23 

Last revised: April 13, 2025

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and David Bilmes and fact-checked by Ray Danner.

Sources

In addition to the sources used in the Notes, the author used Baseball-Reference.com.

Notes

1 Thomas Boswell, “Could grandson follow grandfather to the World Series?” Washington Post, February 24, 2015.

2 Deron Snyder, “His numbers are truly Giant, but Matt Williams’ reputation is not…yet,” USA Today Baseball Weekly, May 18-24, 1994: 9.

3 Greg Bartolin, “The kid from Carson sure has a Giant future,” Las Vegas Review-Journal, October 1, 1989: 14D.

4 Bartolin, “The kid from Carson sure has a Giant future.”

5 Dan McGrath, “A New Element for Giants’ Top Pick,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 17, 1986: 45.

6 Vince Bruun, “Giants’ top draftee says he’s no Ripken…yet,” Daily Herald, June 22, 1986: 3D.

7 Vince Bruun, “Giants show lots of hitting,” Daily Herald, June 23, 1986: 1D.

8 Don Williams, “Birds give Williams outside chance to improve on obvious weakness,” Arizona Republic, July 11, 1987: G3. 

9 Larry Stone, “Giants’ fiery Matt Williams is starting to perfect his impersonation of Mike Schmidt,” The Sporting News 1991 Baseball Yearbook: 33.  

10 Tony Cooper, “Williams’ Big Night; Slam, Two-Run Homer,” San Francisco Chronicle,” August 12, 1989: 4D.   

11 Ancestory.com, Nevada, Marriage Index. Accessed February 25, 2025.

12 “Voice of the Fan,” The Sporting News, September 5, 1994: 9.

13 David Bush, “Giants Dump Williams,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 14, 1996: E5.

14 Tim Wendel, “Playing through pain,” USA Today Baseball Weekly, September 24-30, 1997: 22-23.

15 Chuck Johnson, “Diamondbacks’ Williams driven to be near his kids,” USA Today, March 3, 1998.

16 Don Ketchum, “Happy home, prolific work,” Arizona Republic, June 6, 1999: BX4.

17 Mark Gonzales, “Gonzo’s hit caps comeback,” Arizona Republic, November 5, 2001: C3.

18 “7 games for the glory,” Arizona Republic, November 7, 2001:  EX12.

19 Mark Gonzales, “Williams out; 1 move to go,” Arizona Republic, June 1, 2003: C2.

20 Mark Gonzales, “’A father first,’ Williams retires after 17 years,” Arizona Republic, June 13, 2003: C1.

21 Mark Fainaru-Wada, Lance Williams, “Baseball’s Drug Scandal Widens,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 6, 2007: A10.

22 ESPN.com, October 5, 2015, Williams HOF Clip file Baseball Hall of Fame.

23 Taylor Wirth, “Chapman eager to reunite with mentor, new Giants coach Matt Williams,” NBCSportsBayArea.com, March 8, 2024. Giants’ Matt Chapman eager to reunite with former mentor Matt Williams – NBC Sports Bay Area & California.  (Accessed March 5, 2025).

Brouthers “is the best batter that ever faced a pitcher—bar nobody. He is the daddy of all hitters.”2 — Cincinnati Enquirer, October 15, 1893

One of the greatest hitters in baseball history, first baseman Dan Brouthers hit for power and average. Among 19th-century players, his .520 career slugging percentage is the highest and his .342 career batting average ranks third, behind Ed Delahanty (.346) and Billy Hamilton (.344). Brouthers hit .300 or better in 16 consecutive seasons, 1881-96.

He was born Dennis Brooder on May 8, 1858, at Sylvan Lake, New York. At the time of the 1860 US Census, he lived in nearby Beekman with his parents, Michael and Anne (née Eagen3) Brooder, older siblings Martin and Ellen, and younger brother James. The region attracted Irish immigrants to the iron industry. Michael and Anne came from the Emerald Isle, and Michael worked as an “iron furnace man.”4

The family’s surname is spelled “Bruder” in the 1870 US Census. That year they resided in Fishkill, New York. Soon after, they moved to nearby Wappingers Falls, where Michael and teenage Dennis worked in factories that produced dyed cloth.5 During his baseball career, Dennis Bruder became known as Dan Brouthers, pronounced “Brew-thers.”

As a member of the semipro Actives of Wappingers Falls, Brouthers considered giving up baseball after a tragic accident. Running the bases on July 7, 1877, he collided at home plate with catcher John Quigley. Brouthers’ knee struck Quigley’s head and fractured his skull, an injury that proved fatal.6

In 1879 Brouthers played first base for Troy, New York, in the National League. In his debut on June 23, he got one hit, a double, in five at-bats off Syracuse pitcher Harry McCormick.7 On July 19, facing Cincinnati pitcher Will White, he clouted his first major-league home run, though it should have been a double; the ball “slipped into a hole in the fence, and he made the circuit before it could be recovered.”8 The next year, he played for independent teams in Baltimore and Rochester, New York, and appeared in three games for Troy.

In 1881, after brief stints with the minor-league New Yorks (of New York City) and Brooklyn Atlantics, Brouthers returned to the National League with the Buffalo Bisons. On June 21, he hit a single, triple, and home run off Troy’s Mickey Welch.9 Brouthers helped the Bisons to a third-place finish and led the league in home runs (8), extra-base hits (35), and slugging percentage (.541).

Brouthers was a left-handed batter and right-handed thrower.10 At 6-feet-2 and 200 pounds, he was described as “massive”11 and “gigantic,”12 and was nicknamed “Jumbo” after P.T. Barnum’s famous elephant.13 But “Big Dan” was agile and as “nimble as a cat.”14

On June 21, 1882, facing Troy’s Tim Keefe, Brouthers made “a magnificent hit over the right field fence for a home run.”15 At Boston on August 18, his home run traveled far over the right-field fence and the ball was lost.16 Ordinarily, the ball was retrieved and kept in play, but this one reached “unexplored regions.”17

“Big Brouthers, of the Buffalos, is the brawniest brandisher of the bludgeon that ever belted a ball,” wrote an alliterative reporter.18 Brouthers’ “bludgeons” were long and heavy. One of his bats from the early 1880s in the collection of the National Baseball Hall of Fame measures 41½ inches and 38 ounces.19 (By comparison, Aaron Judge used a 35-inch, 33-ounce bat in 2022.20)

The Bisons finished in third place in 1882. Brouthers won the batting title with a .368 average and led NL first basemen with a .974 fielding percentage. He won the batting title again in 1883 with a career-high .374 mark, yet the Bisons dropped to fifth place. On July 19, 1883, he went 6-for-6 in a 25-5 thrashing of Philadelphia.21 Meanwhile, his brother James debuted for Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the Northwestern League. James played in the minors for nine seasons, 1883-91.

In 1884 Brouthers slugged a career-high 14 home runs for the third-place Bisons. His home run off George Weidman at Detroit on August 2 was a tape-measure blast; “the ball was still far in the outfield” when he crossed home plate.22 Detroit’s Frank Meinke wouldn’t let Brouthers beat him; on June 19 he intentionally walked the feared slugger four times.23

At first base, Brouthers became a master of the hidden-ball trick. On July 18, 1884, he fooled Chicago’s Michael “King” Kelly. In the seventh inning, Kelly reached first on a throwing error, “and when the little excitement subsequent to play had subsided, Kelly stepped from the bag, and Dan in a very cool way touched him out.”24

In the offseason Brouthers resided in Wappingers Falls. He married Mary Ellen Croak, a local lady of Irish descent. They had five children, four living at the time of the 1900 US Census: Anna Brouthers (born in 1886), Daniel (1888), Dennis (1890), and Margaret (1894).

Brouthers’ .359 batting average in 1885 ranked second in the National League. A seventh-place finish and financial troubles brought an end to the Bisons. The team was sold to the sixth-place Detroit Wolverines, whose primary interest was acquiring Buffalo’s four best hitters. Known as the “Big Four,” they were Brouthers, Hardy Richardson, Jack Rowe, and James “Deacon” White. Bolstered by the new men, the Wolverines vied for the 1886 pennant but fell short, 2½ games behind the first-place Chicago White Stockings.

Brouthers batted .370 that year with a career-high slugging percentage of .581. The Detroit Free Press endeavored to describe his power: He sent a “thunderbolt” from his bat or a “cannon shot,”25 and the ball sailed up and away on “an astronomical investigating tour.”26 The Boston Globe saw color: “Dan Brouthers turned the air blue with a liner to centre field.”27

At Chicago on September 10, 1886, Brouthers hit a single, double, and three home runs off Jim McCormick.28 It was one of 11 times in the 19th century that a National Leaguer hit three or more homers in one game.29

With a powerhouse lineup, the Wolverines captured the 1887 NL pennant. Brouthers led the league in runs (153) and extra-base hits (68), and his .338 batting average ranked third. In the regular season finale, he sprained an ankle while stealing second base.30 The injury kept him out of all but one game of the World Series against the St. Louis Browns, champions of the American Association. The Wolverines won the Series, 10 games to 5.

Brouthers kept on hitting the next year, and the Wolverines stood in first place on July 27, 1888. But the team went into an unfathomable tailspin, losing 16 consecutive games, and finished the season in fifth. Brouthers led the circuit with 118 runs, and his .307 batting average ranked fourth (the league average was .239). The financially strapped club was disbanded, and Brouthers was acquired by Boston. Among the elated Bostonians was sportswriter Tim Murnane, who wrote that Brouthers “can play first base to perfection” and is one of “the greatest batsmen ever known to the base ball field.”31

Ned Hanlon, who was Brouthers’ teammate on the Wolverines, said Brouthers “could hit all pitchers and his drives were longer and harder than those of any other player.”32 Murnane described Brouthers’ left-handed batting stance as “close to the plate” with “feet well apart” and noted that he seldom swung at a bad pitch. Murnane added, “Fielders never know how to play for him, as he is just as likely to hit to right as he is to left field.”33

Brouthers was as good as advertised in 1889. He lifted Boston to second place in the National League and led the majors with a .373 batting average. Incredibly, he struck out only six times in 565 plate appearances, a ratio of one strikeout per 94 plate appearances. That year, the major-league average was 8.5 strikeouts per 94 plate appearances. (The ratio in 2024 was 21 strikeouts per 94 plate appearances.)

Actively lobbying for players’ rights, Brouthers served as vice president of the Brotherhood, a players’ union organized by John Ward,34 and joined the union’s new Players League for the 1890 season. His team, the Boston Reds, won the pennant. The league folded after one season, and the next year he played for the Boston Reds of the American Association. His team again won the pennant, and his .350 batting average led the majors.

With the demise of the American Association after the 1891 season, Brouthers returned to the National League on Ward’s 1892 Brooklyn team. He won his fifth batting title, and Ward called him “the greatest hitter on earth.”35 In 1893, following a bout with influenza in the spring,36 Brouthers appeared in 77 games for Brooklyn. After the season he was traded to the Baltimore Orioles.

The 1894 Orioles, managed by Ned Hanlon, won the NL pennant with a stellar 89-39 record. The team was stacked with future Hall of Famers: Wilbert Robinson, catcher; Brouthers, first base; Hughie Jennings, shortstop; John McGraw, third base; and Willie Keeler and Joe Kelley, outfield. “I think it is the strongest club that was ever put together,” said Brouthers.37 He batted .347 and clouted the offerings of the best pitchers in baseball. He went 3-for-5 facing Amos Rusie of the New York Giants on Opening Day, April 19; 4-for-5 off Boston’s Kid Nichols on June 18; and 3-for-4 against Cy Young of the Cleveland Spiders on September 3.38 But this was Brouthers’ final full season in the majors.

After a falling out with Hanlon in the spring of 1895, Brouthers was sold to a National League doormat, the Louisville Colonels.39 He appeared in only 24 games for the Colonels before leaving to care for his sick wife.40 During his short time with the team, he provided hitting instruction to teammate Fred Clarke, an aspiring 22-year-old outfielder and future Hall of Famer. Brouthers “could murder a low curve,” remembered Clarke in a 1951 interview. With tutoring from Brouthers, Clarke learned to hit that pitch.41 And Brouthers helped another future Hall of Famer by suggesting that teammate Jimmy Collins, then a struggling outfielder, be moved to third base.42 Collins became one of the greatest third basemen of the era.

Brouthers returned to baseball in the spring of 1896 with the Philadelphia Phillies, who had purchased his contract. He hit .344 in 57 games, but at age 38 he was regarded as old and expendable, and was released on July 4.43 He finished the season with the Springfield (Massachusetts) Ponies of the Eastern League and batted .400 in 51 games.44

The next year, Mark Twain famously declared, “The report of my death was an exaggeration,”45 and Brouthers proved that he, too, was not finished. On the 1897 Ponies, he pounded Eastern League pitching and led the circuit in hits (208), doubles (44), batting average (.415), slugging percentage (.645), and total bases (323). And his fielding percentage (.983) ranked second among the league’s first basemen.46

In 1898 Brouthers batted .333 in 50 games for Springfield and Toronto, but only .235 in 45 games the following year for Springfield and Rochester. Discouraged by his decline, he announced his retirement from professional baseball on July 5, 1899.47

Back home in Wappingers Falls, Brouthers was a hotelkeeper and saloonkeeper.48 He came out of retirement in 1903 to play for neighboring Poughkeepsie in the Hudson River League. He hit .286 in 16 games that year and led the league with a .373 average in 117 games in 1904. On June 1, 1904, the 46-year-old slugger went 6-for-6 with two grand slams in Poughkeepsie’s 18-8 rout of Saugerties, New York.49 The Buffalo Courier called him “the wonder of the baseball world” and “probably the greatest batter that this country has ever produced.”50 To honor him, manager John McGraw of the New York Giants put him in the Giants lineup on October 3 and 4, 1904; these were his final major-league games.51

Brouthers played one more year for Poughkeepsie, hitting .296 in 81 games in 1905. The next year, he was playing manager and owner of the Newburgh, New York, team in the Hudson River League. However, this venture was a financial failure, and he relinquished the franchise midseason.52 Soon after, he moved his family to New York City and began a second baseball career in the employ of McGraw and the Giants.

Initially, Brouthers served as a scout for the Giants; among his finds were first baseman Fred Merkle and second baseman Larry Doyle. In later years, Brouthers worked at the Polo Grounds, the Giants’ ballpark, as a ticket taker, press-box attendant, and night watchman.53

On August 2, 1932, at his home in East Orange, New Jersey, Brouthers died of a heart attack at the age of 74. He was interred at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Wappingers Falls. In 1945 he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. And in 1971 he was memorialized by a monument and baseball field named Brouthers Field in Wappingers Falls.54

Acknowledgments

This story was reviewed by Bill Lamb and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Steve Ferenchick.

Sources

Ancestry.com and Baseball-Reference.com, accessed in 2024.

Kerr, Roy. Big Dan Brouthers: Baseball’s First Great Slugger (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland), 2013.

Image: 1895 Mayo’s Cut Plug baseball card of Dan Brouthers.

Notes

1 “Notes of the Diamond,” Boston Globe, June 3, 1889: 4.

2 “All Sorts from the Sporting World,” Cincinnati Enquirer, October 15, 1893: 10.

3 Findagrave.com, accessed February 2024.

4 1860 US Census.

5 Roy Kerr, Big Dan Brouthers: Baseball’s First Great Slugger (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2013), 6, 7.

6 Kerr, Big Dan Brouthers, 12, 13.

7 “Other Field Sports,” Chicago Inter Ocean, June 24, 1879: 5.

8 “Cincinnati vs. Troy,” Chicago Tribune, July 20, 1879: 6.

9 “Sporting News,” Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, June 22, 1881: 3.

10 “Buffalos for 1885,” Buffalo Times, February 23, 1885: 3.

11 “B.B. Superstition,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 30, 1882: 10.

12 “Base-Ball,” Cincinnati Enquirer, October 18, 1882: 5.

13 “Sporting,” Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, April 29, 1882: 3.

14 “The Champions,” Boston Globe, October 11, 1887: 3.

15 “Astonished Themselves,” Buffalo Express, June 22, 1882: 4.

16 “Boston 9, Buffalo 8,” Chicago Tribune, August 19, 1882: 8.

17 “The Diamond,” Wheeling (West Virginia) Register, September 3, 1882: 5.

18 “Base Ball,” Fall River (Massachusetts) News, August 28, 1882: 3.

19 Kerr, Big Dan Brouthers, 54.

20 Bernie Woodall, “Home Run Slugger Aaron Judge Uses Bats Made on Treasure Coast,” September 26, 2022, available online at Treasure Coast Business, tcbusiness.com.

21 “Ferguson’s Fumblers,” Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, July 20, 1883: 3.

22 Sporting Life, August 13, 1884: 3.

23 “Almost Slaughtered,” Buffalo Times, June 20, 1884: 1.

24 “Sporting Notes,” Buffalo Times, July 19, 1884: 4.

25 “Weidman Tried to Win,” Detroit Free Press, June 17, 1886: 8; “Culture Crushed,” Detroit Free Press, July 3, 1886: 3.

26 “Eleven Straight,” Detroit Free Press, May 22, 1886: 3.

27 “Ubbo There,” Boston Globe, July 13, 1887: 3.

28 Sporting Life, September 15, 1886: 4.

29 “Three Home Runs in a Game,” Baseball-Almanac.com, accessed February 2024.

30 “No More,” Detroit Free Press, October 9, 1887: 6.

31 Tim Murnane, “Killed by Stars,” Boston Globe, November 15, 1888: 4.

32 “From 1887 to 1897,” Sporting Life, September 11, 1897: 21.

33 “Great Batters,” The State Republican (Lansing, Michigan), July 1, 1889: 2.

34 Kerr, Big Dan Brouthers, 85.

35 “Ward Captures a Prize,” New York Herald, February 17, 1892: 8.

36 “Dan Brouthers Has the Grip,” Rock Island (Illinois) Argus, May 3, 1893: 1.

37 “Why They Win,” Sporting Life, September 22, 1894: 6.

38 Sporting Life, April 28, 1894: 4; Tim Murnane, “They Quit Even,” Boston Globe, June 19, 1894: 5; Sporting Life, September 8, 1894: 3.

39 “Brouthers a Colonel,” Sporting Life, May 11, 1895: 2.

40 “Louisville Lines,” Sporting Life, June 29, 1895: 7.

41 Joe King, “‘The Wonder Man’ of Pittsburgh,” The Sporting News, March 14, 1951: 15, 16.

42 “Brouthers Developed Collins,” Oakland Enquirer, August 26, 1899: 12.

43 “Brouthers Released,” Philadelphia Inquirer, July 5, 1896: 8.

44 Sporting Life, November 28, 1896: 6.

45 Frank Marshall White, “Mark Twain Amused,” New York Journal and Advertiser, June 2, 1897: 1.

46 Sporting Life, February 5, 1898: 10.

47 “Dan Brouthers Quits,” Meriden (Connecticut) Journal, July 6, 1899: 4.

48 1900 US Census; “Various Troubles,” Sporting Life, December 8, 1900: 1.

49 “Hudson River League,” Poughkeepsie (New York) Eagle, June 2, 1904: 2.

50 “Old Dan Brouthers, The Wonder of the Baseball World,” Buffalo Courier, June 5, 1904: 27.

51 “Giants End Local Season in Big Row with the Umpire,” New York World, October 4, 1904: 1; Sporting Life, October 15, 1904: 8.

52 “Hudson River League,” Sporting Life, July 14, 1906: 17.

53 Kerr, Big Dan Brouthers, Chapter 7.

54 “Dan Brouthers Monument,” BallparkReviews.com, accessed December 2024.

This is the resume:

• He was the first National League rookie to hit .300 with 30 homers, 100 RBIs, and 100 runs scored.
• He was the youngest player with back-to-back 50-double seasons.
• He was the third major-leaguer to drive in 500 runs in his first four seasons.1
• He was the major-league leader in runs scored five times, including three consecutive seasons.
• He had the most career home runs of any major leaguer in the first 10 seasons of a career.
• He reached 400 homers faster than anyone in big-league history.
• He was the first player with 100-RBI seasons in each of his first 10 years.

Albert Pujols’ first 11 seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals – in which he batted .328 and averaged more than 40 doubles, 40 home runs, 120 RBIs and 117 runs scored – was one of the greatest stretches by an individual player in major-league history. Slowed by injuries and age, the second half of Pujols’ 22-year career was not as productive, but he occasionally showed flashes of his prime years as he reached 3,000 career hits and two major milestones achieved by fewer than a handful of baseball greats – 700 home runs and 2,000 RBIs.

José Alberto Pujols Alcántara was born on January 16, 1980, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He was the only child of Bienvenido and his wife. At the time of his birth, the family lived in the crime-ridden neighborhood of Cristo Rey. They later moved to Villa Mella, a lower-class, but safer, area north of Santo Domingo.2 Their last stop before immigrating to the United States was the Los Trinitarios neighborhood of Santo Domingo.

When Pujols was three years old, his parents divorced and his mother left, but the couple maintained an amicable relationship.3 Pujols has not spoken publicly often of his mother, and little is known about her. Owing to economic circumstances and the chance for a better education, Pujols lived with his father but had occasional weekend visits with his mother.4

Bienvenido worked as a painter and performed other odd jobs; he was often gone from home looking for work. When Bienvenido happened to find work in the city, Pujols would accompany his father to spend time with him and help when he could.

Pujols was raised primarily by his paternal grandmother, America, with help from her 10 children. Surrounded by uncles and aunts, whom he calls his brothers and sisters, Pujols had a happy childhood, although money was tight. “We didn’t live like a rich person, but we lived pretty good,” he recalled.5

Pujols began playing baseball at the age of five when Bienvenido, an excellent softball pitcher in the Dominican Republic, introduced his son to the game. Pujols wore his father’s jersey around the neighborhood and accompanied him to his softball games, where he would beg his father to hit groundballs to him between games.6

Like most kids growing up in the Dominican Republic, as a young boy Pujols played baseball in the streets year-round with improvised equipment – he used a milk carton as a glove and limes as baseballs. He followed the major-league careers of Latino players and didn’t have a favorite team but remembered that “the [Atlanta] Braves were always on TV.”7

Though the two maintained a good relationship, Bienvenido’s alcoholism greatly shaped Albert’s life. A young Pujols would often carry his father home when he became drunk after his softball games.8 Pujols said that the experience caused him to mature early; he cited these moments as the reason that he never drank alcohol or smoked.9

Pujols was 16 when he moved with his father and grandmother to the United States. They landed in a rough neighborhood – Washington Heights in New York City – but left soon after when Pujols witnessed a murder in a bodega near where they lived.10 They settled just east of Kansas City, in Independence, Missouri, which at the time had a community of about 2,000 Dominican immigrants, including members of Pujols’ extended family.11 

Pujols enrolled as a junior at Fort Osage High School and did not speak any English. He initially struggled with the language barrier but was able to do his schoolwork. He displayed a passion to learn and with the help of his English teacher, Portia Stanke (who did not know Spanish), he quickly overcame the language obstacle.12

In October 1996, Pujols was introduced by his cousin Wilfredo Pujols to Fort Osage High School baseball coach David Fry. “When he came to us, he was a no-name. None of us knew anything about him,” Fry said. “He’s a kid that by the grace of God moved into our district. I didn’t know what I had standing in my classroom that day.”13

“The more I watched him, I felt like the baseball gods had smiled down on me,” Fry said after watching Albert Pujols during tryouts for the first time.14

Despite his stocky 6-foot-3 build, Pujols played shortstop in the spring of 1997. He hit .449 with 11 homers to lead Fort Osage to the Missouri Class 4A state championship in his first season. Because he would not have enough credits to graduate in 1998, school administrators felt that another year of high school would benefit his grasp of English and academic development. Pujols was awarded another year of eligibility and re-enrolled as a junior.

On the field he did not get many pitches to hit during the 1998 season. In what would become a recurring theme throughout his career, Pujols’ age was questioned. Opposing coaches – both out of respect for his power and believing he was older than 18 – refused to pitch to him. He was walked 55 times while hitting eight home runs in just 33 at-bats.15

Following the fall semester of his senior year, Pujols had secured the necessary credits to graduate as an English as Second Language Student.16 He left Fort Osage to accept a full scholarship at nearby Maple Woods Community College in the spring of 1999.

Pujols got off to a memorable start – in his first college game, he hit a grand slam against future major-leaguer Mark Buehrle and turned an unassisted triple play at shortstop. Pujols was named a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) All-American for hitting .466 with 22 home runs and 76 RBIs in 56 games while leading Maple Woods to the NJCAA Region 16 Championship.17

Although Maple Woods coach Marty Kilgore expected Pujols to be taken in the first three rounds of the 1999 MLB June amateur draft, scouts had reservations. In addition to questions about his age, there were other concerns.

“We all saw Albert the same way,” said Kansas City Royals general manager Allard Baird at the time. “We weren’t sure he had a position. He didn’t have a great baseball body. We all saw him the same way, and we were all wrong.”18

On the advice of area scout Fernando Arango, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays were the only major-league club to invite Pujols for a pre-draft workout. Despite Arango’s insistence that “someday he’ll hit 40 home runs in the big leagues,” Tampa Bay officials were concerned about Pujols’ build and the defensive position he would play.19 They passed on him in the draft and Arango quit his job in disgust.20

Pujols was finally taken in the 13th round by the St. Louis Cardinals and offered a $10,000 signing bonus. Rather than accept the offer, he chose to play in the amateur collegiate Jayhawk League that summer in Hays, Kansas. After the league ended, the Cardinals upped their offer to $60,000. Pujols signed and reported to the Arizona Fall League, where he learned to play third base.21

On January 1, 2000, Pujols married Kansas City native Deidre Corona, whom he had met at a Latin dance club when he was in high school. The young couple spent just $150 on their wedding and honeymooned in Peoria, Illinois, where Pujols would begin his minor-league career.22 On their first date, Deidre, who was three years older, told Pujols that she had an eight-week-old daughter, Isabella, with Down Syndrome.23 After their wedding, Pujols officially adopted Isabella. He and Deidre would have four children together: Albert Jr. (2001), Sophia (2005), Ezra (2010), and Esther Grace (2012).

Pujols’ accension to the major leagues was remarkably fast. The Cardinals initially sent him to their Class-A affiliate, the Peoria Chiefs of the Midwest League. After he hit .324 with 17 homers in 109 games (for which he was later named Midwest League MVP),24 he was promoted to the High-A Potomac Cannons of the Carolina League for 21 games in August. Skipping Double-A, he ended the year with the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds for their final three games leading into the Pacific Coast League playoffs. In Game Four of the finals against Salt Lake City, Pujols hit a 13th-inning walk-off home run to give Memphis its first PCL title. In the four-game series, he was 8-for-17 with two homers and five RBIs and was named MVP.25 The Cardinals named Pujols their 2000 Minor League Player of the Year.26

Although they expected him to begin the season in Triple A, the Cardinals welcomed Pujols to spring training as a non-roster invitee in 2001. Despite spending time at first base, third base, shortstop, and all three outfield positions, Pujols hit from the start. Because of injuries to veterans Mark McGwire and Bobby Bonilla, Pujols received extensive playing time and batted .349 in 62 at-bats with a team-leading 34 total bases and just eight strikeouts.27

“Each week when we had our cut meetings, there we were, figuring he had to go back to the minors at some point, and each week he kept impressing us more and more,” said Cardinals general manager Walt Jocketty. “It got to the final week and we just said, ‘Look, we’re really a better club with him,’ the way he was playing.”28  

Bonilla’s injury created a vacancy on manager Tony La Russa’s roster that was filled by Pujols, who debuted as the Cardinals’ left fielder in Colorado on opening day, April 2, 2001, and singled against Mike Hampton in his third at-bat.29 Four days later, he cracked his first big-league homer against Armando Reynoso in a victory at Arizona. On April 9, Pujols homered in his first trip to the plate at Busch Stadium.30 He finished April hitting .370 with 8 homers and 27 RBIs and hardly slowed down. Splitting time between third base, first base, and the outfield, he finished the season with a .329 average, 37 homers, 130 RBIs, and 112 runs scored31 while setting National League rookie records for RBIs (130), extra-base hits (88), and total bases (360).32 Pujols was unanimously voted the NL Rookie of the Year, the sixth Cardinals player to win the award.

The next season, Pujols posted similar numbers (.314, 34, 127), the second of a record 10 consecutive years with at least 30 home runs, 100 RBIs, and a batting average over .300. Though Pujols was not eligible for arbitration, St. Louis signed their young superstar to a one-year contract for $900,000 prior to the 2003 season.

After the Cardinals made the playoffs in each of Pujols’ first two seasons, they fell to third in the NL Central in 2003 – which may have been Pujols’ best season in St. Louis. Despite playing most of the season with ligament damage in his right elbow, he won his only batting title with two hits on the final day to finish with a .359 average, edging out Colorado’s Todd Helton by .0002 in the closest batting race in NL history.33  Highlighted by a career-best 30-game hitting streak34, Pujols hit 43 homers and drove in 124 runs while leading the majors in batting average, runs, doubles, and total bases and topping the NL in hits, three behind AL leader Vernon Wells. Pujols finished second in the MVP balloting behind San Francisco’s Barry Bonds (.341, 45, 90 with 148 walks).35

Before the 2004 season, St. Louis inked Pujols to a seven-year, $100 million contract, thereby avoiding an upcoming arbitration battle and delaying his free agency at least four years.36 After playing multiple positions during his first three seasons, Pujols moved exclusively to first base in 2004 after Tino Martinez was dealt to Tampa Bay in November 2003. Pujols would become an excellent defensive first baseman, winning two Gold Glove Awards and setting a major-league record with 185 assists as a first baseman in 2009.37

St. Louis won an MLB-best 105 games in 2004 and topped the Houston Astros in a thrilling seven-game NLCS. Pujols torched the Astros, going 14-for-28 with four home runs, nine RBIs, and scoring 10 runs; he was named the series MVP. In his first World Series he was 5-for-15 with two doubles but St. Louis was swept by the Boston Red Sox, who won their first title since 1918.

Shortly after the 2005 season began, Pujols and Deidre announced the formation of the Pujols Family Foundation. The organization’s goals were to help improve the lives of poor children and orphans in the Dominican Republic and support local organizations such as the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and the Ronald McDonald House.38

As the adoptive father of Isabella, another cause was even closer to Pujols’ heart—promoting awareness of Down Syndrome. In 2002 Pujols became the spokesman for the annual “Buddy Walk” game, in which children with Down Syndrome are special guests of the Cardinals and walk along the warning track and stand with Cardinals players during the national anthem. He had a knack for creating a special memory for the children, often hitting a “requested” home run; in the 2006 game he homered in his first three at-bats.39 After being nominated for the fifth time in six years, Pujols was awarded the Roberto Clemente Award in 2008 for his community service.40 

In each season from 2001 to 2004, Pujols finished in the top four in the MVP voting while Bonds won four straight times. With Bonds sidelined until September, Pujols (.330, 41, 117) broke through in 2005 to capture his first of three NL MVP Awards and lead the Cardinals to their second consecutive 100-win season.41 They lost to Houston in six games in the NLCS, but Pujols provided one of his most memorable moments with a massive three-run homer in the ninth inning against Astros closer Brad Lidge to win Game Five.

In the inaugural season of Busch Stadium III in 2006, Pujols hit the first Cardinals home run in the new park. On April 16, his third straight home run was a two-run game-winner in an 8-7 win over Cincinnati; the next night in Pittsburgh he homered in his first at-bat to tie a major-league record for consecutive home runs.42 He finished the month with a major-league record 14 homers in April43 – while hitting .346 and driving in 32 runs – and ended the year with career highs of 49 home runs and 137 RBIs despite a 15-day stay on the disabled list in June.44 The Cardinals, who claimed the NL Central crown with an 83-79 record, beat San Diego in four games in the NL Division Series before dispatching the New York Mets in a tight seven-game NLCS in which Pujols was 7 for 22. He hit just .200 in the World Series, but St. Louis topped the Detroit Tigers in five games for an unexpected title.

After finishing runner-up in the MVP balloting behind Philadelphia’s Ryan Howard, Pujols created a minor controversy when he said in an interview in the Dominican Republic that “someone who doesn’t take his team to the playoffs doesn’t deserve to win the MVP.”45 Pujols later apologized to Howard, saying his remarks were misinterpreted.46

Plagued by discomfort and tingling in his right elbow in 200747, Pujols had career lows to that point in home runs (32) and RBIs (103). He rebounded in 2008 to win his second MVP Award (.357, 37, 116) but underwent surgery to decompress and relocate the ulnar nerve in his right elbow following the season. In 2009 he led the league in homers (47) for the first time48, drove in 135 runs, and nabbed another MVP Award – and had a second surgery on his elbow after the season ended.49

Pujols led the league in homers again and RBIs (for the only time) in 2010 but finished second to Cincinnati’s Joey Votto for the MVP. Following the season, St. Louis exercised a $16 million option on Pujols’ contract for 2011.50

Statistically, the 2011 season was Pujols’ worst of his career to that point. In early June he hit extra-inning, walk-off home runs on consecutive days to beat the Chicago Cubs,51 but on June 19 he suffered a fractured wrist. He was expected to miss up to six weeks but returned two weeks later.52 On July 29 he collected his 2,000th career hit, becoming the fifth Cardinal to reach the milestone.53 He finished the season hitting .299 with 99 RBIs, ending a 10-year streak of batting over .300 and driving in 100 runs.

After defeating Milwaukee on August 2, St. Louis was only 2½ games behind the Brewers in the NL Central, but by August 24 had dropped to 10 games out and 10½ games behind the Atlanta Braves for the sole NL Wild Card berth. However, they went 23-9 to close the season and clinched the wild card spot on the last day when the Braves lost in 13 innings to Philadelphia. Advancing to the World Series with series wins over Philadelphia and Milwaukee, St. Louis split two games at home with the Texas Rangers to set up Game Three. Pujols lifted St. Louis to a 16-7 win with perhaps the greatest single-game offensive output in World Series history. After grounding out in the first inning, Pujols singled in the fourth and fifth, followed by home runs in the sixth, seventh, and ninth; he joined Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson as the only players to homer three times in a World Series game.54 His five hits and six RBIs also tied World Series records and his 14 total bases set a new standard.55 St. Louis beat Texas in seven games to win their second title in six years.

Prior to the 2011 season, the Cardinals had offered Pujols a nine-year, $198 million extension, which he rejected.56 Pujols refused to discuss his contract status during the season and became a free agent following the World Series. Despite both management and Pujols proclaiming that he should remain a Cardinal for the remainder of his career, Pujols eventually signed a 10-year, $254 million deal with the American League’s Los Angeles Angels that included a marketing deal and a personal services contract.57  

Pujols got off to a poor start in 2012 for his new team; he batted under .200 until mid-May and did not connect for his first home run until his 117th plate appearance on May 6. He rallied to finish with 30 homers, 105 RBIs and a .285 batting average, the highest average he would achieve during his time with the Angels. He smacked 50 doubles, making him the first player to reach that mark in each league.58

In 2013, a partially torn plantar fascia on his left foot limited Pujols to 99 games and ended his streak of 12 consecutive 30-homer seasons.59 Despite not being on the field, Pujols was still in the news on August 2 when former major-leaguer Jack Clark, as an employee of a sports talk show on Cleveland’s WGNU, accused Pujols of using performance-enhancing drugs during his early years in St. Louis.60

Pujols denied the accusation, saying in a statement, “I’ve said time and again that I would never take, or even consider taking, anything illegal. I’ve been tested hundreds of times throughout my career, and never once have I tested positive.”61 Pujols, whose name did not appear in the 2007 Mitchell Report which investigated illegal PED use, sued both Clark and WGNU for defamation. The lawsuit was later dropped when Clark publicly retracted his comments.62

Early in the 2014 season, Pujols reached the 500-home run club on April 22 when he belted both his 499th and 500th in a victory over the Washington Nationals.63 He finished with 28 home runs and 105 RBIs and helped the Angels win the AL West title for the first time since they won three straight from 2007 to 2009. Despite teaming up with superstar Mike Trout, the 2014 season would be the only one during Pujols’ stay with the Angels in which they made the postseason; they were swept in the Division Series by the Kansas City Royals.

Playing on achy feet for the last several years of his career, Pujols’ production dropped dramatically. He still hit the ball hard but was often the victim of opponent’s extreme defensive shifts, which – combined with his lack of speed – resulted in groundouts instead of hits. Many were turned into double plays; Pujols grounded into a major-league record 426 in his career.

But Pujols still achieved several statistical milestones while with the Angels. In 2015, he had his seventh, and last, 40-homer season but drove in just 95 runs. The final two of his record 14 100-RBI seasons64 were in 2016 and 2017. On June 3, 2017, he smashed a grand slam for his 600th career home run. He lined a single to right on May 4, 2018, against Seattle’s Mike Leake to become the 32nd player to reach 3,000 hits. Just over a year later, on May 9, his solo homer against Ryan Carpenter was his 2,000th RBI.65 On August 24, 2020, Pujols collected his 2,087th RBI, moving him past Álex Rodríguez into second place all time.66

After signing Pujols, the Angels had hosted the Cardinals in interleague series in 2013 and 2016, but did not visit St. Louis until June 2019, more than seven years since Pujols’ last home appearance during their World Series victory. Receiving a standing ovation for each plate appearance of the series, Pujols was 1-for-2 with a walk in the first game in front of a crowd of 48,423 – the second largest in Busch Stadium history. He thrilled the St. Louis fans with a seventh-inning home run against Cardinal starter Dakota Hudson the following day and collected two hits in the third game.67

In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Pujols hit .224 in 152 at-bats. He was hitting just .198 in 86 at-bats in 2021 when he was designated for assignment by the Angels on May 6, four months before the end of his contract.68 Just over a week later, he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers, for whom he hit .254 with 12 home runs in 85 games (37 starts).69 In nine playoff games with the Dodgers, he had five singles in 17 at-bats.

In March 2022, Pujols signed a one-year deal for $2.5 million with St. Louis to end his storied career back where it began. Shortly before opening day, he divorced Deidre just days after her successful brain surgery.70

On the field in his final season as a player, Pujols appeared in 22 games at first base. With the recent adoption of the designated hitter in the National League, the bulk of his playing time came as the Cardinals’ DH. On May 15, he made his major-league pitching debut when he entered for the final inning of a 15-6 win over the San Francisco Giants. He allowed four runs on three hits, including a three-run homer by Luis González and a solo homer by Joey Bart.71

Pujols entered the 2022 season needing 21 homers to join Bonds, Hank Aaron, and Ruth as the only players with 700 career home runs. With just seven home runs in 171 at-bats through August 6, he seemed destined to fall short – but then blasted 17 in his final 136 at-bats to finish with a career total of 703. The 699th and 700th came at Dodger Stadium on September 23. More than 21 years after homering in his first at-bat in St. Louis, he went deep in his final regular season at-bat at Busch Stadium against Pittsburgh’s Roansy Contreras. The next day, in Pittsburgh, he connected against Mitch Keller for his final career home run. Keller was the record 458th different pitcher to allow a homer to Pujols.72

Pujols’ final appearance in the major leagues came in the Cardinals’ Wild Card Series loss to Philadelphia; he was 2-for-8 in two games.

During the first spring training following his retirement, Pujols was inevitably asked if he missed playing the game. “I don’t miss a freakin’ thing about it,” he said. “I really don’t. I’ve been playing baseball for 38 years of my life. It was fun. I had a great career. But I am burned out.”73

Did he have second thoughts about retirement following his strong second half in 2022? “People know when I make a decision, it’s a final decision. Yes, I was sure. I had enough,” he stated. “There are no perfect endings, but I think I had one. Last year was the best thing that happened to me in my career besides winning the World Series.”74

In a private ceremony in early 2023, Pujols married for the second time, to Nicole Fernández, the daughter of former Dominican Republic president Leonel Fernández.75 

In June 2023, Pujols was named a special assistant to Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred to consult on numerous topics, including player relations and issues in the Dominican Republic.76

Although the second half of his career paled in comparison to the first 11 seasons in St. Louis, Albert Pujols compiled career numbers matched by few of the immortals of the game. In his prime, he was one of the most feared hitters in baseball history. But that’s not how he wanted to be known. 

When asked in 2009, he said, “I don’t want to be remembered as the best baseball player ever. I want to be remembered as a great guy who loved the Lord, loved to serve the community and who gave back. That’s the guy I want to be remembered as when I am done wearing this uniform. That’s from the bottom of my heart.”77

Last revised: November 4, 2024

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Eric Vickrey and Rory Costello and checked for accuracy by Henry Kirn of SABR’s fact-checking team.

Photo credits: MLB.com, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also consulted Baseball-Reference.com.

Notes

1 Pujols had 505 RBIs in his first four seasons. The other two players are Joe DiMaggio (558) and Ted Williams (515). Matthew Leach, “Pujols Surpasses 500-RBI Plateau,” MLB.com, September 26, 2004.

2 Joe Strauss, “Pujols’ Maintains a Strong Bond with Dominican,” St. Louis Post Dispatch, November 29, 2005: D7.

3 Tom Verducci, “Albert’s Second Act;” Sports Illustrated, March 26, 2012, https://vault.si.com/vault/2012/03/26/alberts-second-act.

4 Graham Bensinger, “Albert Pujols: I’ve Never Drank Alcohol,” https://grahambensinger.com/2021/08/10/albert-pujols/.

5 Chuck Johnson, “Pujols A Card-Carrying Star,” USA Today, May 22, 2001:2C.

6 Graham Bensinger, “Albert Pujols: I’ve Never Drank Alcohol,” https://grahambensinger.com/2021/08/10/albert-pujols/.

7 Johnson.

8 Joe Posnanski, “The Power to Believe,” Sports Illustrated, March 16, 2009.

9 Graham Bensinger, “Albert Pujols: I’ve Never Drank Alcohol,” https://grahambensinger.com/2021/08/10/albert-pujols/.

10 Edward Lennon, “Los Angeles Angels: 5 Things You Didn’t Know About Albert Pujols,” September 2020, https://calltothepen.com/2020/09/19/los-angeles-angels-5-things-albert-pujols/2/

11 Johnson.

12 Graham Bensinger, “Albert Pujols: Challenges Coming to America,” https://grahambensinger.com/2021/08/10/albert-pujols/.

13 Mike Eisenbath, “Pujols is Hot Property at the Hot Corner,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 25, 2001: D16.

14 Johnson.

15 In the summer of 1997, Pujols played a 60-game American Legion season with Hi-Boy Drive In/Post 340 and hit 29 home runs and drove in 119 runs. The next summer he smacked 35 homers and knocked in 124. Arne Christensen, “Albert Pujols: Revisiting the Early Years,” The Hardball Times, June 15, 2010, https://tht.fangraphs.com/albert-pujols-revisiting-the-early-years/

16 Christensen.

17 “Albert Pujols,” NJCAARegion16.org, accessed October 27, 2024, https://njcaaregion16.org/Hall_of_Fame/Albert_Pujols.

18 Posnanski.

19 Jonah Keri, “The Extra 2%: Whiffing on Albert Pujols”, ESPN.com, March 7, 2011, https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=6189583.

20 Keri.

21 Christensen.

22 Posnanski.

23 Johnson.

24 Pujols was named Midwest League Most Valuable Player for the 2000 season despite spending the last month in High-A Potomac.

25 Newspaper accounts report that Pujols hit .367 while being named MVP but that appears to be for the entire playoffs. Box scores from the game accounts in the Salt Lake City Tribune show that he was 8-for-17 in the PCL Championship Series.

26  Gary Lee, “2021 Cardinals Minor League Co-Players & Pitcher of the Year,” Ozark Radio News, March 16, 2022, https://www.ozarkradionews.com/sports/2021-cardinals-minor-league-co-players-pitcher-of-the-year.

27 Steve DiMeglio, “Blazing a Shortcut to the Big Leagues,” USA Today, May 16-22, 2001: 30.

28 DiMeglio.

29 Pujols was the first player born in the 1980s to appear in major leagues. It was initially believed that Rafael Furcal, the 2000 National League Rookie of the Year, was the first but he was found to be two years older than he claimed when having to prove his age to renew his visa following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Because Pujols had been in the United States since he was a young child, he did not face the same scrutiny. Thomas Stinson, “Furcal Ages by 2 Years on Visa,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 15, 2002: C2.

30 Pujols was the first Cardinals rookie to homer in his home debut since Wally Moon in 1954. DiMeglio.

31 Despite below-average speed, Pujols would score 100 or more runs nine times and lead the league five times. Pujols was the first rookie since Walt Dropo in 1950 to hit .300 with 30 home runs, 100 RBIs, and 100 runs scored.

32 “Season of Accomplishments,” USA Today, October 9, 2001. Pujols struck out 93 times in his rookie season. He would match that total in 2017 when he was 37 years old. His next highest strikeout total in a season was 76 (2010 and 2012).

33 Pujols’ .359 average was the highest by a St. Louis batter since Joe Torre hit .363 in 1971. It was the first batting title by a Cardinal since 1990 when Willie McGee hit .335 and accumulated enough at-bats to qualify in the NL before a late-season trade to Oakland in the AL. McGee’s overall average ended at .324. Interestingly, Los Angeles Dodgers’ Eddie Murray led the majors with a .330 average but didn’t lead either league.

34 Pujols fell short of the St. Louis record set by Rogers Hornsby, who hit in 33 straight games in 1922.

35 This was the second consecutive year that Pujols had finished second to Bonds in the National League MVP voting.

36 Joe Strauss, “Pujol$, Cards Buck Up by Giving Slugger $100 Million Deal,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 20, 2004: D1.

37 Pujols recorded his final assist in the last game of the season to break a tie with Bill Buckner, who had 184 for the 1985 Boston Red Sox.

38 Associated Press, “MLB Honours Pujols,” October 26, 2008.

39 In “Buddy Walk” games from 2002 to 2008, Pujols batted 10-for-24 with six homers and 11 RBIs, and the Cardinals had a 5-1 record. His record-tying 184th assist as a first baseman came in the 2009 game. Associated Press, “Another Memorable Day for Pujols and Buddies,” Columbia (Missouri) Daily Tribune, September 9, 2008: 3B.

40 Associated Press, “MLB Honours Pujols.”

41 Bonds was denied the opportunity to win a fifth consecutive time due to a knee injury. He made his season debut on September 12 and hit .286 with five home runs and 10 RBIs in 14 games.

42 Reuters, “Pujols Ties Record,” Eurosports.com, April 18, 2006, https://www.eurosport.com/baseball-softball/mlb/2006/pujols-ties-record_sto869613/story.shtml.

43 https://www.statmuse.com/mlb/ask/who-has-the-most-hr-in-a-season-in-the-month-of-april.

44 United Press International, “Albert Pujols Goes to the DL,” June 4, 2006, https://www.upi.com/Sports_News/2006/06/04/Albert-Pujols-goes-to-the-DL/16161149458267/.

45 Phillies won 85 games, two more than St. Louis, but finished second in the NL East behind the New York Mets, who won 97 games.  “Pujols Apologizes Over MVP Remarks,” USA Today, December 4, 2006.

46 “Pujols feels his MVP message was lost in translation,” ESPN.com, December 4, 2006, https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=2685770.

47 Ben Reiter, “Risky Business?”, Sports Illustrated, April 14, 2008, https://vault.si.com/vault/2008/04/14/baseball.

48 Pujols hit his 47th homer of the season on September 9 and did not homer in his final 79 at-bats but still edged Prince Fielder (46) and Howard (45).

49 ESPN.com, “Pujols to Have Elbow Procedure,” October 20, 2009, https://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=4581000.

50  Ben Nicholson-Smith, “Cardinals Exercise Pujols’ 2011 Option,” MLB Trade Rumors, October 6, 2010, https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/10/cardinals-exercise-pujols-2011-option.html.

51 The second one came against Rodrigo López, against whom Pujols was 0-for-12 before the home run.

52  Grant Brisbee, “Albert Pujols to Be Activated From Disabled List,” SBNation.com, July 5, 2011, https://www.sbnation.com/2011/7/5/2259878/albert-pujols-injury-st-louis-cardinals-news.

53 Associated Press, “Albert Pujols Gets 2,000th Career Hit,” ESPN.com, July 29, 2011, https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/6817681/cardinals-albert-pujols-doubles-2000th-career-hit.

54 Ruth did it twice (1926 and 1928). San Francisco’s Pablo Sandoval later hit three in Game One against Detroit in 2012. https://www.baseball-almanac.com/rb_ws2.shtml.

55 https://www.baseball-almanac.com/rb_ws2.shtml.

56 Tyler Kepner, “Pujols Leaves Behind Fractured Legacy in St. Louis,” New York Times, December 8, 2011, https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/sports/baseball/in-st-louis-pujols-leaves-behind-a-statue-and-a-fractured-legacy.html.

57 “Deidre Pujols explains decision,” ESPN.com, December 12, 2011, https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/7346376/albert-pujols-wife-deidre-explains-why-los-angeles-angels-slugger-left-st-louis-cardinals.

58 Pujols had 51 doubles with the Cardinals in both 2003 and 2004. Miguel Cabrera later accomplished this feat with Florida (2006) and Detroit (2014).

59 David Leon Moore, “Plantar fasciitis knocking top athletes off their feet,” USA Today; August 20, 2013; https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2013/08/20/albert-pujols-plantar-fascitis/2679445/.

60 Dan Caesar, “Clark Accuses Pujols of Steroid Abuse,” Stltoday.com, August 9, 2013, https://www.stltoday.com/sports/professional/mlb/cardinals/media-views-clark-says-pujols-used-performance-enhancing-drug/article_9afc6d86-6a7f-5e49-b636-2f893df579a1.html.

61 Mike DiGiovanna, “Angels’ Albert Pujols Denies Taking PEDs, Says He Will Sue Jack Clark,” Los Angeles Times, August 9, 2013, https://www.latimes.com/sports/angels/la-sp-0810-angels-pujols-20130810-story.html.

62 Tim Daniels, “Albert Pujols Drops Lawsuit Against Jack Clark over PED Accusations,” Bleacherreport.com, October 4, 2013, https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1798501-albert-pujols-suing-jack-clark-over-ped-accusations.

63 Pujols was the first player to hit his 499th and 500th career homer in the same game.

64 Tied with Álex Rodríguez.

65 Pujols joined Aaron and Rodríguez as the only three players with 2,000 RBIs. RBIs became an official statistic in 1920; therefore, Ruth and Cap Anson, whose careers began before 1920 and had over 2,000 each, are not officially recognized as having over 2,000.

66 Ruth had 2,214 RBIs but is not officially on the career list because RBI was not an official stat until 1920, five years after his major-league debut.

67 Jenifer Langosch, “Pujols Receives Standing Ovation in Busch Return,” MLB.com; June 22, 2019, https://www.mlb.com/news/albert-pujols-makes-return-to-busch-stadium.

68 Mark Feinsand, “’Never a right time’ as Angels DFA Pujols,” MLB.com, May 6, 2021, https://www.mlb.com/news/albert-pujols-released-by-angels.

69  R.J. Anderson, “Albert Pujols, Los Angeles Dodgers Reach Agreement on Big-League Contract,” CBSSports.com, May 16, 2021, https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/albert-pujols-los-angeles-dodgers-reach-agreement-on-big-league-contract/. Pujols joined Tim Wallach (1996) and Shea Hillenbrand (2007) as the only players to homer for both the Angels and Dodgers in the same season.

70 Ryan Glasspiegel, “Albert Pujols Cites ‘Irreconcilable Differences’ in Divorce Filing,” New York Post, April 5, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/04/05/albert-pujols-irreconcilable-differences-in-divorce-from-wife/.

71 Adam Wainwright was the winning pitcher in this game. It was his 203rd victory with Yadier Molina as his catcher, making them the winningest battery in major-league history. John Denton, “Waino, Yadi Set Wins Record as Cards Erupt,” May 15, 2022, https://www.mlb.com/news/adam-wainwright-yadier-molina-set-battery-wins-record.

72 Jim Sergent and Gabe Lacques, “22 Historic Moments of the 2022 Baseball Season,” USA Today, October 6, 2022, https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/graphics/2022/10/06/2022-mlb-records-judge-pujols-top-list/8122641001/.

73 Bob Nightengale, “Pujols Enjoying Retirement After 22-Year Career,” USA Today, February 23, 2023: 3C.

74 Nightengale.

75 Aashna, “MLB All-Star Albert Pujols and Nicole Fernandez Exchange Vows in a Fairytale Wedding,” Sportskeeda.com, February 3, 2023, https://www.sportskeeda.com/baseball/news-albert-pujols-ties-knot-nicole-fernandez-took-instagram-celebrate-big-day.

76 Reuters, “Albert Pujols Named Special Assistant to MLB Commissioner,” June 5, 2023, https://www.espn.com/mlb/story?id=37800354&_slug_=albert-pujols-named-special-assistant-mlb-commissioner.

77 Posnanski.

The speedy Hines was also “known as the most colorful and sensational outfielder in the league, with an astounding ability to capture low line drives.”1 That skill was evident on May 8, 1878, when he took part in what may have been the first unassisted triple play in the majors. If it was, it numbered – along with his Triple Crown the same year – among many firsts he could claim in his long and successful career.

Paul Aloysius Hines was born on March 1, 18552 in Virginia, “about 15 miles from Washington, D. C.”3 He was the first child and only son of Michael Joseph Hines (1823-1891), a laborer and later a building contractor, and Ann Layden (1828-1896), immigrants from Ireland. Hines had two sisters, Mary (1859-1932) and the future Sister Mary Josephine (c. 1861-1936), who served for 57 years at the Georgetown Visitation Convent.4

Hines’s early baseball training is sketchy. He apparently played for the Creightons, an amateur team that played at 10th and G Street in Washington on the so-called Asylum Hill lot. The Creightons, comprised mostly of players of Irish descent, boasted three other alumni with major-league careers.5 Hines went on to play baseball for Nick Young, local baseball pioneer and future NL president, on the Washington Rosedales, a semiprofessional team in South Washington in 1870. The next year, Hines split his time between the Washington Olympics and the Junior Nationals.6 By 1872, the 17-year-old righty-hitting speedster was in the major leagues, playing in all 11 games for the Washington Nationals of the National Association (NA) before the team folded.

In 1873, the 5-foot-9, 173-pounder was reunited with Nick Young, who was managing the Association’s Washington Blue Legs. They fared somewhat better than the defunct Nationals, completing 39 games and winning eight for a seventh-place finish. Hines played in all 39 games, hitting .331 with 10 extra-base hits. For 1874, Young moved to Chicago to help bring the White Stockings back to the NA.7  He doubtless influenced the callow Hines to practice his trade there.

The move proved fortuitous for the young player’s career. Hines spent four seasons in the Windy City, two with the NA Chicago franchise, and two with the NL Chicago entrant. The 1876 Chicago White Stockings were loaded with talent: Deacon White, Cal McVey, Cap Anson, and Ross Barnes, to name a few. The team was led by pitcher Al Spalding, who won 47 games against 12 losses (and he hit .312 as well). The team won the NL’s inaugural pennant going away, at 52-14, six games better than the Hartford Dark Blues. Hines, who had appeared destined for the Philadelphia Athletics for the ’76 season,8 stayed in Chicago. He was a key contributor to this juggernaut, hitting .331 (the team average was .337) and tying for the league lead (with teammate Barnes) in doubles with 21.

However, Hines’s production fell the following year along with the team’s fortunes. He played all 60 games in the schedule but had lesser stats in every category. The most telling perhaps was his OPS+. He fell from 146 (or nearly 50% above the league average) to a pedestrian 97.

Hines moved from Chicago to Providence for 1878, the start of what would become a very productive eight seasons tending the outfield for the Grays. Providence, which had been a good semipro team since at least 1875, became fully professional in January 1878. Though the franchise toyed with joining the upstart International Association, it eventually applied for NL membership. The league approved on February 6, temporarily giving it seven teams before scandal-ridden Louisville resigned in early March.9 The Rhode Islanders finished a very creditable third (33-27-2) under manager Tom York in their first season. Hines played in all 62 scheduled league games, and he dazzled, leading the league in home runs (4), RBIs (50),10 batting average (.358),11 slugging (.486), OPS (.849), and total bases (125). He was, although he would never know it, the first Triple Crown winner in major league history.

Hines’s most memorable moment in the field came during the new National League franchise’s May 8 tilt against Boston. The Red Stockings (aka Red Caps), the class of the NL, were the visitors at the Messer Street Grounds that day. After a lackluster and error-filled 8½ innings before 3,500 spectators, Boston came to bat trailing 3–0.12 Following a leadoff walk and a wild throw by Grays second baseman Charlie Sweasy, Boston had a run in and a man, right fielder Jack Manning, on third. Third baseman Ezra Sutton reached on an error by first baseman Tim Murnane and promptly stole second. Boston second baseman Jack Burdock stood at the plate looking at Sutton on second and Manning on third with nobody out. According to the Boston Globe, “[Burdock] hit a high fly, which was a twister, but Hines ran for it, took it on the fly at the short stop’s position, putting out Burdock. Without stopping in his run Hines kept on to third, which both Manning and Sutton had passed running home on the fly, and there stopping, made a triple play with no assistance.”13

It was the first unassisted triple play in major league history . . . or was it? The New York Clipper, with a very short game account, called it a triple play but not unassisted.14 According to the Clipper, Hines caught the fly behind short; ran to third, doubling off Manning; and then threw to Sweasy to put out Sutton. Much actual and metaphorical ink has been expended discussing this play over the years. It is listed as unassisted in the SABR triple play database, but Major League Baseball does not consider it such.15

Future Hall of Famer George Wright latched on to the Grays in 1879 as manager and everyday shortstop. The team thrived under Wright’s leadership, winning the NL pennant by five games over Boston. Providence won 26 more games in the 85-game 1879 season, led by the teenage phenom pitcher John Ward, who won a league-leading 47 games against only 19 losses. It is difficult to top a Triple Crown season, yet Hines was more productive in ’79. He went 6-for-6 in a 10-inning game against the Troy Trojans in Providence on August 26. In addition, he saved the game with “a magnificent running fly catch of Dan] Brouthers’ gigantic hit to far centre-field.” With two men on, Hines likely saved three runs in the tight contest.16

A month later, he was the hero in the pennant clincher against Boston. The Grays had been ahead 6-0 in the game but allowed the Beaneaters three runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth. With two out, Wright walked and first baseman Joe Start doubled, sending Wright to third. Hines delivered the game-ending single, touching off “immense excitement.”17

He was again the top offensive player on his team and led the league in many categories, including hits (146) and total bases (197). Hines earned an “elegant gold medal offered by Mr. James W. McKay of Buffalo, N. Y.”18 for having the highest batting average (.357) among players who played in at least 70 of the 84 National League games.19

Wright was back in Boston for the 1880 season and the Grays fell back to second place. Hines, in the lineup everyday (he led the league in plate appearances), lost 50 points on his batting average. Indeed, all of his offensive numbers diminished.

He hovered around the .300 mark for the next few years, leading the league in doubles (27) in 1881. Perhaps feeling playful at the close of the season, he made a “queer calculation” before the September 30, 1881, duel against Buffalo. Hines took a blank scorecard from a reporter (likely the official scorer) and “wrote ‘one home-run,’ and then made a mark over the fifth-inning column to indicate at what stage of the contest he would score.” Hines proved to be prescient: in the fifth inning he hit a ball over the left field fence, helping Providence win 10-1.20

Hines was a great two-way player, as well as a terrific baserunner. He had some natural gifts to be sure, but he also was almost completely deaf. He played without being able to hear for most of his professional career. It is not known precisely when Hines lost his hearing. An account of Hines visiting the offices of the New York Clipper in early 1883 reports, “Hines has been for many years afflicted with total deafness.”21 There were later reports of a beaning by Jim Whitney in 1886 and much later reports of umpires creating hand signals for Hines’s benefit. Both are apocryphal.

The year 1884 became known as “Baseball’s Wildest Season.”22 It featured the advent of a third major league, the short-lived Union Association. For Providence in particular, it was the annus mirabilis. The Grays won their second NL pennant, this time by 10½ games over their regional rivals, the Beaneaters. They had winning streaks of 12, 10, and 20 games (the latter from August 7 through September 6). The Grays were led by Charles “Old Hoss” Radbourn, who put together an otherworldly pitching performance. He was 60-12 with 678.2 innings pitched. His 6023 wins were 71% of the team’s 84.

The 29-year-old Hines crafted another excellent offensive season, playing 114 games, batting .302, and leading the league in doubles (36). Again, he was the leading offensive player on this pennant-winning club. He was the only member of the team who played in every Providence game (the Grays were 84-28-2). In addition, he played nearly 1,000 innings in center field with 202 putouts (third in the NL), an .895 fielding percentage (fifth), and five double plays (also fifth). During the 20-game winning streak, Hines had 18 straight error-free games.

After this magical season, the Grays met the American Association pennant-winning New York Metropolitans in what is now considered the first World Series. The Grays won all three games in the series, all played in New York, with Radbourn pitching all 22 innings (the last two games were shortened by cold weather). Hines, batting in the leadoff spot, had just two hits in eight at-bats – but drew three walks and after being hit by a pitch,24 scored the first run in WS history. One of his two hits was the first hit in the first game, giving Hines another “first” in his personal list of baseball accomplishments.

In December 1884, the Washington Monument was completed. Some friends of Hines prevailed upon him to catch a baseball dropped from the summit, some 555 feet above the ground. He was, apparently, willing to try until the New York Clipper provided the physics behind the drop. It concluded as follows:

“The ball will not weigh much when it starts on its journey, but, great Scott, there is a rule of natural philosophy which will tell Hines before he begins just how many dozens of pounds it practically will weigh when it lands on his sconce . . . There is a possibility that Paul is not going to fool around with a baseball at the base of the Washington Monument.”25

Hines thought better of it and did not attempt the catch. Consequently, with his “sconce” intact, he was ready to play when the ’85 season began.

Hines played in the Ocean State through the 1885 season, the only player on the roster for each of Providence’s eight seasons in the NL. During this time, he batted .309 with 964 hits, 201 doubles, and 576 runs scored.26 It was the longest tenure at any club for the peripatetic Hines.

As a player, of course, Hines had little control over where he would play, only if he would play. At the end of November 1885, Arthur Soden, owner of the Boston Beaneaters, personally purchased the Providence franchise for a reported $6,600. He then took the players he wanted for Boston, Radbourn and 21-year-old catcher Con Daily, and released the rest to league control.

With a new franchise planned for the District of Columbia, it was generally supposed that Hines would land there. In early March, the league made it official. The New York Clipper reported that Soden had wanted Hines “to gratify the demand of the public for him.” The Hub magnate offered “[Grasshopper Jim] Whitney and Walter] Hackett and a good round sum . . .” but the Nationals wanted more and the deal fell through.27

While waiting to learn his baseball fate, Hines took time to get married. On February 2, 1886, he married 22-year-old Katie May Duffy at a ceremony in Washington, DC. The pair would be married for nearly 50 years.

Hines was by far the best offensive player on the lowly Nationals, who finished last in the eight-team circuit, 60 games behind pennant-winning Chicago. He led his team in almost every offensive category, batting .312 while the rest of his mates hit .196. Hines’s OPS+ of 157 was nearly twice that of the team’s runner-up. After agreeing to terms for the ’87 season, Hines reneged and held out until April 12 (the season started on April 29). Several clubs attempted to obtain the speedy outfielder, but the price was usually too high.

Typical were the negotiations with the Philadelphia Quakers. Harry Wright wanted Hines but the Nationals wanted 24-year-old pitcher Charlie Ferguson, who was 30-9 in 1886. That was a non-starter for Wright; Hines did not move.28 At least one reporter didn’t think he would fit in Philly. “Paul Hines, of Washington, is dissatisfied, and would like to come to Philadelphia, but Paul is a kicker from away back, and would not harmonize with a mild-mannered Jimmie Fogarty or the gentle Joe] Mulvey.”29

The Baltimore Sun reported that Hines’s first game of 1887 spring training was against Yale in Washington on April 12. “It is understood that the management concluded to accept Hines’s terms, as they realize that they need him for his batting qualities.”30 The ’87 Nationals were slightly better than the previous season, finishing seventh while Hines put in his typical productive year in the field and at the plate. He played nearly every day, mostly in center but spending time in the infield as well.

Hines was not happy playing in his hometown and looked to move for the 1888 season. He thought he was underappreciated when he did well and overly criticized when he didn’t deliver.31 Hines had no beef with the Nationals management; it was his many friends and acquaintances who expected him to hit a home run every time up or catch every line drive hit to the outfield. Even his wife and father gave him grief.32

Horace Fogel, who was one of three managers of the 1887 Indianapolis Hoosiers, gave Sporting Life his account of the Hines 1888 contract negotiations. Fogel claimed Hines made known his dissatisfaction with Washington as early as September 23 (the Nationals were in Indianapolis for a four-game series). Fogel obtained the permission of Nationals manager John Gaffney to speak to his player and secured a verbal agreement from Hines to play for the 1888 Hoosiers for $2,800, contingent on Indianapolis getting his release from his current employer. Indianapolis did so, but Hines demurred owing to “interference” from Pittsburgh, which offered him a reported $3,600 to play there.33

Hines, whose reputation was tarnished by the intrigue, did in the end make the trip to Indiana. Washington traded him to the Hoosiers for utility player Gid Gardner and a reported $5,000 to secure Hines’s release.34 Indianapolis had recently completed its inaugural season in the National League, mostly with players from the defunct St. Louis Maroons. The Hoosiers finished a distant eighth (in the eight-team league) and were looking for offense and perhaps a defensive upgrade for 1888. Hines did provide a boost at the plate: his .281/.343/.366 slash line was good enough for a 125 OPS+, best on the team. He was still durable and fast, playing in 133 of the team’s 136 games, including 125 in center field. He stole 31 bases. As a 33-year-old, he had personal bests in innings played in the outfield (1,082), chances (294), and putouts (255).

Hines became the everyday first baseman for the 1889 Hoosiers, playing 109 games at first. He had better than average range, but his 43 errors led all National League first sackers. Hines did, though, have a good year at the plate, batting .305 (148-for-486) with 49 walks and 34 extra-base hits.

An anecdote about that season showed a different side of Hines. Sporting News reporter Guy M. Smith, reminiscing 44 years later, recounted how a very wild Amos Rusie, local phenom with hundreds of his friends in the stands, was nearly yanked from a game against Boston. Rusie, who made his major-league debut earlier in the season, pleaded with captain Jack Glasscock to stay in the game. Hines interceded with Glasscock on Rusie’s behalf, won the day, and walked Rusie back to the box with his arm around the teenager’s shoulder. After this, Rusie regained his control and won the game. Smith, who claimed to have witnessed the act, said, “it was the finest example of graciousness he has ever seen upon the diamond. It was this virtue in Hines which always drew the affection of his fellow players.”35

The advent, in 1890, of the Players League, caused much consternation and machinations in the NL and American Association (AA) business meetings between the ’89 and ’90 seasons. In late March 1890, the NL, having added the AA’s Brooklyn and Cincinnati franchises, subtracted Washington and Indianapolis. New York Giants owner John B. Day purchased the contracts of the Hoosiers’ best players, “the rest to be dispersed, with Pittsburgh having first choice of the leftovers.”36

The Alleghenys, hoping to improve on a fifth-place finish, obtained Hines’s contract. Improvement was not to be, however. The 1890 Alleghenys were one of the all-time worst major-league teams, winning just 17% of their games. Hines lasted only 31 games in Pittsburgh, splitting his time between first and the outfield. He hit an anemic .182 and was released in June. He signed with Boston later in the month, playing 69 games for the second division Beaneaters.

Hines was back in DC for 1891, his last year in the majors. By then, he had been married for five years and had been a father since December 1889. Time away from the family, then as now, was difficult. He signed with the Washington Statesmen in the American Association, the 10-year- old league’s last year. The Statesmen had a good deal of turnover in their roster with 38 different players having at least one at-bat or game played. Hines, who played in only 54 of the team’s 136 games, played more games in center, 47, than any other Washington player. He played his last major-league game on July 3, 1891, in Washington. He started in center against Cincinnati and had a triple, but, according to the Boston Globe, “his stupid baserunning” prevented the Statesmen from winning (the game was suspended as a 2-2 tie after 13 innings).37

Yet Hines was not quite done with baseball. Having spent more than half of his life playing baseball at the highest level, it must have been difficult to let that go. Plus, with a wife and two-year-old Paul Aloysius Hines, Jr. to support, the game still may have offered his highest earning potential. After being away from the game in 1892,38 he played a few games for the Nashville Tigers (Southern Association, Class B) and the Sandusky Sandies (Ohio-Michigan League, independent) in 1893. He was hired to manage in Burlington, Iowa for 1895 and 1896. He put himself in the Colts lineup a few times each season.

After ’96, however, his baseball career, as all of them must, came to an end. Commenting on Hines’s release from Burlington, the Cedar Rapids Gazette offered, “Paul Hines has always been an honor to his chosen profession, and the announcement of his retirement is received with regret by thousands of people in many parts of the country.”39 Hines’s mother passed away in 1896 as well. With her decease came the real property Hines’s father had designated for him.40 As early as 1891, newspapers were commenting on Hines’s wealth, estimating it at $40,000 in 1891 (perhaps $1.4 million in 2023 dollars) and as much as $200,000 in 1894.41 Whether this was idle gossip or rumor is impossible to say.

After baseball, Hines returned to Washington, DC, where he worked for many years as a clerk in the Department of Agriculture, eventually rising to postmaster. In 1897, astoundingly, Hines helped prevent a murder. Howe Totten, a lawyer working in the building where Hines was employed, came under attack by the husband of Totten’s former love interest. With Totten shouting for help and others rushing to the locked office, Hines helped smash the door open, clubbed the assailant, and knocked the gun away. Of his heroics, Hines remarked, “There’s nothing in it for me at all. I simply did what any man of sense would have done.”42

Hines’s life became sad and unfortunate as he aged. On November 14, 1922, the 67-year-old was arrested in Washington, DC for pickpocketing. According to the news account, he had “been under surveillance for some time.” Apparently, the police engineered a situation where Hines would attempt a theft. He was taken into custody for lifting “[Detective James] Springman’s pocketbook from the pocket of [Policewoman Irene] Hubbs’ overcoat at 9th street and New York avenue.” A search of Hines’ place at 233 Rhode Island Avenue uncovered “a number of purses and pocketbooks . . . as well as twenty-five pairs of eyeglasses and spectacles.” Hines’s fame as a baseball player was well-known to the police, where he had “many firm friends.” The chief of detectives, Clifford L. Grant, “was inclined to regard the alleged activities of the man as a kleptomania attendant upon advancing years.”43

In 1926, Paul Hines, deaf and nearly blind, entered the Sacred Heart Home in Hyattsville, Maryland. He died there on July 10, 1935. He is interred in his family plot in Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Washington, DC. Survivors included his son Paul, his daughter-in-law Anita, granddaughter Mary, his sister Sister Mary Josephine, and several nieces and nephews. Katie May Hines, his wife of 49 years, had died on March 30.

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Bill Lamb and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Paul Proia.

Photo credit: Paul Hines, National Baseball Hall of Fame Library.

Sources 

In addition to the sources shown in the notes, the author used Baseball-Reference.com, retrosheet.org, and the following:

The Baseball Bloggess, “Paul Hines, Baseball Player: The Unblurrification,” https://thebaseballbloggess.com/2019/10/18/paul-hines-baseball-unassisted-triple-play/

The Baseball Bloggess, “Paul Hines: A Little More to Unspool,” https://thebaseballbloggess.com/2019/10/19/paul-hines-a-little-more-to-unspool/

John Thorn, “Paul Hines and the Unassisted Triple Play,” https://ourgame.mlblogs.com/paul-hines-and-the-unassisted-triple-play-220f56473f1a

Eric Miklich, “Paul Hines,” http://www.19cbaseball.com/players-paul-hines.html

Notes

1 Guy M. Smith, “Passing of Hines Finds Few Players of His Period Among the Survivors,” The Sporting News, July 25, 1935: 3.

2 The Baseball Encyclopedia (Rick Wolff et al., eds., 9th edition, Macmillan, 1993, 1023) has 1852 as his birth year but numerous genealogical records and newspaper accounts during his playing career make the case for 1855.

3 “Base-Ball,” Cincinnati Enquirer, March 25, 1877: 2.

4 “Sister Mary Josephine Fifty Years in Service,” Evening Star (Washington, DC), May 22, 1929, 17. “Long Illness Fatal to Georgetown Nun,” Evening Star (Washington, DC), April 2, 1936: 2.

5 “Base Ball Pioneers,” Evening Star (Washington, DC), August 14, 1927: section 5, 76.

6 Mike Mulhern, “Did Baseball’s First Triple Crown Winner Also Make the Sport’s First Unassisted Triple Play,” [National Baseball Hall of Fame clippings file], no date or page number.

7 William J. Ryczek, “Nine Men are Quite Enough,” in Baseball’s 19th Century “Winter” Meetings: 1857–1900, ed. Jeremy K. Hodges and Bill Nowlin (Phoenix: Society for American Baseball Research, 2018): part 1, section 3, 121. Chicago did not field a team in 1872 and 1873, in large part due to the “Great Chicago Fire” of October 1871.

8 “Chicago vs. Mutual,” New York Clipper, October 30, 1875: 245.

9 Dennis Pajot, “Scandals, New Rules, and Franchise Changes: The 1877 National League Winter Meetings,” in Baseball’s 19th Century “Winter” Meetings: 1857–1900, ed. Jeremy K. Hodges and Bill Nowlin (Phoenix: Society for American Baseball Research, 2018): part 2, 150.

10 RBI was not an official statistic until 1920.

11 Due to a bookkeeping error, the 1878 batting champion was thought to be Abner Dalrymple who hit .354 for the Milwaukee Grays. Subsequent research, however, showed Hines to be the actual champ.

12 Whether a team batted first or last was decided by a coin flip, with the winner choosing to bat first or take the field first.

13 “Ball Games,” Boston Globe, May 9, 1878: 1.

14 “Boston vs. Providence,” New York Clipper, May 18, 1878: 59.

15 For a detailed analysis of the play, the controversy, and the relevant rules see Richard Hershberger’s cogent article, “Revisiting the Hines Triple Play” in the Spring 2016 SABR Baseball Research Journal.

16 “Sporting Events,” Chicago Tribune, August 27, 1879: 5.

17 “Diamond and Track,” Boston Globe, September 27, 1879: 2.

18 “Paul A. Hines, Centre-Fielder,” New York Clipper, December 6, 1879, 293. The McKay Medal was stolen from the house of Michael Hines, Paul Hines’s father, on the morning of June 28, 1887. “Hines’ Base Ball Medal Stolen,” Boston Globe, June 29, 1887: 1.

19 “The McKay Medal,” New York Clipper, November 22, 1879: 274.

20 “Baseball,” New York Clipper, January 28, 1882, 735. “The Final Victories: Providences, 10; Buffaloes, 1,” Boston Globe, October 1, 1881: 4.

21 “Base-Ball,” Cincinnati Enquirer, March 25, 1883: 16.

22 William J. Ryczek, Baseball’s Wildest Season: Three Leagues, Thirty-Four Teams and the Chaos of 1884 Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2023], passim.

23 Radbourn was given credit for 59 wins at the time.

24 The games were played according to AA rules and Hines was allowed first base.

25 “Paul Hines,” New York Clipper, January 10, 1885:683.

26 Frederick Ivor-Campbell, “Paul Hines,” in Nineteenth Century Stars, Robert L. Tiemann and Mark Rucker, eds. [Phoenix: The Society for American Baseball Research, 2012]: 163–164.

27 “From the Hub,” New York Clipper, March 13, 1886: 827.

28 “Around the Bases,” Chicago Tribune, April 24, 1887, 31. Ferguson was 22-10 for the ’87 Quakers but then tragically died at the start of the 1888 season.

29 “Philadelphia Seeking Strong Men,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 16, 1887: 2.

30 “Base-Ball,” Baltimore Sun, April 13, 1887: 5.

31 “The Hines Matter,” n.p., December 14, 1887 (Hall of Fame clippings file).

32 “Hines a Hoosier,” Sporting Life, November 9, 1887: 1.

33 “A New Base-Ball Scheme,” Indianapolis Journal, December 11, 1887: 12. The article quotes Fogel’s account printed in The Sporting Life.

34 “Hines a Hoosier,” Sporting Life: 1.

35 Smith, “Passing of Hines,” The Sporting News: 3.

36 John Bauer, “The Establishment Responds: Winter Meetings 1889–90 (NL/AA),” in Baseball’s 19th Century “Winter” Meetings: 1857–1900, ed. Jeremy K. Hodges and Bill Nowlin (Phoenix: Society for American Baseball Research, 2018): part 2, 274.

37 “War of Pitchers,” Boston Globe, July 4, 1891: 5.

38 Hines’s father died in 1891 and Paul may have been getting the elder Hines’s business affairs in order.

39 “Paul Hines Retired,” Cedar Rapids (IA) Gazette, May 26, 1896: 3.

40 “Michael J. Hines,” Probate Records (District of Columbia), 1801-1930; Author: District of Columbia. Register of Wills; Probate Place: District of Columbia, Washington, D.C., images 608–610.

41 “The National Game,” Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, PA), August 3, 1891: 5. “Baseball Briefs,” Fall River (Massachusetts) Globe, March 24, 1894: 6.

42 “Saved by an Ex-Ball Player,” Buffalo (NY) Courier, May 26, 1897: 2.

43 “Veteran Ball Player Held as Pickpocket,” Evening Star (Washington, DC), November 15, 1922: 18.

For Melton, these two seasons were the high points of his career. He suffered a back injury that derailed his 1972 performance. Although he recovered to reclaim his starting third base position, his production at the plate declined. His play in the field also deteriorated. A once-promising career ended after 10 seasons, the last two as a part-time player with California and Cleveland.

William Edmund Melton was born on July 7, 1945, in Gulfport, Mississippi. He was the middle child of three born to Edwin and Ellen (née Bingley). Bill had an older sister, Ellen, and a younger brother, Chris. Edwin was a Chief Petty Officer in the United States Navy. On August 31, 1945, he received an honorable discharge.1 In civilian life, he worked as a stationary engineer at Gypsum, a manufacturing company that produces ceilings, drywall, walls, and roofing products. Ellen kept order in the family as a homemaker.2

The Melton family settled in San Diego. “When I entered high school, I wanted to live in Duarte, so I lived with my sister and brother-in-law,”3 said Melton. Duarte, in Los Angeles County, is about 125 miles north of San Diego. He played football and basketball at Duarte High School. When the spring season came around, Melton chose to get a job to earn some money.

Melton enrolled at Citrus College in Glendora, California. His only prior experience playing baseball was in Little League as a youngster, yet Melton tried out for baseball. “In college, I played nine games and hit six home runs, but I was kicked off the team for smoking,”4 he said.

One of Melton’s friends recruited him to play in a weekend baseball league in Pasadena. There were many players who signed with Class A clubs participating in the league. Melton caught the eye of White Sox scout Hollis Thurston. “The reason I signed was because I primarily needed the money to go to school,” said Melton. “At that particular time, there was not a draft and the most they could offer me was $8,000. I remember hitting a couple of home runs over 400 feet at Brookside Park the day Hollis Thurston was there. He offered me something like $2,000, $5,000, and then $8,000 after the last home run, which was about 450 feet.”5  

Melton began his trail to the big leagues in the Sarasota Rookie League in 1964. He had little experience playing a specific position, so he was assigned to the outfield. He wound up playing about the same amount of time at second base.

Before Melton continued his professional baseball career, he married the former Judith Rybak on February 13, 1965, in Los Angeles. They eventually had two children: son Billy and daughter Jennifer.

Melton continued his journey through Chicago’s minor-league system. He made stops at Sarasota of the Florida State League in 1965, Chicago’s Florida Instructional League team, and the Fox Cities Foxes (Appleton, Wisconsin) of the Midwest League in 1966. Both Sarasota and Fox Cities were Class A circuits. He displayed some power in Appleton, where he finished second on the club in home runs (12) and RBIs (67) while batting .284.

In 1967, Melton was promoted to Class AA with Evansville of the Southern League. He also switched positions, from the outfield to third base. “Melton has been primarily an outfielder, but Chicago wants to see how he looks at first and third, mostly third,” said Evansville manager George Noga. “He looks as if he can do the job. He’s been hitting the ball pretty well and has shown power.”6  

Melton committed 29 errors at third base in 1967, with a .931 fielding percentage. As often happens to a young player learning a new position, his offense suffered a bit – his batting average dropped to 251.

Melton began the 1968 season with Hawaii of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League. He was called up to the White Sox and made his major-league debut on May 4, 1968, against the New York Yankees at Comiskey Park. Playing third base and batting seventh, Melton knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second inning. Chicago won the game, 4-1. “I wasn’t even shaky,” said Melton. “I guess I was too tired to be scared. I’ve only had about five hours sleep in the last 50 after they called me up.”7  

As for playing third base, Melton was getting a crash course from Chicago manager Eddie Stanky’s coaching staff. “Most of my instructions on how to play third base were done on a plane,” said Melton. “I will never forget Eddie Stanky’s coaches, they were drawing on an airplane napkin, on a bunt situation you want to play here.”8  

The White Sox (89-73) finished in fourth place in the American League in 1967, only three games behind first-place Boston. Naturally, there was great anticipation on the South Side for the 1968 season. But the Sox got off to a 34-45 start. The reversal of fortunes cost Stanky his job on July 11; Al Lopez returned as manager. Health issues had forced Lopez to step down after the 1965 season. Now, fully recovered, he replaced Stanky.

Melton appeared in 17 games, and he was batting .204 when Chicago sent him down to Triple-A on May 27, 1968. On July 21, he was traded to Syracuse of the AAA International League for outfielder Steve Whitaker.9 Melton returned to Chicago in September. His hitting was much improved as he batted .317 and clouted two home runs. Lopez was complimentary of the young player and encouraged about his prospects. “He looks to me like he is going to be a good, solid ballplayer,” Lopez said of Melton. “He has a good swing, though he’s inclined to loop the bat a little. We are trying to correct that by having him keep his elbow in.

“In the field, Bill still is a little green. He has some things to learn, and coach Don Gutteridge has worked with him. I believe he’ll catch on easily because he moves well enough and has a strong, accurate arm, which can help overcome occasional mistakes.”10

Melton returned to the White Sox organization in 1969 and claimed the starting job at third base from Pete Ward. He showed his mettle that June 24, at Sick’s Stadium. In the second game of a doubleheader against the Seattle Pilots, he set a career high with three home runs in Chicago’s 7-6 win. He became the sixth player in White Sox history to hit three or more round-trippers in one game.11

The Sox had a young star in the making with Melton. He led the team in home runs (23), RBIs (87), and doubles (26). He committed 22 errors at third base in 1969 and posted a respectable fielding percentage of .952.

It was fortunate for Chicago that they were in the same division as the expansion Pilots in 1969. Seattle (64-98) was the only team keeping the White Sox (68-94) from finishing in the basement of the AL West division. Lopez – once again ill – left the team on May 1. Gutteridge took over the managerial duties.

Gutteridge returned to skipper the team in 1970 but was fired on September 1 with the Sox owning a record of 49-87. He was replaced on an interim basis with Bill Adair from his coaching staff; Chuck Tanner was then named to finish the season. Gutteridge was not as enamored with Melton’s ability to handle third base and moved him to right field. When Tanner took charge, Melton was reinstated at the hot corner.

The Sox (56-106) finished in last place, a whopping 42 games behind first-place Minnesota (98-64). Melton smacked his 30th home run, a team record, against Kansas City on September 21. In the opener of a doubleheader, Melton connected with a 3-0 fastball off Royals relief pitcher Aurelio Monteagudo in the bottom of the seventh inning. His blast, in front of a mere 672 fans at Comiskey Park, eclipsed the old club mark of 29 home runs by Gus Zernial in 1950 and Eddie Robinson in 1951. He finished the season with 33 home runs and led the Sox in RBIs that year with 96.

Chicago opened the 1971 season with a doubleheader at Oakland on April 7. Melton continued to display his power stroke right away. He clouted a two-run home run in the opener and unloaded a grand slam in the nightcap, giving him six RBIs for the day. The Sox swept the A’s, 6-5 and 12-4.

Melton swatted 12 home runs in June, giving him 20 in the first half of the season to go with a .286 batting average. Baltimore manager Earl Weaver, who was piloting the AL All-Star squad, selected the third baseman to represent the White Sox.12 Melton did not appear in the game. It was the only All-Star Game to which he was chosen.

As the season wound down, Melton was in a race with Oakland’s Reggie Jackson and Detroit’s Norm Cash for the home run title. On September 23, 1971, all three players had 30 homers. Jackson swatted one threee days later against Kansas City, then on September 28, Cash hit two at Cleveland.

On September 29, the White Sox hosted Milwaukee. Tanner inserted Melton in the leadoff spot to get him more at bats. “Beltin’ Melton,” as he had come to be known, hit two solo shots off Brewers starter Jim Slaton. It was the first multi-home run game of the season for Melton. “I spread myself out more in the batter’s box, moved closer to the plate, choked two inches on the bat – a Mike Andrews model that I tried earlier in the season,” said Melton. “And I went up there guessing on the pitches. I guessed at a pitch and if I didn’t get it, I let it go by. But I wasn’t about to walk. Sure, I was going for the home run. I have been for three weeks.”13    

On the last day of the season, September 30, Melton clinched the AL home run title when he hit his 33rd against Milwaukee’s Bill Parsons in the bottom of the third inning.  “I was so happy today, I didn’t know what to do,” said Melton. “When I got to the dugout, I threw my batting helmet into the crowd. Then I went back into the clubhouse because Tanner told me he would take me out of the game if I got the 33rd. But Rich Morales came back and told me the fans were still standing and cheering for me to come back, so I did.”14

The 2-1 victory gave the Sox a much-improved record of 79-83 and a third-place finish. However, they still finished 22½ games behind Oakland, which was beginning its five-year run as AL West champions.

On December 2, 1971, Chicago traded starting pitcher Tommy John and infielder Steve Huntz to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Dick Allen, who’d had no fixed position for the previous two seasons. The White Sox installed Allen at first base and now had a potent combination in the middle of their lineup with Allen and their other corner infielder, Melton. With Carlos May as well, the Sox offense looked capable of putting up some runs.

During the offseason, Melton was putting shingles on the roof of his home in Mission Viejo, California. “My four-year old son, Billy, was on the roof and I went up to get him,” said Melton. “I reached out to grab him, and I sneezed. I lost my balance and couldn’t grab on to anything because I was holding Billy. I fell right on my tailbone.”15

Although Melton received treatment and felt fine during spring training, the pain increased as the season went on, and he needed surgery to repair a herniated disc. As expected, his power numbers dropped – he totaled just seven home runs in 57 games and 208 at-bats. He was sorely missed by his teammates, who battled Oakland the whole season. The South Siders faded and finished in second place, 5½ games back of the Athletics.

Melton recovered for the 1973 season, and he hit .277. That was the highest batting average of his career, and he homered 20 times and drove in 87 runs. It was the only season where he totaled more walks (75) than strikeouts (66). But it was Allen’s turn to be hurt. The reigning AL MVP suffered a hairline fracture in his right leg. The White Sox (77-85) missed his big bat and finished in fifth place in the division.

The next two seasons were painful ones for Melton. Although he was still the starting third baseman, his offense faltered. “I learned from the doctors that when you’re in pain you protect your muscles by changing your swing, and that’s what I did,” said Melton. “I was never the same hitter.”16

Melton was having trouble keeping his eye on the ball. As simple as it may sound, he was not able to do it. Teammate Deacon Jones instructed Melton to say to himself, “Watch the ball! Watch the ball!” Melton managed to raise his batting average and did hit home runs in three successive games (July 2-July 4), but the results were not sustainable for the whole season.17

Not only did his offensive numbers decline, his fielding did as well. Melton led AL third baseman in errors in 1974 (24) and 1975 (26). His poor play also may have been the result of an outside influence. White Sox broadcaster Harry Caray lambasted Melton to his listening audience. Specifically, Caray accused Melton of loafing on the field. It was also shameful, in Caray’s opinion, for a player making $100,000 a year to hit .240. Caray’s views had a strong impact over the fans, who often believed what he said.

“I’m tired of going every place and hearing that Caray is jumping all over me on every broadcast,” said Melton. “Then he comes over to me three nights ago real sarcastic and said, ‘What is wrong, is little sweetheart Billy upset over something?’ I could have popped him one.

“The people of Chicago are down on me now, but I just want them to know I’m trying. I’m busting my butt. I’m not trying to strike out, I’m not trying to pop out, I’m not trying to be traded. But if I was, the reason I’d be happiest to leave is because of that man upstairs.”18  

One highlight for Melton during this time occurred on August 4, 1974. In the second game of a doubleheader against Texas, he hit a two-run home run off the Rangers’ Steve Foucault. Melton passed Minnie Miñoso to become the top home run hitter in White Sox history, with 136.

On December 11, 1975, Melton was part of a four-player deal that sent him to the California Angels. After a poor season, almost a year later, on December 3, 1976, the Angels sent him to Cleveland. Dick Williams and Norm Sherry both managed at California in 1976, while Frank Robinson and Jeff Torborg were the skippers in Cleveland in 1977. All used Melton as a part-time player. His power had declined sharply with the Angels and dried up entirely with the Indians.

Melton’s frustration was punctuated on July 23, 1976. The Angels had dropped two games to Cleveland to fall 20 games out of first place. Williams was sitting at the front of the bus as the team headed from the LA airport early the next morning. He sarcastically asked his team of “winners” to keep quiet. Melton responded from the back of the bus, and the two met in the aisle in the middle of the bus. After a brief debate, both player and manager retreated to their seats. More comments were hurled back and forth, they soon met again, and Williams suspended Melton. The players revolted, and the skipper lost what little control he had over the team. Radios were turned on full blast, breaking one of Williams’ rules. It was an open rebellion.19 One day later, Sherry was promoted to replace Williams.

Following the 1977 season, Melton filed for free agency but did not find any takers. He went home to Mission Viejo and went into business with his father, manufacturing wheels for skateboards.

In 1992, Melton relocated to Chicago. He took a job with the White Sox and made public relations appearances on behalf of the club. He also worked as a part-time scout.

In 1993, NBA superstar Michael Jordan retired from the Chicago Bulls. Jordan opted to join the White Sox and try his hand at a baseball career. White Sox general manager Ron Schueler asked Melton to work with Jordan as his hitting instructor. They worked together at Illinois Institute of Technology’s gymnasium. “He’s shortened his swing quite a bit,” Melton said of Jordan. “He has very powerful hands. He’s very quick, and I believe his bat will get quicker. You don’t know how far he can go. I can only say I’ve seen guys I’ve signed as Class A players doing half what he’s doing now. The man tries everything and doesn’t give up on it.”20        

In 1998, Melton moved to television. He hosted White Sox pregame and postgame shows, first for WGN, then for Comcast Chicago. He retired in 2020 and relocated to Arizona.

When Melton was traded to California, he held the White Sox all-time home run mark with 154 home runs. As of 2024, he is still ninth on the club’s all-time list.

He died at the age of 79 on December 5, 2024.

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Rory Costello and Mike Eisenbath and fact-checked by Don Zminda.

Photo credit: Bill Melton, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 World War II Draft Card.

2 1950 United States Census.

3 Mark Fletcher, “Former Chisox slugger Bill Melton interviewed,” Sports Collectors Digest, July 30, 1993: 241.

4 Fletcher.

5 Fletcher.

6 Pete Swanson, ‘Noga Rates Esox Stronger Than ’66,” Evansville Courier and Press, April 9, 1967: C-6.

7 George Langford, “‘Cisco Kid’ Wins for the White, Sox, 4-1,” Chicago Tribune, May 5, 1968: 2-2.

8 Fletcher.

9 “Melton traded for ex-Yankee,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, July 22, 1968: B-1.

10 Edgar Munzel, “Melton May End White Sox Hot-Sack Woe,” The Sporting News, October 12, 1968: 15.

11 Preceding Melton were Carl Reynolds (July 2, 1930), Merv Connors (September 17, 1938), Pat Seerey (July 18, 1948), Gus Zernial (October 1, 1950), and Tommy McCraw (May 24, 1967).

12 Wilbur Wood joined Melton after Sam McDowell was scratched due to injury.

13George Langford, “Wood, Melton Combine,” Chicago Tribune, September 30, 1971: 2-3.

14 George Langford, “Melton A.L. Home Run King,” Chicago Tribune, October 1, 1971: 6-3.

15 George Langford, “Sox’ Melton Shelved for Year – Faces Surgery,” Chicago Tribune, July 9, 1972: 3-1.

16 Don Zminda, The Legendary Harry Caray: Baseball’s Greatest Salesman, Maryland: Rowan & Littlefield Publishing (2019): 130.

17 Jerome Holtzman, “Deacon Departs After Reviving Chicago Belters,” The Sporting News, July 20, 1974: 22.

18 Zminda: 131.

19 Dick Miller, “Williams No Angel, Sherry Moves Up,” The Sporting News, August 7, 1976: 16.

20 “Can he make the transition?” Chicago Tribune, February 4, 1994: 4-4.

When the Detroit Tigers took the field at Yankee Stadium on October 3, 1990, for the final game of the regular season, it didn’t feel like a momentous event. Only 13,380 fans were present on a Wednesday night to watch the home team finish the season in last place. The Tigers, who also had a losing record, had secured third place. The eyes of the baseball world, though, were focused on the Tigers’ Cecil “Big Daddy” Fielder, who had one last chance to become the first American League player in 29 years to hit 50 home runs.

Fielder, who was hitless in the first two games of the series, didn’t disappoint, hitting both his 50th and 51st home runs. It was only fitting that he accomplished the feat at the House that Ruth Built. Babe Ruth was the first player to hit 50 home runs in a season and the Yankees’ Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle had been the last AL players to reach that milestone, both doing so in 1961. The last NL player to hit 50 homers was George Foster in 1977. The 13-year drought between 50-home run seasons was the longest such span since Ruth had first hit 54 home runs in 1920.

It wasn’t the first time Fielder would be linked to Ruth. A prodigious right-handed-hitting slugger, Fielder would go on to join Ruth as the only players in the 20th century to lead the majors in RBIs for three consecutive seasons. From 1990-95, no player in Major League Baseball hit more home runs (219) than Fielder did for the Tigers, during which time he twice finished a close second in the AL MVP voting.

After six productive seasons for Detroit, Fielder was traded to the Yankees in 1996 and helped New York win the World Series. Fielder also played for Toronto, Anaheim and Cleveland during his 13-year (1985-88, 1990-98) career, finishing with 319 home runs. His son Prince Fielder, a fixture in the clubhouse with Cecil as a child, became a power hitter in his own right, also ending his career with 319 home runs.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing though. Off the field, a bitter divorce led to a lengthy estrangement between Cecil and Prince.1 Although Cecil denied having a gambling problem, he was sued by an Atlantic City casino for gambling debts and ordered to pay nearly $600,000. By 2024, though, Fielder’s life had settled down, as he had reconciled with Prince and remarried.

Cecil (pronounced seh-cil) Grant Fielder was born in Los Angeles on September 21, 1963, to Edson and Tina (Irving) Fielder.2 Edson Fielder, a former all-section infielder at El Centro High who ran a small janitorial service, began pitching batting practice to his oldest son while he was still a toddler. Cecil hit his first “home run” when he was three, hitting a pitch from his father over their two-story apartment building.3 Even though the Fielders lived in Southern California, Cecil grew up a fan of Willie McCovey and the San Francisco Giants.

The growing family soon moved east to suburban La Puente, where Cecil – 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds by age 13 – dominated the local Little League, including one six-inning game where he struck out 17 batters. “The parents passed around a petition saying that if Cecil pitched they wouldn’t let their children play,” Tina Fielder said, adding that they wanted her son moved into a higher age group. His sister Kaory recalled parents demanding to see Cecil’s birth certificate.4

At Nogales High, Fielder once again drew the wrath of parents of opposing players. This time it was basketball parents who accused him of being a college player hiding on a high school team. “I guess he was just that much better than everybody else,” Tina said.5 Although he was a three-sport star in high school, there was no doubt about which sport was Fielder’s favorite. “Basketball was the ultimate,” he said. “There was nothing I couldn’t do – shoot, pass, dunk . . . anything.”6

Nogales only lost 10 games over his four years, going 29-0 in Fielder’s senior season before losing in the sectional finals when Fielder missed a 30-foot game-winning shot at the buzzer.7 A local newspaper named Fielder the MVP in the San Gabriel Valley, encompassing nearly 40 high schools.8 That season, Fielder averaged 27 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.9

Fielder didn’t go out for the baseball team until his junior year. “Baseball was when I rested between basketball and football,” he said.10 Even so, he earned All-American honors as a power-hitting first baseman his senior season.11

Fielder was a linebacker on the football team, which featured future big-league catcher Mark Salas, later a teammate in Detroit. Fielder also played quarterback in long-passing situations.12 He was voted Most Athletic and Most Popular his senior year,13 and gave credit to his parents for making sure he stayed out of trouble. “They didn’t let me run with the guys, which I didn’t always understand,” he said. “But now I know it made me a better person.”14

As much as he loved basketball, Fielder feared that his size – 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds (he got much heavier as he grew older) – would keep him from playing at the next level.15 After all, it was far from the classic point-guard build in the early 1980s. Meanwhile, his father, a former high school baseball standout, noticed the increasingly lucrative salaries being signed by baseball free agents.16 With his encouragement Cecil decided to pursue a baseball career, leaving the hardcourt behind.

In June 1981 Fielder was drafted in the 31st round by the Baltimore Orioles. He wasn’t offered a signing bonus, however, and Orioles scout Ed Crosby advised him to “stay in school.”17 Fielder took his advice, accepting a baseball scholarship to the University of Nevada-Las Vegas to play for coach Fred Dallimore, who said Fielder didn’t want to sign with the Orioles for “peanuts.” “He wanted a ton of money,” Dallimore said. “Then he came to town and loved UNLV.”18

That wasn’t all Fielder loved about Las Vegas. He told Dallimore about coming to Vegas with his parents while in high school, and because of his imposing size and appearance, being able to play blackjack despite being only 15. In a portend of what was to come, Dallimore said, “I had casino managers and shift bosses calling me, saying, ‘Coach, your big first baseman is hanging out at our casino. We don’t mind that, but we think he has a gambling habit.’”19

Fielder played well as a freshman during the 1981 fall season at UNLV, but only played in the first two games of the 1982 spring season before leaving school. “I might have been hard on him,” said Dallimore, who wanted Fielder to lose 50 pounds, putting him on a special running program.20 It wouldn’t be the last time Fielder took umbrage at being told to lose weight.

Fielder came home and spent one semester at Mount San Antonio College in nearby Walnut. In June 1982, based on the recommendation of scout Guy Hansen, Kansas City drafted him in the fourth round of the secondary draft for players who had been drafted previously but hadn’t signed.21 The Royals gave him a $3,000 signing bonus and assigned him to their Pioneer League rookie team in Butte, Montana, where he was an instant fan favorite, hitting .322 with 20 home runs in 273 at-bats. It didn’t take long for Fielder to become a local legend. In August 1982 a surveying crew from the Montana College of Mineral Science and Technology measured a homer he hit on July 29 against Calgary as being 438 feet, the longest in the history of Butte’s Alumni Stadium.22 Fielder led the league in homers, doubles, total bases and slugging percentage.23

Despite Fielder’s impressive power, the Royals worried that his beefy build would prevent him from being a regular.24 Hansen, the scout who had signed Fielder, explained, “They figured if Fielder had that kind of body at 19, what was he going to look like at 30?”25 Kansas City, a contender in the AL West, was in trade talks with Toronto for veteran outfielder Leon Roberts, and the Blue Jays wanted either Fielder or another young first baseman, Joe Citari, in return. Citari had hit 18 home runs for Butte in 1982, but more importantly, had an impressive physique.

“Citari was an Adonis,” said John Schuerholz, the Kansas City general manager at the time. “He looked like he was chiseled, a big, strong, good-looking kid.”26 On February 5, 1983, Fielder was traded to Toronto for Roberts.

The Blue Jays assigned Fielder to Florence, South Carolina, in the Class A South Atlantic League, where he drove in 94 runs and was named team MVP. When Florence played a series that summer in Greensboro, the host team had a “Get Cecil Fielder Out Night.” Any time a Greensboro pitcher kept Fielder off the bases, beer was free for the rest of the inning. It turned out to be a long wait for the free beer, as Fielder got hits in his first four at-bats before flying out.27

In 1984 Fielder started the season with the Kinston (North Carolina) Blue Jays in the Class A Carolina League, where he hit 11 home runs in his first 20 games and 19 in the first half of the season before he was promoted to Knoxville, Tennessee, in the Class AA Southern League.

Fielder stayed in Knoxville to start the 1985 season. He had 18 home runs and 81 RBIs in 96 games when, at the age of 21, he was promoted to Toronto on July 18, bypassing Triple A. Two days later Fielder got his first start and, in his first at-bat, doubled off the wall against Oakland’s Tim Birtsas. Although he only had 74 at-bats in 30 games, he hit .311 with four home runs and an .885 OPS, making an impression on his teammates, who were en route to winning 99 games and earning the franchise’s first postseason berth. “A lot of guys arrive in the majors, and they’re afraid to swing the bat,” Toronto outfielder Lloyd Moseby said. “But here was this kid straight from Double-A, and he was taking some cuts.”28 In the ALCS, Fielder had a double in three trips to the plate as the Blue Jays lost to the Royals in seven games.

Blue Jays manager Bobby Cox was impressed with Fielder, both at the plate and in the field. “He’s got great lightning wrists,” said Cox. “He can really play first base. Know who he reminds me of? George Scott when he first came up.”29

Toronto had a new manager in 1986, Jimy Williams, and he liked what he saw when Fielder reported to spring training. Fielder, who had weighed over 230 pounds while playing winter ball in Venezuela, weighed in for Toronto at 212 pounds. “I’ve always been big,” Fielder said. “I was the biggest kid in my class when I started school.” Williams even speculated that he might give Fielder a look in left field.30

Fielder played 38 games in left field that year, but they all came for Syracuse in the triple-A International League. He started and finished the season in Toronto, where he only had 83 at-bats in 34 games. With veteran Willie Upshaw entrenched at first base, George Bell in left field and veteran Cliff Johnson at DH, there wasn’t a clear-cut role for Fielder in Toronto.

Fielder spent the entire 1987 season in Toronto, hitting 14 home runs in only 175 at-bats, including his first career walk-off, a 10th-inning pinch-hit homer on September 4 against Seattle. The Blue Jays led the AL East for much of the season but lost the division to Detroit on the final weekend.

During spring training 1988 Toronto traded Upshaw to Cleveland, but Fielder remained a part-time player as rookie future Hall of Famer Fred McGriff mostly manned first, leaving Fielder to share the DH spot with Rance Mulliniks. To get more at-bats, Fielder played winter ball for several seasons with Cardenales de Lara of the Venezuelan League, where he hit .389 to win the batting title in 1987-88.31

Fielder had 31 home runs and 84 RBIs in 506 at-bats during his four seasons in Toronto. But despite his productivity in limited playing time, the Blue Jays felt that McGriff was their long-term answer at first base, and Toronto wanted to give Bell, the 1987 AL MVP, some at-bats at DH. Fielder’s weight also caused him to clash with his manager, as Williams insisted that he should play at 215 pounds and made him run laps around the outfield with the pitchers. Fielder felt his ideal weight was between 225 and 240 pounds.32 “When I got to 215, I felt so weak that it hurt me more than helped me,” Fielder said.33

Instead of keeping a frustrated Fielder, the Blue Jays, with Fielder’s consent, worked out a deal to sell him to the Hanshin Tigers of the Japan Central League for $750,000.34 “They didn’t like my body,” Fielder said of the Blue Jays, “They thought I was too big to play every day.” Toronto GM Pat Gillick later admitted that his club made a mistake. “We would have never sold Cecil to Japan if we had been that high on him,” he said. “If you want to say we mis-evaluated you can, but he never really figured in our plans.35

Going to Japan was a gamble for Fielder, who at 25 was the youngest American to sign a Japanese contract. He also had to adjust to the Japanese baseball routine, which included extended pre-game workouts and drills along with lots of conditioning and calisthenics. But he wasn’t going to turn down a salary of $1,000,050, especially since his top salary in Toronto had been $125,000. It didn’t help matters when Fielder got off to a slow start, earning a derisive nickname which translated into “the big electric fan.” “Every day there was a picture in the paper of Cecil striking out,” said Matt Keough, another American playing for Hanshin in 1989.36

Once Fielder settled in, though, he quickly became a fan favorite. His 500-foot homer at the Tokyo Dome was the first to reach the back of the stadium, bouncing off a King Kong poster. “I hit the monkey in the leg,” Fielder said. In Yokohama, he became the first player to hit two balls out of the stadium in the same game.37 Fielder missed the final month of the season with a broken finger, but still led the league in slugging and hit 38 home runs in only 384 at-bats. “A lot of people say that going to Japan is just a money thing,” said Moseby. “But Cecil looked at baseball in Japan as if it was the big leagues. Most guys who go over there get paid a lot and just act lackadaisical about the playing thing. Cecil went over there to play ball.”38

Even with his success, Fielder worried about his long-term security. Another American playing in Japan, Larry Parrish, had just been released despite hitting a league-leading 42 home runs.39 Fielder exercised the escape clause in his contract, and Hanshin let him go, gambling that no MLB team would pay big bucks to an American returning from Japan.40

Fielder only had two suitors – Detroit and Boston. The Tigers, who were 59-103 in 1989, had already failed in their efforts to sign free agents Pete O’Brien and Kent Hrbek, while the Red Sox needed a first baseman to replace free agent Nick Esasky. Detroit sent scout Jerry Walker to size Fielder up. “Jerry needed only 10 minutes to see what kind of young man Cecil was,” said Tigers GM Bill Lajoie, who signed Fielder to a two-year contract for $3 million.41

That didn’t earn Lajoie many fans among his fellow GMs, who thought he was overpaying a player with so little experience. For his part, Fielder was just happy to feel wanted. “My agent said the Tigers were horrible, they really need some help and that I would be able to play every day,” Fielder said. “Plus, they had Sparky Anderson and I really wanted to play for him.”42

The contract turned out to be a bargain for the Tigers. In 1990, his first year in Detroit, Fielder had 51 home runs and 132 RBIs. The Blue Jays had a first-hand look at his success, as Fielder hit seven home runs against them, including three in one game during his first series back in Toronto. In July he played in the All-Star Game at Wrigley Field. On August 25, his titanic home run off Oakland ace Dave Stewart made Fielder the first Tiger and only the third player to clear the left-field roof at Tiger Stadium. Stewart later said it was the longest home run he ever gave up.43

Heading into a season-ending three-game series at Yankee Stadium, Fielder had 49 home runs. Anderson moved him up to the number-two spot in the batting order so he would have more chances to get number 50. Feeling the pressure, Fielder went 0-for-8 over the first two games, striking out five times. A pre-game pep talk from his wife Stacey helped him relax before the season finale. “She said if I didn’t get it, I still had a great year,” Fielder said. “That took a lot of the pressure off.” It also helped that Yankees starter Steve Adkins wanted to go after the Tigers slugger. “I didn’t want to walk him,” Adkins said. “He had a chance at a great record. It wouldn’t be very sporting of me if I didn’t throw the ball so he had a shot at it.”44

Despite Adkins’ best intentions, Fielder walked his first time up. But in the fourth inning, he sent a two-run blast into the upper deck in left field. As the ball left the park, Fielder jumped up and down outside the batter’s box, saying, “I did it, I did it.”45 He then added a three-run homer in the eighth inning.

In addition to his 51 homers and 132 RBIs, Fielder scored 104 runs, led the majors in slugging (.592), and led the AL in total bases (339) and extra-base hits (77). He helped the Tigers win 79 games, an improvement of 20 games from the previous season. He finished second to Oakland’s Rickey Henderson in the MVP voting, and also won a Silver Slugger.

The next season, Fielder proved his success was no fluke. Once again he led the AL in homers (44) and RBIs (133), becoming the first AL player to lead the league in both categories two seasons in a row since Jimmie Foxx in 1932 and 1933. Listed at 6-foot-3, 270 pounds, Fielder was also one of only three players in MLB to play in every game in 1991. He was a starter in the All-Star Game in Toronto, and on September 14 hit a ball out of County Stadium in Milwaukee.46 He led the Tigers to second place in the AL East, and again placed a close second in the MVP voting, this time to Baltimore’s Cal Ripken Jr. Fielder also won his second consecutive Silver Slugger award.

Fielder avoided arbitration by signing a one-year contract for 1992 for $4.5 million, the highest salary by an arbitration-eligible player. He went on to lead the majors in RBIs (124) for the third straight season, a feat previously accomplished in the AL only by Ruth.47

Fielder was eligible to become a free agent after the season, but there was no way the Tigers were going to let him walk. The team’s new owner, Mike Ilitch, opened up his checkbook to give Fielder a five-year contract for $36 million, making him the second highest-paid player in baseball behind only Barry Bonds. “It’s a good feeling,” Fielder said. “It’s peace of mind.”48

Over the next three seasons, Fielder continued to produce big power numbers, keeping his OPS above .800, but the Tigers slid back into mediocrity. On July 2, 1993, Fielder hit a ball onto the left-field roof at Tiger Stadium, after which Anderson said, “It would have been a home run in heaven.”49 Fielder was also named an All-Star for the third time.

Fielder was MLB’s highest-paid player in both 1995 and 1996, earning $9.2 million in each year. In 1996 he was having another productive season through 107 games, with 26 home runs and 80 RBIs, as well as the only two stolen bases of his career.50 At the trade deadline, with the Tigers owning the worst record in the majors (35-72), Fielder requested a trade. The Yankees, leading the AL East by 10 games, wanted an upgrade over Rubén Sierra at DH, and were happy to send Sierra and pitching prospect Matt Drews to Detroit in exchange for Fielder. “I liked my time in Detroit, but I wanted to win, so I was thrilled to go to the Yankees,” Fielder said.51

Fielder’s 13 home runs over the final two months – including two two-homer games – helped the Yankees hold off the surging Orioles. In the postseason Fielder showed a knack for coming up with big hits. During the ALCS against Baltimore he was only 3-for-18, but had two home runs and 8 RBIs, including a three-run homer in Game 5 to give the Yankees a 5-0 lead in the third inning of an eventual series-clinching 6-4 win. His World Series slash line against the Braves was .391/.440/.478, and he drove in the only run of Game Five. The Yankees went on to win the Series in six games and Fielder won the Babe Ruth Award, given to the best player in the postseason.

A thumb injury limited Fielder to 98 games in 1997, and he tailed off to 13 home runs, although on April 26 he did have the only five-hit game of his career. Fielder returned to the lineup in mid-September and went 1-for-8 in the ALDS as the Yankees lost to Cleveland. A free agent after the season, Fielder signed with the Angels for one year for $2.8 million. There was no Hollywood ending, though, as the Angels released him in August 1998. Fielder, who had 17 homers and 68 RBIs, said the Angels violated a “gentleman’s agreement” with his agent for incentives on certain goals, which he was nearing.52 Fielder, who had batted just .211 (22-for-104) in his final 26 games with the Angels, signed three days later with Cleveland, which needed a replacement at first base for the injured Jim Thome. That didn’t work out either, as Fielder was just 5-for-35 without an RBI, and lost playing time to Richie Sexson. Fielder was released in September once Thome returned.53

But Fielder, 35, wasn’t ready to retire. First, he tried to hook up with Detroit for 1999. “We haven’t told him ‘no,’” said Detroit GM Randy Smith.54 That didn’t mean “yes” either, and Fielder ended up going to spring training with another of his former teams, Toronto. Despite leading the Blue Jays in HRs and RBIs in spring training, Fielder was released on March 31 after Toronto acquired Dave Hollins. Fielder subsequently retired, ending his career with a .255 average, 1008 RBIs and an .827 OPS in 1,470 games.

Just like his career, Fielder’s retirement had its share of ups and downs. He and Stacey, who had met in high school and married in 1983, and their two children – Prince and Ceclynn – settled into their Space Coast mansion in Florida. The 50-room, $3.7 million dream home was the largest residence in the county. But despite career earnings of $47 million, Fielder and his family eventually lost their home.55

In 1999, the year he retired, Fielder ran up a debt of $580,000 in a 40-hour gambling binge in Atlantic City. He was later sued by Trump Plaza Hotel and Casinos and ordered to pay them $563,359. The lawsuit over the gambling was first reported by the Detroit News in 2004, which also said that Fielder’s gambling problems played a role in his contentious divorce. In addition to his gambling debts, Fielder had lawsuits and liens worth millions of dollars filed against him. “This isn’t the same Cecil,” Stacey said. “I never saw any of this coming.”56

Fielder sued Gannett, the parent company of the Detroit News, and the reporter who broke the story, for $25 million in damages for defamation of character. Those suits were thrown out. Through it all, Fielder continued to insist he didn’t have a gambling problem, instead blaming the casino for cashing in on his fame by bringing in friends for free and letting him run up a big line of credit. “Gambling has never been a temptation for me,” Fielder said.57

Fielder’s off-the-field problems continued to become public as Prince, Milwaukee’s first-round draft pick in 2002, was establishing himself as a bonafide power hitter. As a child, Prince had wrestled with his father’s teammates, taken batting practice with them, and appeared in commercials with Cecil. But now he accused Cecil of taking $200,000 of his $2.4 million signing bonus from the Brewers and sided with Stacey in the divorce. “My father is dead to me,” he told the Detroit News in 2004. In response, Cecil claimed he was just taking a percentage for helping negotiate the bonus.58

It took eight years for Cecil and Prince to reconcile. In 2016 Prince’s career was cut short by a neck injury which forced him to stop playing after 12 seasons in the majors, including two in Detroit. “If he hadn’t gotten hurt, he would have been a 500-homer guy,” Cecil said.59 In the meantime Fielder had one-year stints managing independent teams in Florida and New Jersey. He made a rare return to Detroit in 2022, when he was honored by the Tigers.60

As of 2024 Fielder lived in Tampa with his second wife Diana and their son Maksim. He had four other children and four grandchildren. His son Grant was a walk-on football player at Florida State.61

Last revised: March 18, 2024

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Malcolm Allen and Rick Zucker and checked for accuracy by members of SABR’s fact-checking team. Also, thanks to Cassidy Lent at the Giamatti Research Center, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, NY.

Sources

In addition to sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted www.baseball-reference.com

Photo credit (top): SABR-Rucker Archive, (side): Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 Albert Chen, “Turbulent heir,” Sports Illustrated, May 28, 2007: 35.

2 Richard Hoffer, “Big Daddy: What a season it has been for Cecil Fielder, the reigning king of home runs, and his young prince,” Sports Illustrated, September 30, 1991. https://vault.si.com/vault/1991/09/30/big-daddy-what-a-season-it-has-been-for-cecil-fielder-the-reigning-king-of-home-runs-and-his-young-prince, (last accessed December 26, 2023).

3 Peter de Jonge, “The slugger nobody wanted,” New York Times, April 5, 1992, Section 6, 20. https://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/05/magazine/the-slugger-nobody-wanted.html (last accessed December 25, 2023).

4 de Jonge, “The slugger nobody wanted.”

5 Mike Lupica, “The year of living famously: The Fielder phenomenon belies a T-shirt kind of guy,” Detroit Free Press, Sept. 25, 1990 https://www.mitchalbom.com/the-year-of-living-famouslythe-fielder-phenomenon-belies-a-t-shirt-kind-of-guy/ (last accessed January 2, 2024).

6 Ross Newhan, “Fielder is really a hitter. Detroit’s latest import from Japan putting up impressive numbers,” Los Angeles Times, June 5, 1990: C1, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-06-05-sp-615-story.html, (last accessed December 25, 2023).

7  Hoffer, “Big Daddy: What a season it has been for Cecil Fielder, the reigning king of home runs, and his young prince.”

8 de Jonge, “The slugger nobody wanted.”

9 Pete McEntegart, “Whack daddy: The onetime power potentate has spawned the Mighty Prince, a Brewers first rounder and possible heir apparent to his father’s home run crown,” Sports Illustrated, July 15, 2002: 94.

10 Newhan, “Fielder is really a hitter.”

11 Stephen Ramirez, “John Romano set to end his legacy at Nogales High School,” San Gabriel Valley (California) Tribune, August 30, 2017, https://www.sgvtribune.com/2014/05/14/john-romano-set-to-end-his-legacy-at-nogales-high-school/ (last accessed January 2, 2024).

12 “Detroit’s Japanese ‘import,’ season overseas puts Fielder back in the groove,” USA Today, June 8, 1990.

13 Hoffer, “Big Daddy: What a season it has been for Cecil Fielder, the reigning king of home runs, and his young prince.”

14 USA Today, “Detroit’s Japanese import.”

15  de Jonge, “The slugger nobody wanted.”

16 Newhan, “Fielder is really a hitter.”

17 McEntegart, “Whack daddy: The onetime power potentate has spawned the Mighty Prince, a Brewers first rounder and possible heir apparent to his father’s home run crown.”

18 Rob Miech, “The short UNLV baseball career of slugger Cecil Fielder,” Las Vegas Sun, August 5, 2008 https://lasvegassun.com/blogs/sports/2008/aug/05/short-unlv-baseball-career-slugger-cecil-fielder/ (last accessed January 2, 2024).

19 Miech, “The short UNLV baseball career of slugger Cecil Fielder.”

20 Miech, “The short UNLV baseball career of slugger Cecil Fielder.” Fielder went 3-for-8 with a double and an RBI in two games against Chico State. Because he played in at least one game, he was listed as a letter winner.

21 Newhan, “Fielder is really a hitter.”

22 “Tale of the tape measure,” The Sporting News, August 23, 1982: 36; “Kings Rally, 9-7,” Montana Standard (Butte), July 30, 1982: 6.

23 “The Toronto Blue Jays have acquired designated hitter-first baseman,” United Press International, February 5, 1983 https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/02/05/The-Toronto-Blue-Jays-have-acquired-designated-hitter-first-baseman/6678413269200/  (last accessed January 25, 2024).

24 McEntegart, “Whack daddy: The onetime power potentate has spawned the Mighty Prince, a Brewers first rounder and possible heir apparent to his father’s home run crown.”

25 de Jonge, “The slugger nobody wanted.”

26 de Jonge, “The slugger nobody wanted.” Citari never reached the majors and never hit more than 23 home runs in a season in the minors. Roberts played in 112 games for Kansas City over the next two seasons, batting .252 with eight home runs and 27 RBIs.

27 de Jonge, “The slugger nobody wanted.” Fielder said he thought the promotion was racially motivated so the mostly white crowd could cheer against a Black. But he enjoyed the challenge. “I said, ‘You want to get me out, come on.’ … They weren’t going to drink off me.”

28  de Jonge, “The slugger nobody wanted.”

29 United Press International, “The Blue Jays purchased a fielder – but what they got was a hitter,” Los Angeles Times, September 15, 1985, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-09-15-sp-23416-story.html (last accessed January 5, 2024). George Scott won eight Gold Gloves.

30 Neil MacCarl, “Fielder leads Battle of the Bulge,” The Sporting News, March 17, 1986: 39.

31 Jose Aureloviasan, ”Do you remember Cecil Fielder with the Cardinals in the LVBP?,”El-Fideo.com, January 4, 2023, https://elfildeo-com.translate.goog/beisbol/lvbp-cardenales-noticias-cecil-fielder-recuerdo-lvbp/ (last accessed February 15, 2024)

32 Hoffer, “Big Daddy: What a season it has been for Cecil Fielder, the reigning king of home runs, and his young prince.”

33 Dave Hanson, “Fielder of Dreams,” New York Post_, May 25, 1990: 78.

34 de Jonge, “The slugger nobody wanted.”

35 Newhan, “Fielder is really a hitter.” Fielder had nothing but praise for the way the Blue Jays handled his departure. “I never hesitated when they came to me with it. I mean, it was something they didn’t have to do, but it’s a class organization. I have no bitterness or hard feelings toward the Blue Jays.”

36 de Jonge, “The slugger nobody wanted.”

37 de Jonge, “The slugger nobody wanted.”

38 Albert Kim, “Remade in Japan,” Sports Illustrated, May 14, 1990, https://vault.si.com/vault/1990/05/14/remade-in-japan (last accessed Jan. 6, 2024).

39 Mike Lupica, “The year of living famously: The Fielder phenomenon belies a T-shirt kind of guy.” Parrish ended up replacing Fielder on the Hanshin Tigers.

40 de Jonge, “The slugger nobody wanted.”

41 Hanson, “Fielder of Dreams.” The Red Sox, meanwhile, ended up starting the season with Billy Jo Robidoux as their first baseman.

42 Bill Dow, “Cecil Fielder became a Detroit Tigers superstar, thanks to Sparky Anderson’s positivity,” Detroit Free Press, May 25, 2020, https://www.freep.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2020/05/25/cecil-fielder-detroit-tigers-superstar-sparky-anderson/5253416002/, (last accessed January 7, 2024).

43 Bill Dow, ”Detroit Tigers’ Cecil Fielder became a HR superstar with Tiger Stadium roofshot 30 years ago,” Detroit Free Press, May 27, 2020 https://www.freep.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2020/05/27/detroit-tigers-cecil-fielder-home-run-tiger-stadium-roof-1990/5255965002/ (last accessed February 16, 2024). Earlier in the game, Fielder hit his 40th HR, making him only the fourth Tiger to reach that milestone. Oakland’s ”Bash Brothers,” Mark McGwire and José Canseco, hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning The only hitters who had previously cleared the roof were Harmon Killebrew (1962) and Frank Howard (1968). McGwire hit one over the roof in 1997.

44 Terry Egan, “Fielder finally hits it big with homers 50 and 51,” The National, October 5, 1990, 13.

45 Egan, “Fielder finally hits it big with homers 50 and 51.”

46 Nelson ‘Chip’ Greene, “September 14, 1991: When Cecil Fielder’s home run left the ballpark,” SABR Games Project, 2016. https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/september-14-1991-when-cecil-fielders-home-run-left-the-ballpark/ (last accessed Feb. 16, 2024). Fielder’s blast came off Dan Plesac in a 6-4 Detroit victory. The next day, a member of the Brewers’ scoreboard crew, brought to the park a copy of The Sporting News dated June 17, 1959, which contained a story crediting Orlando Cepeda of the San Francisco Giants with hitting a home run on June 4 which cleared the left-field stands at County Stadium, travelling an estimated 500 feet.

47 Herb Krabbenhoft, “The accurate RBI record of Babe Ruth,” SABR Baseball Research Journal, Spring 2013, https://sabr.org/journal/article/the-accurate-rbi-record-of-babe-ruth/ (last accessed Feb. 16, 2024). Fielder also joined Ty Cobb and Ruth as the only players to lead the AL in RBIs for three straight seasons. Cobb led the league in RBIs prior to it becoming an official statistic in 1920. Ernie Lanigan, a sportswriter, unofficially tabulated RBIs from 1907-19. Dating back to an earlier era, Cap Anson twice led the major leagues in RBIs three years in a row (1880-82 and 1884-86).

48 Associated Press, “Fielder agrees to $36 million, 5-year contract,” Deseret News (Salt Lake city, Utah), January 8, 1993, https://www.deseret.com/1993/1/8/19025555/fielder-agrees-to-36-million-5-year-contract  (last accessed January 10, 2024).

49 Mike Bertha, ”#TBT, Cecil Fielder blasts a HR onto the roof at Tiger Stadium,” MLB.com, July 2, 2015, https://www.mlb.com/cut4/cecil-fielder-hit-a-hr-onto-the-tiger-stadium-roof/c-133761410 (last accessed February 16, 2024).

50 Jason Foster, “Let’s pause to remember the anniversary of Cecil Fielder’s first stolen base,” The Sporting News, April 2, 2018, https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/cecil-fielder-first-stolen-base-1996-tigers-vs-twins-video/xg3ga679czuy1vxu0anbqp5e4 (last accessed Feb. 16, 2024). Fielder stole the first base of his career on April 2, 1996, in the Tigers’ second game of the year, stealing second in the ninth inning with the Tigers ahead 9-6. Fielder ended up scoring the final run in a 10-6 victory. Even though the game was in Minnesota, the crowd of 20,164 gave him a standing ovation as he tipped his cap. It was Fielder’s 1097th game. He had been 0-for-5 in his previous career steal attempts. He added another steal on July 3 against Milwaukee. Fielder only attempted one more stolen base in his career.

51 Dow, “Cecil Fielder became a Detroit Tigers superstar, thanks to Sparky Anderson’s positivity.” Drews, the Yankees’ first-round pick in 1993, never made it past Triple A. Some of his minor league season won-lost records were 1-14, 5-17 and 2-14.

52 “Cecil takes parting shot at ‘crazy’ Angels management,” New York Post, August 15, 1998. “I had the opportunity to drive in 100 runs.” Fielder said. “I’ve seen some crazy things in baseball. This is one of the craziest ever.”

53 “Indians release Cecil Fielder,” CBSNews.com_, September18, 1998, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/indians-release-cecil-fielder/ (last accessed Jan. 10, 2024).

54 “Fielder may return,” New York Times, December 4, 1998: D7. https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/04/sports/plus-baseball-detroit-fielder-may-return.html?ref=cecilfielder (last accessed January 10, 2024).

55Chen, “Turbulent heir.” Fielder married Stacey Lynn Granger on Nov. 7, 1983, when she was 18. In 1994 Stacey became the first Black woman to be crowned Mrs. Michigan. Four of the unsuccessful contestants subsequently sued the pageant, claiming it was rigged to allow Stacey to win. In 1997 Fielder left the Yankees for several days in midseason when Stacey was on trial in Florida for interfering with police after her 10-year-old step-daughter was in a traffic accident. An all-white jury found her guilty of obstruction. “You don’t want to say we have a racial problem at hand, but you look at it and it doesn’t look good,” Fielder said.

56 Fred Girard, “From riches to rags: Fielder’s life of luxury crumbles under crux of gambling debts,” Salt Lake City Tribune, October 27, 2004, https://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?ref=/sports/ci_2434381 (last accessed January 17, 2024).

57 Don Campbell, “All in at Atlantic City; Former slugger Cecil Fielder, in a bid to build a managerial career, has returned to the very place where his gambling caught up to him,” Ottawa Citizen, May 28, 2008: B1.

58 Chen, “Turbulent heir.”

59 Dow, “Cecil Fielder became a Detroit Tigers superstar, thanks to Sparky Anderson’s positivity.”

60  Campbell, ”Tigers celebrate 20th annual Negro Leagues Weekend,” Illitch Companies News Hub, June 15, 2022, https://ilitchnewshub.com/2022/06/tigers-celebrate-20th-annual-negro-leagues-weekend-presented-by-comerica-bank-june-17-19/ (last accessed January 17, 2024). Fielder received the Willie Horton African American Legacy Award.

61  Dustin Lewis, “Seminoles bringing in multiple preferred walk-ons that turned down scholarships to sign with FSU,” SI.com, February 2, 2023.

Johnson is not a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame—nor has he ever gotten particularly close. Despite that, there are very few players in history who can approach his offensive dominance. Among players with 1,000 or more major-league plate appearances, Johnson’s .370 batting average ranks second all time, just four points behind Josh Gibson (and four points ahead of AL/NL leader Ty Cobb). As early as October 1922, phrases like “Johnson is Babe Ruth,”1 “ Babe Ruth’ has nothing on ‘Heavy’,”2 “the Black Babe Ruth,”3 and “the Babe Ruth of the colored league”4 began appearing in papers to describe his hitting prowess.

Oscar Johnson was born April 20, 1895, in Atchison, Kansas. Also the birthplace of aviatrix Amelia Earhart, Atchison is about 50 miles northwest of Kansas City, Missouri and sits along the Missouri River. Johnson’s father (Frank, born October 1848) and mother (Harriet, born February 1857) were both born in Lebanon, Virginia, “almost certainly” as slaves.5 Frank, a laborer in a brick yard, and Harriet were married in 1872. They would have 11 children, with nine still living when the 1900 Census was taken. Oscar was the youngest of the nine. Not much else is known about his youth beyond the fact that he received a sixth-grade education.6

On December 10, 1913, Johnson (by then living in Youngstown, Ohio) enlisted in the Army at Columbus Barracks in Ohio. He listed 1892 as his birth year, adding three years to his actual age (21 instead of 18).7 He would use the 1892 birth date for the rest of his life.8

Johnson was assigned to Company K in the 25th Infantry Regiment, one of four all-Black US Army units formed in 1866 and collectively known as the “Buffalo Soldiers.” The 25th Infantry’s baseball team was established in 1893 by Colonel Andrew S. Burt.9 On January 15, 1913, the 25th Infantry arrived at Schofield Barracks on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. It was here that the regiment baseball team became known as the “Wreckers”—one of the top professional teams in the country. In this era before the founding of the NNL, playing baseball for Uncle Sam was among the steadiest paychecks a Black ballplayer could find.

In Hawaii, the Wreckers were part of an incredible melting pot of baseball talent. They played against other Army teams, civilian clubs (that were mostly organized by ethnicity), traveling All-Star squads made of major- and upper minor-league players, teams from the Pacific Coast League or universities, and anyone else who wanted to test their skill against the Wrecking Crew.

A “Johnson” appeared for the Wreckers in a contest against the 2nd Infantry on May 14, 1914, batting eighth and playing right field.10 He made at least six more appearances in 1914. The evidence is inconclusive, but this could be Oscar Johnson. Additionally, there is another “Johnson” who appeared in at least two games in the winter of 1913-14, but it is less likely (though not impossible) that this is Oscar.

In 1915 Johnson was definitely a full-time member of the team. The 25th Infantry team was in first place with an 8-1 record when the Schofield Barracks League finished play on September 22. That day, in a 7-3 win against the 1st Infantry in front of 8,000 fans, Johnson hit his first homer as a Wrecker. The Honolulu Advertiser wrote, “When Mr. Johnson connected, the ball went sailing to the score board. The score board is 475 feet from home plate. When [center fielder] Wheeler reached the ball, Johnson was drinking a pop on the bench.”11 In 34 box scores found for the 1915 Wreckers against all competition, Johnson batted .333 and slugged .552 in 24 appearances.12

The 25th Infantry opened 1916 with two games against the traveling Olympic Club of San Francisco. These games were the first that Walter “Dobie” Moore would play with the Wreckers. The Olympics’ arrival was highly publicized, but the last game of their tour was spoiled by a Johnson walk-off home run.13 In June, the Wreckers finished atop the Oahu Senior League with an 8-1 record. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin named Johnson to their All-Star team, along with teammates Rogan, Allie Crafton, Lemuel Hawkins, and Clyde Aulston.14

On August 27, Rogan (as pitcher) and Johnson (who had transitioned from the outfield to become the team’s primary catcher) combined for a dominant 10-0 win against the Cruiser St. Louis team. Rogan allowed just a lone single while striking out 20 and hitting a home run. Johnson clubbed two home runs, a triple, and a single. Of the 27 outs recorded by the Wreckers, Johnson had 21 putouts and four assists as he caught three soldiers stealing. He would have caught a fourth if his shortstop hadn’t dropped the throw.15

The 1916 Post League season stretched into January 1917 as the 25th Infantry (who finished 9-2) played a best-of-three series against the 32nd Infantry for the championship. The 25th won the opener, 14-1. Johnson and Rogan each collected three hits.16 A week later, the 25th earned the title with a 2-0 victory.17 In 39 box scores that have been located from the Wreckers’ 1916 campaign, Johnson hit .318 with a .563 slugging percentage in 38 games. In addition to five home runs, he legged out 10 triples and stole 15 bases. Rogan batted .312 while the rest of the team combined to hit .229.18

In 1917, Rogan went on furlough for three months. That didn’t stop the Wreckers from going 8-0 in the Oahu Service League. With Rogan back in action in September, Johnson hit for the cycle in a 16-2 win against a combined 1st and 32nd Infantry team. He had five hits in all, collecting two singles.19 He played in 31 of the Wreckers’ 33 games for which box scores have been found in 1917 and batted .379 with six homers and a .661 slugging percentage.20

During that season, Johnson’s nickname “Heavy” began to appear in the papers.21 In addition to his offensive prowess, he stood 5-foot-7 and weighed 200 pounds (though some sources list him as tall as 6-feet and 250).22 His “neck bulged and his chest was massive” while “his biceps matched most men’s thighs.”23 Johnson threw right-handed but there is no conclusive evidence that he batted either left- or right-handed.

The Wreckers steamrolled the rest of the Oahu-Service League in 1918, going 8-0 in the First Series, scoring 54 runs and allowing just 10. On May 26, Johnson caught Rogan’s no-hitter against Waikiki, tagging out a runner in the first inning who tried to steal home.24 Two weeks later, he caught a Rogan one-hitter and hit for the cycle again (with an additional single for another five-hit game).25

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin named Johnson the catcher on their All-Star team for the circuit.26 The Second Series began in late July. However, the Wreckers soon learned that they would be relocating to Arizona. Their final game in Hawaii was played on August 11. Johnson went 2-for-4 with a double in a 4-0 win against the Marines.27 In 12 available box scores from the 1918 season, Johnson hit .444 and slugged .711.28

Coverage of the Wreckers in Hawaii was extensive and descriptive. They were beloved by the locals and known across the country. The Spalding Company even approached them about sponsoring a West Coast tour, but it never came to fruition because of the team’s military obligations.29 Overall, between 1914 and 1918, Johnson batted .346 in Hawaii over his 111 appearances for which box scores have been located. In 422 at-bats, he also clubbed 18 doubles, 22 triples, and 14 homers for a .592 slugging percentage, with 101 runs scored, and 30 stolen bases. Only Rogan (.338 average, .624 slugging, 22 homers, 39 steals) could boast similar numbers among his teammates. Only Rogan (.338 average, .634 slugging, 22 homers, 38 steals) could boast similar numbers among his teammates.30

While the 25th Infantry was making its way to the mainland from Hawaii, the Battle of Ambos Nogales broke out on the United States–Mexico border on August 27. Four Americans and about 129 Mexicans were killed with approximately 330 wounded. As a result of the conflict, a two-mile barbed wire fence was installed to separate Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Mexico. This was the first permanent border barrier constructed between the two countries.31

The 25th Infantry began arriving on August 30 and were assigned to guard the new border wall.32 “After that, not much baseball was played,” Wreckers teammate William “Big C” Johnson told author Phil S. Dixon.33 Once World War I ended in November, there would be more time for baseball.34

Oscar Johnson was honorably discharged from the Army in March 1919, but he soon re-enlisted (perhaps immediately).35 The Arizona District League commenced on June 14 with a 21-2 win over the 1st Cavalry.36 That summer, Johnson, Rogan, Moore, and pitcher George Jasper also played for the integrated Nogales Nationals.37

Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Casey Stengel brought an all-star team of major- and high minor-league players to Nogales in November 1919. Stengel’s team arrived with an undefeated record, including a pair of victories over the Chicago American Giants, who would finish atop the Negro National League the following season.38 Though there are no known box scores for the Wreckers 1919 season, they were 22-2 leading up to a three-game series against Stengel’s squad.39 Johnson had definitely re-enlisted by this time and was available. However, the 25th Infantry would be without Rogan and other prominent players like Crafton, Hawkins, Fred Goliah, and Saki Smith.40

Despite the key absences, the Wreckers won the first game, 5–4. After Stengel’s team scored all of its runs in the first inning against Jasper, the 25th’s comeback was highlighted by a Moore home run. Pitchers named “Johnson” started the second and third games for the Wreckers, though it’s not clear whether it was Oscar or William Johnson. (By January 1920, “Big C” was no longer living in Nogales according to the census, but he may still have been with the Wreckers in November 1919.) Either way, the hurler was inexperienced—and it showed. Game Two was a slugfest with Stengel’s All Stars winning, 14-11.41

In Game Three, the Wreckers fell behind by six runs in the second inning. Jasper relieved Johnson (who moved to catcher) and shut Stengel’s side down the rest of the way while the 25th completed the 8-6 comeback win.42

Immediately after the third contest, two more games were added to the series. They received much less coverage. Game Four was won by the Wreckers, 8-6. The fifth and final game was a blowout with Stengel’s team winning, 19-3. One can only wonder which 25th Infantry pitchers were available for that game given the workloads of Johnson and Jasper throughout the series.43

In June 1920, the 25th Infantry were among more than 400 soldiers in St. Louis for the Olympic trials ahead of the 7th Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium.44 Although Rogan, Moore, and many of the Wreckers’ stars had already moved on, there was clearly immediate interest in some players from the 25th upon their arrival. On June 24, Johnson appeared in a game for the NNL’s St. Louis Giants against the Cuban Stars, coming off the bench to catch and collecting his first major-league hit (a single).45 When the 25th Infantry played those same Giants on June 28, Johnson was in the lineup for the Wreckers. The soldiers prevailed, 4-1.46

A few days later, the Chicago Defender reported that the Giants had signed Johnson, Mose Herring, and an infielder named Stewart (first name unknown) from the 25th Infantry. Johnson was described as “a catcher who is said to be the peer of them all.”47

On July 4 and 5, Johnson made two starts for the Giants, the first a 4-2 loss to the Kansas City Monarchs. The Monarchs lineup featured former Wreckers Moore and Rogan batting fourth and fifth. The next day, Johnson started behind the plate in St. Louis’s 10-6 win over the Cuban Stars. He had two hits—one a bases-loaded triple in the seventh inning.48 That would be Johnson’s last appearance for the Giants, however, as he “was kept out of the game after Monday by the Army authorities.” Herring and Stewart were allowed to stay with St. Louis.49 The Army didn’t seem to be in a rush to let its biggest diamond asset leave before they had to. Unfortunately, 25th Infantry results and box scores are very hard to come by for the rest of 1920 and 1921.

While Johnson was a great ballplayer for Uncle Sam, he did not have a great reputation as a soldier. Johnson “was the regiment misfit,” wrote William McNeil. He added that Johnson “was in the guardhouse as often as he was out of it. If an important baseball game happened to coincide with his sentence, however, the colonel would order Johnson’s release and, if Johnson played well in the game, the colonel would let him stay out of the guardhouse—until his next offense.”50

By May 1922, Johnson was finally honorably discharged. He joined many of his former Wreckers teammates (Rogan, Moore, Hawkins, Branch Russell, and William Linder) on the Kansas City Monarchs. On May 20, he made his first appearance, going 0-for-1 in a win against the St. Louis Stars. Against the same club the next day, he started and went 2-for-4 with a double. Johnson’s first Monarchs’ homer also came against the Stars, on June 2.51

Johnson’s debut campaign for the Monarchs was magnificent. He finished with a .406 batting average and .715 slugging percentage in 68 games (including league and interleague contests, and games against major Blackball teams). He clubbed 19 doubles, 11 triples, and 11 homers while stealing nine bases.52

In 1922-23, Johnson played in the integrated California Winter League with the Los Angeles White Sox. His teammates included many Monarchs and Wreckers (Hawkins, José Méndez, Rube Curry, Bob Fagan, Pinky Ward, and George Carr) as well as Biz Mackey.53 Los Angeles won the championship and Johnson led the league in batting at .340 (16-for-47, just .0004 ahead of Mackey).54

The Monarchs opened the 1923 season at home against the Chicago American Giants on April 28. Johnson went 0-for-3 but, the next day, he had his first of many big performances that season. He went 4-for-5 with a home run, triple, and pair of doubles against Chicago, driving in five runs and scoring three. He hit .425 in May, highlighted by a 3-for-3 game on May 21 with a pair of home runs, a triple, and six runs batted in. By the end of the month, he had already hit nine home runs in just 25 games—seven in an eight-game span (all on the road).55

On June 4 against Milwaukee, Johnson had the first three-homer game in Monarchs history.56 He went 4-for-5 and drove in five that day. On July 1, he had another four-hit explosion, driving in six against Toledo.57 As part of a three-hit, five-RBI day on July 31, Johnson hit the first home run at Kansas City’s new Muehlebach Field (a stadium the Monarchs would share with the Kansas City Blues of the American Association before it became the home of the Kansas City Athletics in 1955).58

On August 1, Johnson married 23-year-old Juanita Powell of Kansas City. Unfortunately, nothing else is known about Juanita and their relationship beyond the fact that the marriage apparently didn’t last though the end of Johnson’s playing career.59

Johnson’s incredible 1923 campaign resulted in another .400 season and the NNL Triple Crown. His .406/.471/.722 slash line over 98 games included the league’s top slugging percentage, and he also paced the circuit in OPS (1.193), homers (20), RBIs (120), doubles (32), and runs scored (91).60

After the season, Johnson played his second and final season of winter ball. He joined the Santa Clara Leopardos, considered not only the best Cuban League team ever, but simply one of the best baseball squads, period. The roster boasted future Hall of Famers Oscar Charleston and Méndez, plus strong candidates like Johnson, Moore, Alejandro Oms, and Oliver Marcell. The depth of talent also featured Frank Duncan, Frank Warfield, Bill Holland, Dave Brown, Eustaquio Pedroso, and Curry. The Leopardos went 36-11-1 and won the league title comfortably by 11½ games. In 15 appearances, Johnson hit .370 and slugged .556 before he left the team early to return to the United States for an unknown reason.

The 1924 campaign was Johnson’s final season with the Monarchs. While he didn’t repeat his 1923 totals, he still batted .366 with five home runs and 55 RBIs, finishing third in the NNL in average and hits, and fourth in total bases. Including non-league competition, some sources report that Johnson hit more than 60 homers that year.61

After winning their third consecutive NNL title, Johnson and the Monarchs played in the very first Colored World Series against Hilldale of the Eastern Colored League (ECL). Johnson hit .296 in the series and slugged .407—modest totals for him, but well above the team figures of .228 and .295, respectively. Ahead of the pivotal Game Eight, the series was tied at three games apiece (one tie) with five wins needed to clinch the championship.

Johnson doubled, but he uncharacteristically dominated the game with his defense. In the fifth inning with the game scoreless, he robbed George Johnson of a triple. In the eighth with Hilldale up 2–0, he made a “shoestring catch” to rob Judy Johnson of a hit. Oscar Johnson kept the Monarchs’ deficit to just two by throwing out Carr at the plate on an Otto Briggs hit in the top of the ninth. In the bottom of the inning, he contributed to the game-winning rally by getting hit in the buttocks to load the bases with two outs ahead of Duncan’s decisive two-run single.62

Hilldale won the ninth game, forcing a winner-take-all Game 10. With Méndez starting against Script Lee, the game was scoreless through seven. In the bottom of the eighth, Johnson doubled home Moore for what proved to be the series-winning run. Kansas City tacked on four more to put the game out of reach, with Johnson scoring on Newt Allen’s single.

In March 1925, Johnson was traded to the Baltimore Black Sox of the ECL for Wade Johnston.63 Batting behind Jud Wilson and John Beckwith,64 Johnson hit .327 and slugged .538. Midway through 1926, Beckwith joined the Harrisburg Giants. After hitting .350, Johnson joined him that offseason. In Harrisburg, Johnson was part of one of the greatest outfields of all time with Fats Jenkins in left, Charleston in center, and Johnson in right (with Rap Dixon also playing when he wasn’t touring the Far East). In 1927, Johnson slashed .379/.461/.568 in 58 games to rank third in the ECL in batting, on-base percentage, and slugging.

Johnson returned to the NNL in 1928 with the Cleveland Tigers. Despite hitting .387 and slugging .547 in 20 games, Johnson was released along with several other players, general manager S.M. Terrell, and manager Duncan when owner M.C. Barkin cleaned house.65 Barkin complained that “several of the players were not keeping in condition and that the manager had no control over the players.”66 Johnson joined the NNL’s Memphis Red Sox for the remainder of the season and hit .331 in 49 games.

Outside of five appearances for Memphis spread out over a two-month span in 1930, it is not known what Johnson did over the next two years. He started 1931 with the independent Dayton Marcos but left the club to join the Louisville White Sox of the NNL in June. Johnson went 6-for-21 with a homer for Louisville before returning to Dayton.67

Johnson joined the Newark Browns of the upstart East-West League in 1932, once again recruited by manager Beckwith. Before the East-West League season even started, though, many players had jumped to other teams.68 Newark’s club lasted just four games before folding, losing them all. Johnson saw action in two of them, going 0-for-3. The Negro Leagues continued to suffer through the Depression and the East-West League folded before the end of 1932. By the time the second Negro National League commenced in 1933, Johnson’s major-league career was over.

Across all or parts of 11 seasons in major Negro Leagues, Johnson hit .370 with a .428 on-base percentage and .592 slugging percentage. Per 162 games, he averaged 109 runs, 215 hits, 39 doubles, 17 triples, 19 home runs, 141 runs batted in, 16 stolen bases, and six wins above replacement.69 Though he never played at the top level again, Johnson reportedly played for the independent Detroit Cubs in 1935 at age 40.70

On October 17, 1936, Johnson married Cora Mason in Wayne, Indiana. This marriage lasted at least through 1952 and likely until his death. Piecing together what Johnson did after his playing career is difficult, but public records provide some clues. In 1940, he was living in Dayton, Ohio and working as a laborer.71 Two years later in the same state, he was employed by the Chester Garage Company.72 Johnson and his wife lived in Cleveland as of 1950, with Cora’s daughter Louise and Louise’s family. Johnson was a flour blender for a baking company.73

Oscar Johnson died on October 9, 1960, in Cleveland, Ohio. There is no obituary. There is no gravesite. All we know is that a tremendous baseball player quietly passed.

In 2006 Johnson was one of 94 preliminary candidates for the National Baseball Hall of Fame via the Committee on African-American Baseball, but he did not make the final ballot. If his perceived lack of longevity was the sticking point, it’s worth noting that his former Wreckers and Monarchs teammate Moore received further consideration despite playing only six seasons in major Negro Leagues. When Johnson spent eight years in the Army, he did so, in part, because it was one of the few reliable options where a Black ballplayer could earn a steady paycheck while the American and National Leagues remained segregated. Although the competition he faced there varied greatly, Johnson’s statistics kept pace with Hall of Famer Rogan’s (and both were far above everyone else).

Johnson, who began his career as a catcher before shifting to the outfield, was also burdened by his reputation as an “unpolished fielder.”74 Modern metrics like Total Zone Rating agree that he was a below-average fielder, costing his team about seven runs per 162 games. But that pales in comparison to the 59 he added with his bat in the same span.75

Johnson might compare well with modern players like Manny Ramírez or Gary Sheffield—enormous bats who were among the worst defenders in history by advanced metrics. But he may have been closer to Harry Heilmann, a peer of Johnson’s (1914-32) who similarly dominated at the plate but was not as big a defensive liability.

In 2012, Johnson was inducted into the Kansas Baseball Hall of Fame along with 13 other Negro Leaguers.76 In 2021, a mural created in Atchison by artist Vaughn Schultz was painted that depicted Johnson in mid-swing.77

Thanks to the tireless work of researchers Gary Ashwill, Scott Simkus, Mike Lynch, Kevin Johnson, and Larry Lester of the Seamheads Negro Leagues Database, the statistics of Johnson and several thousand Negro League players are presented as major-league statistics on Baseball Reference. Because of that, we can apply tools such as Bill James’ similarity scores and Black Ink scores (a measurement of “how often a player led the league in a variety of ‘important’ stats”) to Negro League players. By these measures, Johnson’s most similar player is Hall of Famer Willard Brown and his Black Ink score is 31. The average Hall of Famer has a score of 27 (and Johnson’s score does not include his prime years in the Army).78

Yet, when more Negro Leaguers were considered for Hall of Fame induction in 2022, Johnson was not included on the Early Baseball Era Committee’s ballot. Oscar Johnson seemed to fade from memory as quickly as he burst on the Negro Leagues scene. Modern researchers have rebuilt his playing record from the box score up and contemporary analysis suggests he may be one of the greatest overlooked legends in Negro Leagues history.

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Malcolm Allen and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Ray Danner.

Sources

In addition to sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted www.baseball-reference.com and game logs provided by Kevin Johnson of the Seamheads Negro Leagues Database.

Notes

1 “Famous Colored Ball Club to Tour State with Bears,” Black Dispatch (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma), October 5, 1922.

2 “Sporting News,” Buffalo (New York) American, October 26, 1922.

3 “Champion Monarchs Play at Rick Monday,” Birmingham (Alabama) News, September 16, 1923.

4 “Trident-Monarch Game a Thriller,” Morning Chronicle, August 19, 1923.

5 Gary Ashwill, “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother,” Agate Type, https://agatetype.typepad.com/agate_type/2007/09/he-aint-heavy-h.html, accessed July 21, 2022.

6 1940 United States Federal Census. Ancestry, https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/29955112?h=478d39.

7 Gary Ashwill, “Will the Real Oscar Johnson Please Stand Up?” Agate Type, https://agatetype.typepad.com/agate_type/2007/09/will-the-real-o.html, accessed July 21, 2022.

8 Ashwill, “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”

9 Jerry Malloy, “The 25th Infantry Regiment Takes the Field,” The National Pastime, Vol. 15 (1995), accessed July 21, 2022.

10 “Saunder’s Outfit Star at Batting,” Honolulu Advertiser, May 16, 1914.

11 “Post Championship is Won by Twenty-Fifth,” Honolulu Advertiser, September 23, 1915.

12 Darowski, “25th Infantry Wreckers.”

13 “Burke’s Men Meet Defeat in Great Contest with Twenty-Fifth Infantry Diamond Stars,” Honolulu Advertiser, February 27, 1916.

14 “Schofield Has Say on Leading Diamond Stars,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, August 12, 1916.

15 “Navy Drops One to Sluggers of 25th Infantry,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, August 29, 1916.

16 “Wreckers Start Champ Series at Schofield, Beating 32nd 14 to 1,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, January 22, 1917.

17 “Wreckers Win Big Post League Pennant at Schofield Barracks,” Honolulu Advertiser, January 29, 1917.

18 Darowski, “25th Infantry Wreckers.”

19 “Great Slaughter at Moiliili Park,” Honolulu Advertiser, September 10, 1917.

20 Darowski, “25th Infantry Wreckers.”

21 “‘Heavy’ Johnson Breaks Up Game with Chinese on Sunday,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, July 23, 1917.

22 James A. Riley, The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues, (New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1994), 440.

23 Phil S. Dixon, Wilber “Bullet” Rogan and the Kansas City Monarchs, (Jefferson: McFarland & Company, 2010), 51.

24 “Rogan Pitches No-hit Game,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, May 27, 1918.

25 “Coast Defense Fails to Swat Pitcher Rogan,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, June 10, 1918.

26 “All-Star Squad of Oahu-Service League Selected,” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, July 5, 1918.

27 “Wreckers Farewell with Hard-Earned Victory Over Pearl Harbor Marines,” Honolulu Advertiser, August 12, 1918.

28 Darowski, “25th Infantry Wreckers.”

29 William F. McNeil, Black Baseball Out of Season, (Jefferson: McFarland & Company, 2015), 57.

30 Darowski, “25th Infantry Wreckers.”

31 Carlos Francisco Parra, “Battle of Ambos Nogales signaled birth of border fence,” Nogales International, accessed July 21, 2022.

32 McNeil, Black Baseball Out of Season, 60.

33 Dixon, Wilber “Bullet” Rogan and the Kansas City Monarchs, 28.

34 McNeil, Black Baseball Out of Season, 61.

35 Ashwill, “Will the Real Oscar Johnson Please Stand Up?”

36 “Initial Game in Series of the Military District League,” Daily Morning Oasis (Nogales, Arizona), June 15, 1919.

37 Bill Staples Jr., “The Making of a Monarch: Dobie Moore, Casey Stengel, and the Lost Box Scores of 1919,” International Pastime, http://billstaples.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-making-of-monarch-dobie-moore-casey.html, accessed July 21, 2022.

38 Staples Jr., “The Making of a Monarch: Dobie Moore, Casey Stengel, and the Lost Box Scores of 1919.”

39 “Stengel to Play Camp Little Teams November 3, 4, 5,” Tucson Citizen, November 2, 1919.

40 “Nogales Doughboys Will Play Three Games with Casey Stengel’s Stars,” Arizona Daily Star, October 31, 1919.

41 Staples Jr., “The Making of a Monarch: Dobie Moore, Casey Stengel, and the Lost Box Scores of 1919.”

42 Staples Jr., “The Making of a Monarch: Dobie Moore, Casey Stengel, and the Lost Box Scores of 1919.”

43 Staples Jr., “The Making of a Monarch: Dobie Moore, Casey Stengel, and the Lost Box Scores of 1919.”

44 “400 Soldiers to Try out for Olympic Team,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, June 30, 1920.

45 Heavy Johnson Game Logs provided by the Seamheads Negro League Database, July 24, 2022.

46 “Infantry Team Beats St. Louis Giants, 4-1,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, June 29, 1920.

47 Gary Ashwill, “From the Wreckers to the St. Louis Giants,” Agate Type, https://agatetype.typepad.com/agate_type/2006/11/from_the_wrecke.html, accessed July 21, 2022.

48 “Giants Gain Victory Over Cuban Stars, 10-6,” St. Louis Globe Democrat, July 6, 1920.

49 Dr. Layton Revel and Luis Munoz, “Forgotten Heroes: Oscar “Heavy” Johnson,” http://www.cnlbr.org/Portals/0/Hero/Oscar-Heavy-Johnson.pdf, accessed July 21, 2022.

50 McNeil, Black Baseball Out of Season, 61.

51 Heavy Johnson Game Logs provided by the Seamheads Negro League Database, July 24, 2022.

52 Baseball-Reference.com, accessed August 16, 2022.

53 William F. McNeil, The California Winter League: America’s First Integrated Professional Baseball League, (Jefferson: McFarland & Company, 2002), 88.

54 McNeil, The California Winter League: America’s First Integrated Professional Baseball League, 87.

55 Heavy Johnson Game Logs provided by the Seamheads Negro League Database, July 24, 2022.

56 Dixon, Wilber “Bullet” Rogan and the Kansas City Monarchs, 52.

57 Heavy Johnson Game Logs provided by the Seamheads Negro League Database, July 24, 2022.

58 Phil S. Dixon [@NegroLeagueMan], “July 31, 1923, Oscar “Heavy” Johnson became the first Monarch to hit a home run at Kansas City’s Muehlebach Field with a first inning blast off American Giants’ Jack Marshall.” Twitter, July 31, 2018, https://twitter.com/negroleagueman/status/1024481195961270283.

59 Missouri, U.S., Marriage Records, 1805-2002. Ancestry, https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/29954889?h=5f94a8.

60 Baseball-Reference.com, accessed August 16, 2022.

61 Riley, The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues, 441.

62 Larry Lester, Baseball’s First Colored World Series: The 1924 Meeting of the Hilldale Giants and Kansas City Monarchs, (Jefferson: McFarland & Company, 2014), 162.

63 “Monarchs, And Sox in Big Trade,” Pittsburgh Courier, March 14, 1925.

64 Riley, The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues, 441.

65 “Cleveland Tigers (Baseball),” Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Case Western Reserve University, https://case.edu/ech/articles/c/cleveland-tigers-baseball, accessed August 15, 2022.

66 “Cleveland Tigers Release,” Birmingham Reporter, June 9, 1928.

67 “Marcos Beat Foe Twice; Lose One,” Pittsburgh Courier, July 4, 1931.

68 “New League Follows Trail of Old,” New York Age, May 21, 1932.

69 Baseball-Reference.com, accessed August 15, 2022.

70 Revel and Munoz, “Forgotten Heroes: Oscar “Heavy” Johnson.”

71 1940 United States Federal Census. Ancestry, https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/29955112?h=478d39.

72 U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942. Ancestry, https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/29955369?h=75a9ab.

73 1950 United States Federal Census. Ancestry, https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/29955205?h=967ef6.

74 Riley, The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues, 441.

75 Baseball-Reference.com, accessed August 15, 2022.

76 Mark Schremmer, “Ks. Hall inducts Topeka’s Negro League greats,” Topeka Capital Journal, https://www.cjonline.com/story/sports/2012/02/04/ks-hall-inducts-topekas-negro-league-greats/16443539007, accessed August 16, 2022.

77 Laura Spencer [@lauraspencer], “Oscar “Heavy” Johnson mural in @atchisonks. @NLBMuseumKC @nlbmprez” Twitter, July 16, 2022, https://twitter.com/lauraspencer/status/1548332326244868096.

78 Baseball-Reference.com, accessed August 16, 2022.

For one thing, Beltré wasn’t as lauded as one might expect. Although he recorded more hits (3,166) than any third baseman in major-league history, won five Gold Gloves, and four Silver Sluggers, Beltré was selected to only four All-Star teams and finished in the top six of his league’s MVP voting just twice.

Yet, by the time he walked away from the game, Beltré had become one of the most beloved, joyful players of his generation. His presence touched countless fans and players alike. Shortstop Elvis Andrus, Beltré’s teammate for eight years in Texas, wrote on Instagram, “Thank u [sic] for everything you’ve done in my career in and off the field and for always teach[ing] me to believe in myself, respect the game and the most important…enjoy the game.”2 Hall of Famer Chipper Jones, the contemporary to whom Beltré was often compared, called him the “total package at the hot corner” and vowed to “save [him] a seat at the third baseman’s table of the members dinner in Cooperstown.”3

In 2024, Beltré became the fifth Dominican-born player to be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame, earning 95.1% of the votes cast by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Even before Adrian Beltré Pérez was born, his dad, Bienvenido, thought that he and his wife, Andrea Pérez, had something special on the way. As legend has it, Bienvenido told his friend, Dominican baseball legend Felipe Alou, that his pregnant wife would give birth to a great ballplayer. Bienvenido, nicknamed “El Negrito”4 because he was dark and handsome, would train him to be a star, and Alou could help mentor him.5 On April 7, 1979, Adrian entered the world in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.

Bienvenido had built the family home in the Café de Herrera neighborhood, in the southwestern sector of the city. He was an industrial mechanic who trained roosters for cockfighting, a popular and legal sport in the country. He was also a professional baseball player.6 His son followed him everywhere. “He would take me to the fields [to] watch him play,” Beltré said. “He was a big influence on my life.”7 When Alou managed in Dominican winter ball, he took young Adrian with him. “I thought he’d be asleep after the game,” Alou recalled. “I was surprised that he was awake. He talked about the game all the way back.”8

Despite being a scrawny youngster, Beltré loved playing baseball like his dad. He found ways to get games going with friends even without proper equipment. “We [were] very creative,” Beltré said. “We find a way to keep ourselves entertained and make baseball out of anything – a sock, a tennis ball, anything we have to create a baseball game.”9

Shortly after Beltré turned 11, his father introduced him to Franklin Rodríguez, who operated a baseball school on the grounds of the Hogar Escuela Santo Domingo Savio. (Beltré was a student at the Escuela Rafaela Santaella, not the Liceo Máximo Gómez as some reports indicate.) Over the ensuing quarter-century, more than 200 of Rodríguez’s pupils signed professional contracts, including D’Angelo Jiménez, Melky Cabrera and Edinson Vólquez. “He [Beltré] had strength in his arm and hit the ball very hard,” Rodríguez recalled in Spanish.10

At the time, Beltré also loved basketball and tennis. In 1991, however, he watched a Houston Astros game on a grainy television set and decided he wanted to be like their slick-fielding third baseman. “Ken Caminiti,” he explained. “I saw how hard he played. I saw the plays he made, and I got serious about baseball.”11

Los Angeles Dodgers scout Pablo Peguero donated balls and other supplies to Rodríguez’s camp, so Beltré wound up in that organization’s pioneering workout facility in 1994.12 Although Beltré weighed only 130 pounds, Peguero and fellow scout Ralph Ávila spotted him and fell in love with his rocket arm13 and lightning line drives. The pair insisted that the Dodgers offer him a contract as soon as possible. Even though Beltré was only 15 – a year younger than the minimum age – the Dodgers signed him for $23,000 on July 7, 1994, using documents that recorded his birth year as 1978. “I often tell players… once you sign, you’re not going to be a kid any longer. You are a professional,” Alou said. “His dad really coached him to be a pro.”14

Beltré developed his talents at the Dodgers’ Campo Las Palmas complex and made his professional debut in the Dominican Summer League in 1995. He batted .307.15

Upon arriving in the United States in 1996, Beltré skipped rookie ball and became the youngest player in the Class A South Atlantic League when he was assigned to the Savannah (Georgia) Sand Gnats. “I lived with several Latinos, and they did not speak English, so we adapted little by little. We started by ordering food at McDonald’s or at Subway after the game,” Beltré said. “What helped me was arriving at the place, pointing at a photo [of food], saying something as if I were murmuring, letting them answer me, and saying ‘yes.’ But I didn’t know what they were going to give me… I went hungry a lot because I’ve always hated pickles… I’d immediately throw it in the trash.”16

On the field, Beltré blasted through his competition. Based on his .307/.406/.586 slash line in 68 games with Savannah, he was named the league’s best prospect.17 He was promoted to the High-A California League and finished the season with the San Bernardino Stampede. Between the two clubs, he produced 26 homers and 99 RBIs in 131 games.

In 1997, Beltré batted .317 for the Vero Beach Dodgers and led the High-A Florida State League in homers (26), RBIs (104) and slugging (.561). He was voted the circuit’s MVP. Baseball America exclaimed, “He hasn’t shown any weaknesses in two years of minor-league ball.”18 Beltré struggled with the glove, making 37 errors on 351 chances that season. But he would soon be considered one of baseball’s best defenders.

Entering 1998, Baseball America ranked Beltré as the majors’ number-three prospect.19 He started the year with the San Antonio Missions, where he was five years younger than his average competitor in the Double-A Texas League. Over 64 games, he hammered 13 homers and batted .321. It seemed only a matter of time before he starred at Chavez Ravine.

On June 24, 1998, Beltré was called up and given a seat at “the table of baseball’s most dysfunctional family.”20 The Dodgers were in the midst of a tumultuous season, having fired their manager and general manager three days before Beltré’s arrival. Future Hall of Famer Mike Piazza had been traded away in mid-May. Beltré’s opportunity came, in part, because one of the players obtained for Piazza – third baseman Bobby Bonilla – had just gone on the disabled list with an intestinal infection. “What’s too soon?” asked former Dodgers skipper Tom Lasorda, who had just assumed the club’s interim GM duties. “The kid has got talent, and he’s got everything he needs to be here.”21

In his first at-bat, Beltré roped an RBI double down the left-field line off Anaheim Angels starter Chuck Finley to announce himself to the big-league world. “I was really nervous,” he said. “I had a butterfly in my stomach… I was thinking, ‘Whatever he throws me I’m going to swing at it because I can’t feel my body.’ It’s like I was floating.”22 He also singled before the contest was over. Six nights later in Texas, he hit his first home run.

Although Beltré hit only .215 with seven homers in 77 games, he remained with L.A. for the rest of the season. His place as the team’s starting third baseman was secured that fall when new Dodgers GM Kevin Malone shipped Bonilla to the New York Mets to make room for “one of the game’s best prospects.”23

That offseason, Beltré played winter ball in his native country for the third straight year. He had hit .219 in 76 games for the La Romana-based Azucareros del Este over his first two campaigns. However, playing for Santiago-based Águilas Cibaeñas in 1998-99, he batted .301 with 10 homers in 58 games to win Dominican League MVP honors. The Aguilas were eliminated in the playoff semifinals, but Beltré accompanied the champion Tigres del Licey to the Caribbean Series in San Juan, Puerto Rico. There he made the all-tournament team and helped the Dominican Republic prevail.

In 1999, Beltré appeared in 152 games for the Dodgers and hit a moderate .275 with 15 homers. During spring training, he had informed his agent, Scott Boras, that he was 19 years old rather than his listed age of 20. Realizing Beltré was underage when he first signed with the Dodgers, Boras initially offered to drop the matter if the club offered compensation. When the team refused, Boras pushed Major League Baseball to allow his client to become a free agent, as other Latin-born players who were signed too early had. After an investigation, Commissioner Bud Selig ruled that Beltré – despite his denials – knew his birth year had been altered on certain documents. Beltré was ordered to remain with the Dodgers but awarded the difference between the signing bonus he received and what he could have made one year later ($48,000). Selig also fined the Dodgers $50,000, shut down their Dominican baseball operations for one year, and suspended scouts Ávila and Peguero.24

Beltré joined the San Pedro de Macorís-based Estrellas Orientales for the last eight regular season Dominican League games in 1999-2000. In 25 playoff contests, he notched 29 RBIs and batted .300 with seven homers, including three in the seven-game final series. The Estrellas lost to the Aguilas, but Beltré was named the finals MVP anyway.25

In 2000, Beltré increased his production to a .290 batting average with 20 homers and 85 RBIs for the Dodgers. Still just 22, he seemed primed to take an even bigger leap the next season. Instead, he ran into a strange and life-threatening wall.

That winter, Beltré underwent a botched appendectomy in the Dominican Republic, resulting in a serious infection and additional surgery. He was flown back to Dodgertown in Vero Beach in February 2001 and struggled through a slow recovery. He lost 15 pounds and was attached to an IV bag until nearly March. “When they opened me up, my appendix had already burst,” Beltré recalled. “You can’t even imagine how close I was to death. It was the scariest time in my life, by far.”26

Beltré made his season debut in early May but never got it going. He finished the season with a .265 batting average and a .310 OBP. Whether owing to the debilitating infection or not, Beltré’s woes continued to haunt him over the next two seasons. He scuffled to a .257 batting average in 2002, and bottomed out at .240 in 2003, with a disappointing .290 OBP (both career-lows as a full-timer).

The Dodgers grew impatient, and criticisms of Beltré’s play went public. It was written in the Los Angeles Times that “he was a ‘5 o’clock hitter,’ incapable of translating batting-practice power into games. He allowed emotion to overwhelm him.” As Beltré later recalled, “They also thought I was going to get fat.” (He was listed at 5-foot-11, 220 pounds later in his career.27) Heading into his contract year, a rumor percolated that offseason that Beltré might be dealt to the Yankees to replace Aaron Boone. The talks died when New York acquired Alex Rodríguez instead.28

With everything to prove, Beltré enjoyed an uncharacteristically hot start in 2004, batting .478 with three homers in the season’s first week. He had been a .227 and .247 career hitter in May and June, respectively, up to that point, but he kept producing as the calendar progressed. Beltré entered the break with 22 home runs (one off his previous career-high) and a .315 batting average, but he was left off the All-Star team in favor of Scott Rolen and Mike Lowell. “If Belly can continue with the hot start,” said teammate Shawn Green, “he’ll be able to really relax and do what he does in the second half of the season.”29 That’s exactly what happened.

After the snub, Beltré got even hotter. By season’s end, his.334/.388/.629 (1.017 OPS) slash line established career highs across the board. He also achieved personal bests in homers (a NL-leading 48), RBIs (121), runs scored (104), hits (200), and fielding percentage (.978). In September, the Dodgers clinched their division to end the franchise’s longest postseason drought (eight seasons) since they’d relocated from Brooklyn in 1958. Beltré was named the National League Player of the Month. “Remember when the Dodger fans chanted ‘M-V-P’ for me last season?” Beltré asked the following year. “Every day during the last month? I was thinking those chants were better than the award itself.”30 As it happened, he garnered six first-place votes in MVP balloting but finished second to the Giants’ Barry Bonds, the only major leaguer to exceed Beltré’s 9.6 WAR.

The Dodgers were defeated by the St. Louis Cardinals in a four-game NLDS in which Beltré went 4-for-15 without an extra base hit.

Shortly thereafter, he became a prized free agent; on December 17, 2004, Beltré signed a lucrative five-year, $64 million deal with the Seattle Mariners. Not usually a major player in free agency, Seattle had lured one of the biggest fish to join a contending club that had won at least 91 games for four straight seasons. “The bottom line is, the Dodgers didn’t want to sign me,” Beltré said. “If they had only talked to me and told me their plan, I would have signed for less money to stay there.”31

Years later, Beltré reflected, “I wanted to stay [in LA] forever… Everything happened for a reason.”32 During his time with Seattle, that reason wasn’t entirely clear, as he sank back into obscurity with a team that missed the playoffs in each of his five seasons. In 2005, Beltré lost his ability to punish fastballs, and his numbers showed it. He batted .255 (his lowest mark since his rookie year) with 19 homers and a .716 OPS.

When Beltré made his first trip to Dodger Stadium as a visiting player on June 20, 2006, he slammed a first-inning home run. “I thought I was going to get booed more loudly than [I was],” he said. “I just went up there trying to get a good pitch and hit a line drive somewhere. I tried not to strike out. I didn’t want to get booed again.”33 Asked if he might have struggled as badly if he’d stayed in Los Angeles, Beltré replied, “Probably not.”34

Though he didn’t approach the heights he’d attained in 2004, Beltré improved to .268 with 25 homers in 2006, closer to his average production. His high points included a two-homer game against the Yankees in August, and a five-RBI performance against Kansas City in September. He continued to play his usual stellar defense at third. Still, given the expectations of a big contract and his new team’s consecutive fourth place finishes, Beltré’s time in Seattle was ranked “somewhere between disappointment and disaster” by Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times.35

In 2007, the Mariners enjoyed their only winning season during Beltré’s time with the team, finishing 14 games above .500. On May 28, Beltré tied a franchise record with four extra-base hits (two home runs and two doubles). Overall, he had his best season with Seattle: .276 with 26 homers and 99 RBIs. He also received some long overdue recognition when he was awarded his first Gold Glove.36

Beltré’s bat stayed consistent, but the Mariners regressed in 2008. Seattle finished fourth for the third time in four seasons while Beltré managed 25 homers but just 77 RBIs with a .266 average. On September 1, he hit for the cycle, and his defense was better than ever. Per Baseball-Reference, Beltré’s major league-leading 3.1 dWAR was the third-highest among third basemen in the 2000s. He received his second consecutive Gold Glove.

The 2009 season, the final one on Beltré’s contract, was painful. He was hitting .259 with only five home runs in 73 games when he underwent surgery to remove a bone spur from his non-throwing shoulder on June 30. Expected to miss up to eight weeks initially, he returned on August 4 looking like his old self, batting .390 over 41 at-bats. On August 12, however, a laser groundball kicked up and caught him in the groin. Beltré wasn’t wearing an athletic cup and suffered a ruptured testicle. “When I look down, after the game, it wasn’t a pretty sight,” he said. “My testicle got the size of a grapefruit. Thank God it didn’t really damage anything.”37

After a stint on the disabled list, he returned on September 1, still without a cup. “They say I’m crazy,” Beltré said. “But I say, if the ball’s going to hit me there every 11½ years, I’ll take my chances.”38 Egged on by Ken Griffey Jr., the Mariners’ public address system played The Nutcracker Suite before Beltré’s return at-bat.39 Overall, Beltré played only 111 games in 2009 and batted .265. The eight home runs he mustered were the lowest full-season total of his career.

Through the life of his contract with Seattle, Beltré averaged only 20 homers, a .266 batting average, and a mediocre .317 OBP. John McLaren, the Mariners’ manager for parts of two of those seasons, believed Safeco Field’s spacious dimensions “got in his head.”40 Beltré said he realized during his last years in Seattle that he needed to “stop taking everything so seriously…It was when I learned how to enjoy the game that my talent took off a little bit more.”41

With the Mariners, Beltré endeared himself to his teammates as a friend and inspiring leader. He and Seattle pitcher Félix Hernández developed a relationship that carried over the next decade. The day after Beltré recorded his 3,000th hit in 2017, for example, Hernández walked off the mound to wrap him in a hug at home plate.42

In December 2009, Beltré turned down the Mariners’ one-year, $12 million arbitration offer and chose to test free agency instead. The risk didn’t immediately pay off – it seemed that most clubs believed the 30-year-old third baseman’s best days were behind him. Beltré settled for a one-year, $9 million deal with the Boston Red Sox.43

With Boston, Beltré exploded for his highest batting average (.321), OBP (.365), homers (28) and RBIs (102) since his 2004 career season. With the help of the Green Monster at Fenway Park, he cranked a career-high and American League-leading 49 doubles. The Red Sox missed the playoffs, but Beltré was named to his first All-Star team, won his second Silver Slugger Award, and finished ninth in MVP voting.

Off the strength of his 2010 campaign, Beltré signed a six-year, $96 million contract with the Texas Rangers in January 2011. The Rangers were coming off the first World Series appearance in franchise history and hoped that Beltré’s veteran presence would get them over the top.

Part of the deal allowed Beltré to wear his preferred uniform number 29, which had belonged to outfielder Julio Borbón. Beltré also agreed to donate $100,000 per season to the Rangers Foundation, dedicated to improving the lives of the community.44

Rangers manager Ron Washington, a former big-league infielder, said Beltré’s hands were the key to his outstanding defense, explaining, “Beltré does a lot flat-footed, and it’s all in his hands. A line drive will get hit to him, and you’re going, ‘Dang it, he’s in the wrong position.’ And the ball will hit in his hands. He comes to a complete stop before he throws the baseball. That’s why he can throw that ball from all kinds of angles. You wouldn’t teach [Beltré’s] style of play. But he’s pretty dang good.”45

Beltré started the All-Star Game for the first time in his first year with Texas. But he strained his hamstring 10 days later and went on the disabled list for six weeks. When he returned in September, he won AL Player of the Month honors after homering 12 times in 15 games. The Rangers won a franchise record 96 games and clinched their division. Beltré completed his second straight stellar season, batting .296 with 32 homers and 105 RBIs.

In Beltré’s first trip to the playoffs in seven years, he sealed Texas’s ALDS triumph over the Tampa Bay Rays by homering three times in a 4-3 victory in the clinching Game Four. Although six players before him had gone deep three times in a postseason contest, Beltré became the first to do it in a game that his team won by one run.46 He batted a light .222 in the ALCS against the Detroit Tigers, but his RBI single off Max Scherzer gave the Rangers a lead that they never surrendered in the decisive Game Six.

Next, the Rangers met the St. Louis Cardinals in a classic seven-game World Series. Beltré hit safely in five of the first six contests, including a four-hit performance in Game Three. In Game Five, Beltré secured his place as a Rangers legend by hitting what is arguably the most iconic home run in franchise history.47 With the series tied and his team down, 2-1, with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Beltré went down on one knee and launched an 0-1 pitch from Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter over the left field fence. The homer tied the game and ignited the Rangers’ 4-2 victory. Unfortunately, St. Louis won the next two games to capture the title. Beltré went 0-for-3 in the Rangers’ 6-2 defeat in Game Seven.

Beltré took the loss personally. “I’m trying to get over it,” he said that winter while accepting his third Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards. “It’s hard. Hopefully, when I get to spring training, it’ll be all gone.”48

In 2012, Beltré extended his consistency. Fans voted him an All-Star Game starter, and he clobbered 36 homers, drove in 102 runs, and batted .321. On August 12, Beltré’s seventh-inning single off Twins reliever Kyle Waldrop completed his second career cycle. Beltré earned his fourth Gold Glove and finished third in MVP voting. The Rangers won 93 games but finished second to Oakland and lost the inaugural Wild Card game to the Baltimore Orioles.

After being afforded relative anonymity in Seattle, Beltré became a household name in Texas as the baseball’s social media universe developed and his myriad of personality quirks became apparent. Most notably, it became known that Beltré had a serious aversion to having his head touched. “I’ve never liked people touching my head, not even my kids,” he explained in 2012.49

As clips and gifs surfaced of his teammates – especially Elvis Andrus – playing the part of mischievous little brother and playfully touching his head, Beltré’s reputation as an idiosyncratic elder statesman grew. “Like a great silent-film performer,” The New Yorker wrote, “Beltré told entire stories with simple facial expressions – incredulity, disgust, disappointment, or an angry stare that would occasionally break into a secret smile, as if the game of baseball were an extended private joke inside his own head.”50

Beltré also became known for his violent swings that spun him into pretzels, sometimes knocking off his helmet, and other times resulting in home runs while down on one knee. He also had a playful rapport with teammates and opposing players alike. When Victor Martínez hid Beltré’s helmet before a game, Beltré joked, “I thought about killing him…but I have a family, so I didn’t.”51

Beltré’s antics became the stuff of legend, and he never ceased adding new acts to the list. He made highlight reels by throwing his glove at a ball that screamed past him down the line52, swatting Miguel Cabrera in the midsection when he dared go for his head53, and dragging the on-deck circle after being warned by the umpire to stand on it. For the on-deck incident, the umpire ejected him. “I wasn’t being funny,” Beltré said. “He told me to stand on the mat, so I pulled the mat where I was and [stood] on it. I actually did what he told me. I was listening.”54

On the field, Beltré remained a model of consistency from 2013 to 2016, averaging .307 with 25 homers and 89 RBIs. He led all third basemen in hits and batting average during that period. In 2014, he made his fourth and final All-Star appearance and won his fourth Silver Slugger. In 2016, he led all third basemen in defensive runs saved and captured his fifth Gold Glove.

On May 15, 2015, Beltré became the fifth third baseman in MLB history to hit 400 homers55 when he took Bruce Chen deep to dead center during an 8-3 Rangers loss. The team unfurled a congratulatory banner in the outfield. “I don’t like those situations but it was nice for the fans,” Beltré said. “The banner was nice, too, but would have felt a lot better if we won the game today.”56 That summer, Beltré’s fifth-inning home run off Mike Fiers on August 3 clinched his third career cycle – a feat that hadn’t been accomplished in 82 years.57 After the game, Beltré joked, “When you’re fast like me, it’s not that difficult.”58

Prior to the 2016 season, the Rangers tacked two additional years (each valued at $18 million) onto the end of Beltré’s original contract, taking him through 2018 with the club.

Beltré entered 2017, his 20th big-league season, just 55 hits shy of 3,000. On July 4, he became the 17th player ever to collect 600 career doubles. Three days later, he became the 21st player to amass 5,000 total bases. Finally, on July 30, Beltré laced a line drive into left field off Orioles’ starter Wade Miley for his 3,000th hit, becoming the first Dominican-born player to reach the milestone.

One of the few disappointments that Beltré experienced in 2017 occurred on the Players Weekend of August 25-27, when nicknames were permitted on the backs of uniform jerseys. Because of copyright issues, Beltré was not allowed to use “Kojak,” the nickname his uncle gave him in tribute to the baldheaded 1970s television detective played by Telly Savalas. Instead, Beltré’s uniform featured the shortened “El Koja.”59

Beltré showed signs of wear in 2018 as the Rangers entered a rebuild, batting .273 in 119 games, with 15 home runs (his lowest totals for Texas). In November, at age 39, he announced, “After careful consideration and many sleepless nights, I have made the decision to retire from what I’ve been doing my whole life, which is playing baseball, the game I love.”60

Over 21 seasons, Beltré batted .286. As of 2022, his 1,707 RBIs and 3,166 hits remain major-league records for third basemen.61 At that position, only Hall of Famers Mike Schmidt and Eddie Mathews produced more WAR or hit more homers than Beltré’s 477. Brooks Robinson is the lone player to participate in more double plays or appear in more games at the hot corner.

Beltré joined the Rangers after he turned 30 years old and became one of their greatest and most popular players ever.62 Rangers General Manager Jon Daniels said, “Adrian is one of the best people I’ve had the opportunity to work with. He stands out as much off the field as he does on it.”63 In June 2019, the team retired Beltré’s number. Three years later, he was inducted into the Rangers Hall of Fame.

Even outside of baseball, Beltré is adored. In 2018, the Dallas News named him a finalist for Texan of the Year64 and the Fort Worth Zoo named a baby giraffe ‘Beltré.’65 Madison Kocian, a 2016 Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics, was born the same year that Beltré made his big-league debut. She spoke for many of her fellow native Texans when she commented, “Beltré is probably my number one because I’m a huge Rangers fan, so he’s always been an inspiration for me…he’s dealt with a lot of injuries…he’s fought through them, and he’s just a team player overall, so I’ve looked up to him for a long time.”66

Beltré married Sandra Pérez in 2003 and the couple has three children: Cassandra, Adrian Jr, and Camila. Adrian Jr. was getting attention67 as a professional prospect in 2021 when he was 15, the same age his dad was when he first signed with the Dodgers.

Although he moved his family to Pasadena, California, Beltré’s pride remained with his homeland. He played for the Dominican Republic in the first World Baseball Classic in 2006 and made the all-tournament team.68 In 2017, he represented his country in the WBC again. In 2021, Beltré went back to the baseball stadium where he used to play at Hogar Escuela Santo Domingo Savio. He provided the financial resources for its reconstruction. In his dedication speech, Beltré said in Spanish, “This is a special place for me. I hope the children enjoy it, that they take care of it because I want this to be the place where you see your future and have an idea of where you can go…”69

After watching the newborn that he once held grow into a superstar, Felipe Alou said, “This is a man that should be an example. We are a very small country where everybody knows everybody. Everybody knows the kind of man and player he is. Serious about his trade, his profession.”70 While Beltré’s path to Cooperstown wasn’t as obvious as it might seem, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot in 2024. He’s revered as much for his on-field performance as his enormous heart and delightful quirks.

Last revised: January 23, 2024

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Malcolm Allen and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Henry Kirn.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Retrosheet.org, and Shrpsports.com.

Adrian Beltré’s Dominican League statistics from https://stats.winterballdata.com/players?key=341 (Subscription service. Last accessed June 29, 2022).

Notes

1 Ian Crouch, “Why Adrian Beltré, A Great Baseball Weirdo, Was My Favorite Player,” The New Yorker, November 20, 2018.

2 Matt Johnson, “MLB players react to Adrian Beltré’s retirement,” Sportsnaut, https://sportsnaut.com/mlb-players-react-to-Adrian-Beltrés-retirement/, November 20, 2018.

3 Johnson, “MLB players react to Adrian Beltré’s retirement.”

4 Gerry Fraley, “Flashback: From holding him as a baby to watching him chase 3,000, Felipe Alou knows Adrian Beltré,” Dallas Morning News, November 20, 2018.

5Joe Posnanski, “The Baseball 100: No. 52, Adrian Beltré,” The Athletic, February 4, 2020.

6 Rafael Hermoso, “Beltré’s All-Around Ability Finally Comes to Light,” USA Today (McLean, Virginia), August 31, 2004: C6. Marc J. Spears, “Beltré is Sight for Sore Eyes,” Daily News (Los Angeles, California), June 25, 1998: S10. The latter source says that Beltré’s father had been a minor-leaguer in the St. Louis Cardinals organization, while the former identifies him as a former third baseman/outfielder for the Dominican League’s Leones del Escogido. However, there is no statistical evidence that Bienvenido Beltré appeared in any official games.

7 Rebecca Lopez, “Adrian Beltré, 1st Dominican-born player to record 3,000 hits, reflects on baseball beginnings,” KHOU, July 20, 2017.

8 Fraley, “Flashback: From holding him as a baby to watching him chase 3,000, Felipe Alou knows Adrian Beltré.”

9 Lopez, “Adrian Beltré, 1st Dominican-born player to record 3,000 hits, reflects on baseball beginnings.”

10 Ramón Rodríguez, “De El Café de Herrera Salió Beltré,” Listín Diario (Dominican Republic), August 2, 2017, https://listindiario.com/el-deporte/2017/08/02/476549/de-el-cafe-de-herrera-salio-Beltré (last accessed July 2, 2022).

11 Mike Berardino, “Can’t Dodge Destiny,” Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida), March 5, 1999: 9C.

12 Rodríguez, “De El Café de Herrera Salió Beltré.”

13Jonah Keri, “The Often Under-Appreciated Adrian Beltré,” Grantland, https://grantland.com/the-triangle/the-often-underappreciated-Adrian-Beltré/, September 4, 2013.

14 Fraley, “Flashback: From holding him as a baby to watching him chase 3,000, Felipe Alou knows Adrian Beltré.”

15 John Sickels, “Adrian Beltré Prospect Retro,” SB Nation, July 9, 2005, https://www.minorleagueball.com/platform/amp/2005/7/9/23459/18509 (last accessed July 2, 2022).

16 Marla Rivera, “Adrian Beltré on his transition to the big leagues,” ESPN.com, https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/19707372/rangers-star-Adrian-Beltré-english-lessons-latino-fans-pickles, June 23, 2017.

17 Adrian Beltré Stats & Scouting Report, Baseball America, https://www.baseballamerica.com/players/12719/Adrian-Beltré/

18 Adrian Beltré Stats & Scouting Report, Baseball America.

19 “1998 Baseball America MLB Prospect Rankings,” Baseball Cube, https://www.thebaseballcube.com/content/prospects_mlb/1998~BA/ (last accessed July 2, 2022). The only players ahead of Beltré were Athletics outfielder Ben Grieve and Paul Konerko, a Dodgers’ prospect who moved from third to first base in 1998.

20 Matt McHale, “Dodgers Bruised by Sheffield Incident,” Santa Cruz Sentinel (Santa Cruz, California), June 30, 1998: 14.

21 Chris Foster and Jason Reid, “Beltré Contributes Immediately,” Los Angeles Times, June 25, 1998: 10. 0

22 Lopez, “Adrian Beltré, 1st Dominican-born player to record 3,000 hits, reflects on baseball beginnings.”

23 Murray Chass, “Mets Take a Big Step Back to the Future,” The New York Times, November 12, 1998.

24 Murray Chass, “Dodgers Get to Keep Beltré, but Are Penalized,” The New York Times, December 22, 1999.

25 Adrian Beltré’s Dominican League statistics are from https://stats.winterballdata.com/players?key=341 (Subscription service. Last accessed July 3, 2022).

26 John Nadel, “Healthy Beltré Is Grateful,” AP News, March 2, 2002.

27 Andy McCullough, “To Dodgers, Adrian Beltré is the Hall of Famer who got away,” Los Angeles Times, June 12, 2018.

28 Posnanski, “The Baseball 100: No. 52, Adrian Beltré.”

29 Bruce Bolch, “Early Returns for Beltré Are Encouraging,” Los Angeles Times, April 12, 2004.

30 Bill Plaschke, “Beltré didn’t want to leave LA,” Los Angeles Times, February 28, 2005.

31 Plaschke, “Beltré didn’t want to leave LA.”

32 Matt Borelli, “Rangers’ Adrian Beltré Reveals He Wanted To Remain With Dodgers Organization ‘forever’,” Dodger Blue, https://dodgerblue.com/rangers-Adrian-Beltré-wanted-remain-dodgers-organization-entire-career/2018/06/13/, June 13, 2018.

33 Shaikin, “Beltré Looks Right at Home,” Los Angeles Times, June 21, 2006.

34 Shaikin, “Beltré Looks Right at Home.”

35 Bill Shaikin, “Beltré Looks Right at Home.”

36 Between 1998-2007, Beltré had the second highest dWAR (11.2) amongst third basemen and the 10th highest all players at any position.

37 Ryan Hudson, “Despite Grapefruit-Sized Testicle, Beltré Still Does Not Wear a Cup,” SBNATION, https://www.sbnation.com/2010/3/3/1335540/Adrian-Beltré-testicle-cup-red-sox, March 3, 2010.

38 Hudson, “Despite Grapefruit-Sized Testicle, Beltré Still Does Not Wear a Cup.”

39 Adrian Beltré, Baseball-Reference Bullpen.

40 Tyler Kepner, “Rangers’ Adrian Beltré Plays Third Base Like No One Else,” New York Times, August 31, 2012.

41 Efrain Ruiz Pantin, “The Joy of Adrian Beltré,” La Vida Baseball, November 20, 2018

42 Whitney McIntosh, “Felix Hernandez congratulated Adrian Beltré on 3,000 hits in the middle of an inning,” SBNATION, https://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2017/7/31/16073928/felix-hernandez-congratulates-Adrian-Beltré-middle-of-inning-hugz-on-hugz (last accessed August 10, 2022)

43 “Red Sox reach deal with Beltré,” ESPN.com, https://www.espn.com/boston/mlb/news/story?id=4795915 (last accessed August 10, 2022).

44 Richard Durrett, “Free Agent Adrian Beltré, Texas Rangers agree to 6-year deal,” ESPN.com, https://www.espn.com/dallas/mlb/news/story?id=5991829, January 5, 2011.

45 Joe Christensen, “The Top of His Game; The Best Third Baseman in Baseball?” Star Tribune (Minneapolis), July 24, 2011: C7.

46 Adrian Beltré, 2018 Topps Tribute baseball card.

47Joshua Carney, “Reliving Memorable Rangers Moments: Adrian Beltré Goes Yard From One Knee in in 2011 World Series,” Fan Nation, https://www.si.com/mlb/rangers/news/rangers-Adrian-Beltré-home-run-one-knee-2011-world-series, March 24, 2020.

48 Gerry Fraley, “Adrian Beltré ‘still trying to get over’ World Series,” Dallas Morning News, January 12, 2012.

49 “2012 MLB All-Star Game: Adrian Beltré’s Biggest Fear,” Youtube, uploaded by Secret Base, July 10, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YurfBBLq-IE.

50 Crouch, “Why Adrian Beltré, A Great Baseball Weirdo, Was My Favorite Player.”

51 Stephanie Apstein, “Future Hall of Famer is missing one thing: a ring,” Sports Illustrated, March 29.2016.

52 Rodger Sherman, “Adrian Beltré throws glove at ball, has had just about enough of Carlos Gonzalez,” SBNATION, https://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2014/5/6/5689778/Adrian-Beltré-throws-glove-at-ball-has-had-just-about-enough-of, May 6, 2014.

53 Evan Grant, “Adrian Beltré on Miguel Cabrera’s head pat: ‘I can’t say anything about the best hitter in the league,’” The Dallas Morning News, May 24, 2014.

54 Sam Butler, “Adrian Beltré was asked to go back to the on-deck circle, so he dragged it to where he was instead,” Cut 4, https://www.mlb.com/cut4/Adrian-Beltré-moved-the-on-deck-circle-to-where-he-wanted-it-to-be-and-was-eject, July 27, 2017.

55 Eddie Mathews, Mike Schmidt, Darrell Evans, and Chipper Jones are the others.

56 “Adrian Beltré of Texas Rangers hits 400th career HR,” ESPN.com, https://www.espn.com/dallas/mlb/story/_/id/12895412/Adrian-Beltré-texas-rangers-hits-400th-career-hr, May 15, 2015.

57 John Reilly, Bob Meusel, and Babe Herman were the others. Trea Turner and Christian Yelich have since joined them.

58 T.R. Sullivan, “Beltré joins elite club with third cycle,” MLB.com, https://www.mlb.com/news/Adrian-Beltré-hits-for-cycle-for-third-time-c140986632, August 3, 2015.

59 Joseph Myers, “Copyrights to Keep Three MLB Participants From Using Preferred Nicknames During Players Weekend,” Promo Marketing Magazine, August 24, 2017, https://magazine.promomarketing.com/article/copyrights-keep-three-mlb-participants-using-preferred-nicknames-players-weekend/ (last accessed July 3, 2022).

60 “Statement from Adrian Beltré,” MLB.com, https://www.mlb.com/press-release/statement-from-Adrian-Beltré-300952152, November 20. 2018.

61 For players who played at least 30% of their games at third base.

62 Chris Halicke, “Texas Rangers All-Time Team: Position Players,” Fan Nation, https://www.si.com/mlb/rangers/news/texas-rangers-all-time-team-position-players, April 24, 2020.

63 T.R. Sullivan, “Beltré steps away after legendary career,” MLB.com, https://www.mlb.com/news/Adrian-Beltré-announces-retirement-c300949902, November 20, 2018.

64 Dallas Morning News Editorial. “Texas of the Year finalist Adrian Beltré brought a love of baseball to Texas Rangers fans,” Dallas Morning News, December 23, 2018.

65 Patrick Basler, “Fort Worth Zoo names baby giraffe Beltré and baseball got a lot cuter,” SBNATION, https://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2017/7/31/16069586/fort-worth-zoo-baby-giraffe-name-Adrian-Beltré-3000-hits, July 31, 2017.

66 “Texas of the Year finalist Adrian Beltré brought a love of baseball to Texas Rangers fans.”

67 Tyler Henderson, “Baby Beltré fits nicely into the Texas Rangers’ long term plans,” Nolan Writin’, January 7, 2022.

68 “2017 WBS MVP and All-Tournament Team Announced,” MLB.com, March 23, 2017, https://www.mlb.com/press-release/2017-wbc-mvp-and-all-tournament-team-announced-220520420 (last accessed July 3, 2022).

69 “Adrian Beltré inaugurates the remodeling of the Domingo Savio home school,” El Nuevo Diario (República Dominicana), December 6, 2021.

70 Fraley, “Flashback: From holding him as a baby to watching him chase 3,000, Felipe Alou knows Adrian Beltré.”

Ryan James Howard was born on November 19, 1979, in St. Louis, Missouri, to Ron and Cheryl Howard. Ryan and his twin brother, Corey, were the second and third sons in the family, born after their older brother, Chris. The family grew up in Wildwood, on the outer edge of St. Louis’ western suburbs. Ron Howard described their home as a mix of Southern values and middle-class aspiration. Ryan’s dad was a manager for IBM, and his mom worked in marketing. Neither parent was a standout athlete. “I could play everything, just not well,” said Ron.1

Ryan and his twin brother were inseparable throughout their childhood, playing the same instruments and participating in the same sports, eventually even attending the same college and rooming together.2 Ron insisted on all of his kids being polite by saying “Yes, ma’am” and “Yes, sir” and learning essential life skills like driving a stick shift. When Ryan was two, his father walked in on him taking swings with a small bat while watching baseball on TV. “It was such a natural swing,” Ron said. “I knew he’d be some kind of baseball player. How far? I didn’t know. But that feeling came over me.”3

Ryan attended Lafayette High School, where he played football his sophomore and junior years, while also performing in the marching band as a trombonist. “Other than the sheer size of him I don’t think we understood what he would become athletically,” said his marching band director, Mark McHale. “As far as baseball goes, it wasn’t really something we knew much about.”4

Lafayette’s baseball coaches didn’t move Howard up to varsity until late in his sophomore season. He promptly slammed two home runs and drove in seven runs in his first game. In his senior year, at the urging of his mom, he quit football and put aside the marching band to focus on baseball. One of the team’s assistant coaches, Steve Miller, said, “We thought he had…flaws in his swing.”5 That may explain why no Division I school offered Howard a scholarship. However, with Miller’s help, Ryan connected with Southwest Missouri State’s head coach and made the team as a walk-on, with hopes to be put on scholarship after his freshman year at the Division I school.”6

Howard got a scholarship and much more, hitting .355 with 19 homers and 66 RBIs over 57 games. He was named the Missouri State and Missouri Valley Conference Rookie of the Year and a Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American for 1999. He finished his time at the school in the all-time top-10 in seven offensive categories. In the summer of 2000, he participated in the 29th annual USA vs Japan Collegiate All-Star series, batting .231 for Team USA.

Major league scouts saw a patient and powerful presence at the plate that resembled a left-handed Frank Thomas, though there were red flags around his strikeout totals. 7 Howard was selected in the 5th round of the 2001 amateur draft by the Philadelphia Phillies, signed by scout Jerry Lafferty.

For his first go at pro ball just weeks after being drafted, he was assigned to the short-season Class A Batavia (New York) Muckdogs of the New York-Penn League. Howard didn’t light the world on fire, but he showed the balanced approach that foreshadowed his best days as a pro. Over 203 plate appearances, he hit six home runs, drew 30 walks, batted .272, and drove in 35 runs.

Howard started 2002 with the Low-A Lakewood (New Jersey) BlueClaws of the South Atlantic League and as his playing time increased, so did his production. He hammered 19 homers and 87 RBIs, easily leading the team in both categories, and was named to the South Atlantic League All-Star team.

The following season, in High-A Clearwater (Florida), Howard got even better, slamming 23 homers to go with 82 RBIs, a .304 batting average, and an .889 OPS. He was selected to participate in the Futures Game during All-Star weekend and named the Florida State League MVP.

Howard began 2004 with Double-A Reading (Pennsylvania), where he hit 37 homers and drove in 102 runs in just 102 games before being moved up to the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania) Red Barons. His time in Reading was good enough for Eastern League MVP honors. “It was amazing,” Howard said of his time with Reading. “We were having a blast putting up stupid Nintendo numbers.”8 He went on to easily adjust to the higher level, hitting an additional nine homers and batting .270 over 29 games. That summer the Phillies offered to send Howard to the Pirates for Kris Benson in an effort to bolster their starting rotation. Pittsburgh turned the offer down believing it had a comparable prospect in Brad Eldred.9

Howard finished the season with a September call-up to the major league club, debuting in Philadelphia on September 1, striking out as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the 5th inning. His first hit came five days later, a pinch-hit single off Atlanta Braves starter Travis Smith. Howard hit his first major league home run on September 11th, in the 7th inning of Philadelphia’s 11-9 win over the New York Mets. Overall, in his first stint with the Phils he batted .282 with two homers in 39 at-bats.

Maintaining his rookie status ahead of the 2005 season, Howard was ranked 27th on Baseball America’s Top Prospects list. With future Hall of Famer Jim Thome entrenched as the starting first baseman, Howard didn’t break camp on the Opening Day roster. Instead, he stayed with the Red Barons, where he punished opposing pitchers to the tune of 16 homers, a .371 batting average, and 1.157 OPS over 61 games. He did make a 12-game cameo with the big club in May when Thome went down with a lower back strain, mostly coming off the bench as a pinch-hitter and chipping in a home run. With Thome sidelined again, Howard was called back up on July 2, this time for good. Over his next 76 games, he started 72 times, allowing the Phillies not to miss their veteran. Howard’s 22 home runs, 63 RBIs, and a .288 batting average, earned him the National League Rookie of the Year award.

The Phillies finished second in the National League East, missing the playoffs by two games. Howard was a key piece on a team filled with young talent, such as Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Bobby Abreu, Cole Hamels, and Shane Victorino, poised to compete for a championship.

That offseason, Philadelphia shipped Thome to the White Sox, officially handing the 2006 starting job to Howard. He homered off the Cardinals’ Chris Carpenter on Opening Day and, even though he didn’t go yard again until April 16, he caught fire from there, entering June with 18 home runs and 47 RBIs, earning a spot on the All-Star Team. While Ryan was 0-for-1 in the All-Star game, he won the Home Run Derby in Pittsburgh, edging David Wright by one homer.

In the second half, Howard picked up where he left off, belting 30 more home runs (58 overall) and adding 78 RBIs (149 total), leading the league in both categories, as well as total bases. On August 31, Howard launched a Pedro Astacio 2-2 pitch deep into the upper deck for his 49th home run of the season, breaking Mike Schmidt’s club record. For the season, he compiled seven multiple-home run games, including three home runs against the Atlanta Braves on September 3. Howard’s manager Charlie Manuel said, “This is the best season I’ve been around without a doubt.” Schmidt echoed the sentiment, “This is probably one of the top five offensive years in the history of baseball.”10 His team didn’t fare as well, finishing a disappointing 12 games behind the Mets and missing the playoffs once again. Howard was named the National League MVP, becoming just the second player (after Cal Ripken, Jr.) to win the MVP a season after winning the Rookie of the Year.11

With the steroid scandal at its peak, Howard started to carry the weight of being a “clean” slugger. “I don’t think it diminishes the credibility of all players,” Howard said referring to steroid users. “For the guys that haven’t done anything… it’s tough because we have to answer those questions and there is that cloud that does hang over us. I’ve always been that guy who never used steroids, never believed in it. It just felt like that’s not me going out there and playing the game.”12

With many of baseball’s best home run hitters, including the new all-time leader Barry Bonds (one of Howard’s heroes growing up13), tarnished by steroid allegations, fan interest in the game was diminishing. The popularity of the NFL and the NBA was soaring. African American fans in particular declined. The number of African American players in MLB had sunken to 9%, down from 19% from just ten years prior. Howard represented hope that young African Americans could have a role model to spark interest in coming back to America’s Pastime again. “You can’t worry about it because it changes all the time,” Howard commented about the decline in African American players. “Maybe a large number of (African-American) kids will return to baseball soon. You never know.”14 For his part, Howard conducted himself just as his dad taught, with a bright smile, cordial to fans and media alike.15

In four consecutive professional seasons, Howard took home two minor league MVP awards, a Rookie of the Year, and a major league MVP. In 2007, he added a playoff appearance to his resume, as the Phillies captured their first of five consecutive division titles. The team entered August 3.5 games behind the Mets, but a 13-4 run down the stretch coupled with New York’s collapse allowed the Phils to win the division by a single game. Howard faced inevitable regression, but only slightly as he still clobbered 47 homers and drove in 136 runs. He did, though, see his league-leading strikeout total rise to 199 (an MLB record at the time16) and his batting average sink to .268. On June 27, his 325th game in the Majors, Howard hit the 100th home run of his career, setting the MLB record for fewest games needed to reach the milestone.

In the NLDS, the Phillies were dispatched handily by the future National League champion Colorado Rockies. In his first taste of October baseball, Howard managed three hits over 12 at-bats, including a meaningless solo homer in a Game Two blowout loss.

With playoff experience under their belts, the Phillies’ core had the chemistry and growth to be taken seriously in 2008. Still, in a competitive division, most baseball writers saw them as a step behind the formidable Mets. Howard led the league again in home runs (47) and RBIs (146), but his other stats declined further to, at that point, career-lows, in batting average (.251) and OPS (.881). Once again, he struck out 199 times, this time not even leading the league as Mark Reynolds broke his prior year record with 205 Ks.

For most of the season, the Phillies found themselves in a dogfight with the Mets, entering mid-September two games behind. An 11-game stretch from September 11 through September 22, where they went 10-1, put the Phillies into first place to stay, and they finished the season winning the NL East by three games.

This time, Howard and the Phils weren’t stopped. After a quiet NLDS against the Milwaukee Brewers, whom the Phillies dispatched in five games, Howard came alive against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS. Howard had six hits and three walks over 23 plate appearances, including three hits in the Phillies’ series clinching 5-1 Game Five win. In the World Series, he fared even better as his team beat the Tampa Bay Rays in five games to capture the title. Howard’s best game came in Game Four, when he homered three times and drove in five runs during his team’s 10-2 route.

“When I think of 2008, I think of all the different personalities we had,” Howard recalled. “From Brett Myers to Jamie Moyer to Pat Burrell to Jayson Werth to Shane Victorino. We had so many personalities, but we had the one commonality that we wanted to win.”17 That offseason, Howard finished second in MVP voting to winner Albert Pujols, the third consecutive season he finished in the top-five.

Looking to repeat as champions, the Phillies were storming through the NL East with a healthy seven-game lead in 2009 when they landed defending Cy Young winner Cliff Lee at the trade deadline. Howard, named to his second All-Star team, had arguably his best season after his MVP campaign, hitting 45 home runs, driving in 141 runs, and lifting his batting average to .279. The Phillies marched back to the playoffs and easily dispatched the Rockies and Dodgers in four and five games, respectively. Howard was the catalyst in both series with six hits in the NLDS and another eight hits, including two home runs and eight RBIs, in the NLCS. For his work, he was named the NLCS MVP.

The Phillies matched up with the New York Yankees in the World Series, a battle of two league powerhouses. Howard’s bat went cold, as his team won the first game but dropped the next three. After the Phillies tightened the series with a Game Five win, Howard homered off Andy Pettitte in Game Six, but it wasn’t enough, as his team lost the game and the series.

Early in the 2010 season, the Phillies announced that they inked Howard to a contract extension worth $125 million over five years. He was previously under contract through 2012 and his new deal took him through 2016. “This is absolutely great,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “We signed Ryan Howard quite a few years ago and that means we’re keeping him. He’s one of our guys, he is a Phillie.”18 Over the prior four years, Howard had averaged nearly 50 home runs per season and been a catalyst for successful playoff runs. There were no obvious signs of slowing down.

Howard finished the first half of the 2010 season with 17 homers and 65 RBIs, good for his third, and final, All-Star selection. An ankle injury that landed him on the disabled list in August led him to his fewest games (143) since his rookie season. Still, he managed 31 homers and 108 RBIs along with a solid .276 batting average and .353 OBP. Even though his strikeout rate was the lowest of his career, his walk percentage dropped below 10 percent for the first time as well, keeping his strikeout to walk ratio troubling (157 strikeouts against just 59 walks).

The Phillies rolled to a 97-65 record, once again capturing the NL East division. They buzzed through the Reds with three straight NLDS wins but were stopped in six games against the eventual World Series champion San Francisco Giants. Howard didn’t homer in either series, but remained a steady presence at the plate, batting .273 and .318, respectively. He struck out looking against Brian Wilson in Game Six to make the final out of the NLCS.

The 2011 season played out much like 2010. Howard got into 152 games, slugged 33 home runs, and drove in 116 runs with a .253 average. His 286 home runs through his first eight seasons were, as of 2022, the fourth most all-time.19 The Phillies had assembled a pitching staff some considered the best ever, headlined by four aces in future Hall of Famer Roy Halladay, Cy Young winner Cliff Lee and multiple-time All-Stars Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels. “I think it can be as good as anybody’s rotation in the history of the game,” longtime Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone said.20 And they didn’t disappoint. The team marched to 102 victories and a Division Series matchup with the St. Louis Cardinals, who won 12 fewer games.

Things didn’t go as planned when the underdog Cardinals upended the favorites in five close games. Howard made the final out of the series in what became arguably the most pivotal moment of his career. With his team down 1-0 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning of the decisive Game Five, Howard roped a sharp ground ball to second base and crumpled to the ground as he began running to first base. After multiple attempts to get up and run, he went down again halfway to first as the Cardinals celebrated their series victory yards away. “I was trying to run, and I felt this pop and the whole thing went numb, like it was on fire,” Howard said after the game. “It literally felt like I had a flat tire. I tried to get up and I just couldn’t go.”21 He made the final out for the second straight year and this time added injury to insult by rupturing the Achilles tendon in his left leg, requiring immediate surgery.

The injury kept Howard sidelined until July 2012. He returned to the lineup with two hits against the Braves, but it went downhill from there. He was hitless over his next four games. During a stretch in late August, he went homerless over 47 plate appearances. Howard never rounded into form, posting career-worsts (to that point) in batting average (.219), OBP (.295), home runs (14), and RBIs (56). He hit his 300th home run on September 21st, the second-fastest in MLB history to ever reach that mark. Without Howard consistently mashing in the middle of their lineup, the Phillies missed the playoffs for the first time since 2006, dropping to 81-81, third in the division.

Howard played only nine more games in 2013 than 2012, and the results were hardly any better. He seemed poised for a bounce-back season while hitting .284 with 16 RBIs in April. In late May, though, Howard hurt his knee but insisted on trying to play through it. “You play hurt, you play injured to the best of your ability,” Howard said. “Guys go out and play hurt, play injured. That’s the part of your competitive nature.” Manuel supported him, stating, “We have to stay with him because like I’ve always said, he is a guy that knocks in all the big runs for us.”22 The hope didn’t pan out; the Phillies finally placed Howard on the DL with nagging knee inflammation in early July. Two days later, the club announced he would undergo surgery to repair a torn meniscus; he was done for the season, finishing with 11 home runs. In August, the Phillies fired Manuel as he struggled to steer an aging team riddled by injuries.

Off the field, Howard was in the midst a bitter fall out with his brother and parents. At the urging of his father early in his career, Howard hired his twin brother Corey to handle his business interests. “Ron Howard is the family patriarch,” Howard said. “When he gave orders…[i]t was considered wrong to disagree with him.” Corey and Ryan’s parents were employed by his business entity called RJH Enterprises. By late 2011, Ryan was concerned about whether his family members were truly protecting his interests. Ryan claimed the company paid his family over $2 million without his authorization and they refused to provide him access to RJH records. Ryan terminated his brother’s contract in July of 2013, which prompted Corey to sue for wrongful termination. Ryan counter-sued on the grounds of fraud and mismanagement. The matter was settled out of court in November of 2014.23

Howard was healthy again in 2014 and played in his most games (153) since 2009. Unfortunately, the results still didn’t justify the huge contract under which he now played. By mid-season, Howard was hitting barely above .200 with under 20 homers and a .300 OBP. The strikeout concerns that haunted Howard throughout even his productive seasons finally caught up as he accumulated 115 of his total 190 strikeouts before the All-Star break. Reports surfaced that the Phillies were considering releasing Howard to free their payroll from under the $60 million owed him over two more seasons.24 He ended the year with just 23 homers and 95 RBIs as the Phillies finished last.

Things went from bad to worse in 2015 when the Phillies again finished in last place, with the worst record (63-99) in all of MLB. Howard was no longer serviceable when facing left-handed pitching, against whom he slashed .130/.178/.240. Overall, he managed 23 home runs and 77 RBIs, but his .277 OBP was not only, to that point, the lowest of his career but the third lowest in all of baseball.

In December of 2015, Al Jazeera produced a documentary called “The Dark Side” about doping in sports. In the film, a pharmacist named Howard Sly told an undercover reporter that Howard, the Washington Nationals’ Ryan Zimmerman, and several NFL players were taking steroids. All the players vehemently denied the allegations. After an investigation, MLB cleared both Howard and Zimmerman.25 They sued Al Jazeera for defamation and long legal proceedings were still ongoing as of 2021.26

The following season was Howard’s last in the majors. He became a liability at the plate. Once rookie first baseman Tommy Joseph hit well enough, manager Pete Mackanin had no choice but to pull Howard’s starting job. Howard hit a career-worst .196 with a .257 OBP (also a career-low) over 112 games, including a stretch between April and May where he went 0-36 with 26 strikeouts on 1-2 or 0-2 counts.27 The Phillies finished 20 games under .500. That November, Howard became a free agent.

The Atlanta Braves signed Howard to a minor league contract in early April 2017. He was assigned to the Triple-A Gwinnett (Georgia) Braves of the International League where he hit .184 and just one home run before being released in May release. Not ready to give up on baseball, Howard said, “I just think there’s more I can do in this game.”28 Howard signed on with the Colorado Rockies in August and played for their Triple-A affiliate Albuquerque (New Mexico) Isotopes for 16 games. He finished the season batting .192 with three homers. In September 2018, he officially announced his retirement via an essay for The Players Tribune entitled “Thank You, Philly.” To Phillies fans he wrote, “Y’all took a chance on this big, quiet kid from St. Louis — and for that I’ll always be grateful.”29

After 2012, the year his $125-million five-year contract extension kicked in, Howard hit a total of 96 home runs, drove in 330 runs, and batted .226 with a .292 OBP. All of this against 636 strikeouts and just 169 walks. While the analytics community pointed to his worrisome underlying stats the moment he signed his massive contract, Howard’s decline felt to Phillies fans as sudden as his ascent to one of the greatest sluggers of his generation felt meteoric. The contract is regarded as one of the most unfortunate in the history of baseball.30

Still, Howard’s place as one of the greatest Phillies ever was assured31 by his dominant stretch from 2005-2011, where he captured not only individual accolades but led the city to a championship. During that span Howard slashed .275/.368/.560. He had the most RBIs in baseball, the second most home runs, and the fifth-highest slugging percentage. As of 2022, he remained the fastest player to reach 100 and 200 career home runs, and the second-fastest to 300.

Howard met Krystle Campbell, a former elementary school teacher and Philadelphia Eagles cheerleader, when both were in Tampa for Super Bowl XLIII. The pair married in Hawaii on December 1, 2012. Together they have three daughters, Ariana, Alexandria, and Amara. Howard also has a son, Darian, from a prior relationship. Ryan and Krystle have written six baseball-themed children’s books together, called Little Rhino.32 “My wife was a second-grade teacher,” Howard commented. “We just always thought it’d be a good idea. Education was always big for both of us growing up.”33 Post-retirement, Howard became a partner in the venture capital fund SeventySix Capital, based out of Radnor, PA, which invests in innovative technologies and companies.34

Missouri State retired Howard’s No. 6 in 2010, making him the second Bear baseballer to have his number retired, after long-time coach Bill Rowe.35 In 2016, the school inducted Howard into its Hall of Fame.36 Also in 2010, the Lakewood BlueClaws retired Howard’s number while he played with them on a rehabilitation assignment.37

Through the first half of his career, Howard seemed headed to Cooperstown. But by the time Howard came onto the Hall of Fame ballot in 2021, he received only eight votes, falling out of consideration after just one year. In the second half of his career, unfairly or not, his legacy became a cautionary tale about overvaluing home runs and RBIs. For Phillies fans, his arrival sparked a near-decade long run of success in the City of Brotherly Love that included five division titles, two pennants, and a World Series ring. For six seasons, Howard was one of the most feared hitters in baseball and the love he gets from Philadelphia speaks to him being the heart of their dynasty.

Last revised: February 17, 2022

Acknowledgments

This biography was reviewed by Donna L. Halper and fact-checked by Paul Proia.

Notes

1 Michael Sokolove, “Ryan Howard, No Asterisk,” The New York Times, March 4, 2017.

2 David Murphy, “The family legal fight over Ryan Howard’s finances,” The Inquirer, November 19, 2014.

3 Sokolove.

4 Mike Sielski, “Father saw success coming,” The Daily Intelligencer (Doylestown, PA), October 28, 2009: 44.

5 Sielski.

6 Sielski.

7 Baseball America, Ryan Howard Scouting Report, https://www.baseballamerica.com/players/18800/ryan-howard/

8 Scarcella, Rich. “Ryan Howard reminisces about memorable 2004 season with Reading Phillies,” Yahoo! Sports, https://sports.yahoo.com/ryan-howard-reminisces-memorable-2004-034600081.html, August 12, 2021.

9 Dejan Kovacevic, “Inside the Pirates: The MVP that got away,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 18, 2007.

10 Stephen Miller, “Where Ryan Howard’s season ranks all-time is debatable, but there’s no doubt the Phillies first baseman is … ** Flirting with greatness,” The Morning Call (Allentown, PA), September 12, 2006.

11 He was later joined by Dustin Pedroia (2007 & 2008) and Kris Bryant (2015 & 2016).

12 Ryan Howard, “10 Questions for Ryan Howard,” TIME, March 12, 2009.

13 Howard.

14 Joe Giglio, “MLB’s African-American Superstars Discuss Jackie Robinson’s Impact,” Bleacher Report, https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2029246-mlbs-african-american-superstars-discuss-jackie-robinsons-impact, April 15, 2014.

15 Sokolove.

16 As of 2021, Howard’s 199 strikeouts were tied for 16th all-time.

17 Scarcella

18 “Phillies sign Howard through 2016,” ESPN.com, April 26, 2010.

19 Behind Ralph Kiner, Albert Pujols, and Eddie Mathews.

20 Jayson Stark, “Measuring Phillies’ rotation historically,” ESPN.com, December 14, 2010.

21 Ed Barkowitz, “Ryan Howard: “Achilles ‘felt like it was on fire’,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 8, 2011.

22 Ryan Lawrence, “Phillies Notebook: Howard taking it day by day,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 28, 2013.

23 Murphy.

24 Cork Gaines, “Ryan Howard’s Historic $125 Million Contract Has Turned into A Nightmare for The Phillies,” Business Insider, July 29, 2014.

25 Ken Belson, “Ryan Howard and Ryan Zimmerman Cleared of Doping Accusations,” The New York Times, August 19, 2016.

26 Michael McCann, “Ryan Zimmerman and Ryan Howard Implicated in Al Jazeera Court Filing,” Sportico, January 31, 2021.

27 Corey Sharp, “The Reason for Ryan Howard’s Decline Since 2010,” Phillies Nation, https://www.philliesnation.com/2016/05/signs-of-howards-decline-since-2010/, May 25, 2016.

28 Michael Bamberger, “Ryan Howard nears end with Phillies, but he’s not ready to retire just yet,” Sports Illustrated, September 29, 2016.

29 Ryan Howard, “Thank You, Philly,” The Players’ Tribune, https://www.theplayerstribune.com/articles/ryan-howard-philadelphia-phillies, September 4, 2018.

30 Seth Trachtman, “The worst contract in MLB history,” Yardbarker, https://www.yardbarker.com/mlb/articles/the_worst_contracts_in_mlb_history/s1__28002203#slide_2, November 21, 2019.

31 Martin Frank, “2 legends from 1970s top fans’ voting for top 10 Phillies players of all time,” Delaware Online, https://www.delawareonline.com/story/sports/mlb/phillies/2021/04/15/philadelphia-phillies-fans-rank-their-top-10-mike-schmidt-steve-carlton-1970-s-finish-1st-and-2nd/7226511002/, April 15, 2021.

32 Scarcella.

33 Scarcella.

34 Lindsay Berra, “Ryan Howard: A Big Piece to the future of SeventySix Capital,” Sports Business Journal, September 23, 2019.

35 MSU Athletics Hall of Fame, Ryan Howard, https://missouristatebears.com/honors/msu-athletics-hall-of-fame/ryan-howard/81.

36 MSU Athletics Hall of Fame.

37 Tom Hinkel, “Lakewood BlueClaws retire Ryan Howard’s No. 29, Lehigh Valley Live, https://www.lehighvalleylive.com/sports/2010/08/lakewood_blue_claws_retire_rya.html, January 3, 2019.

Jesse Lee Barfield was born on October 29, 1959, in Joliet, Illinois, roughly 30 miles southwest of Chicago. His mother, Annie J. Barfield, had just turned 18. “My father abandoned us and decided to marry another woman. So that’s when my mom met a man named Jesse who stepped in, and he and my mom started dating. I was actually named after him,” Barfield explained. “Everyone in my family told me that he was my dad.”1 Annie eventually married another man and had three more children: Darryl, Melanie and Eric. Annie divorced around the time Jesse became a teen and worked as a seamstress to support Jesse and his three siblings. “We made a tough situation great,” Jesse said. “I owe my mom a lot of credit because we didn’t actually know we were poor, I don’t think we were, I mean, we didn’t miss any meals.”2

The George Werden Buck Boys Club was Jesse’s home away from home. “It was a lifesaver for me,” he said.3 He perfected his ping pong skills enough to win some events and finish second in a city tournament. Basketball, shooting pool and swimming also kept him out of trouble. Despite pressure to root for either the Cubs or White Sox, he recalled, “I had heroes on both teams.”4 White Sox’ slugger Dick Allen was one, but Ernie Banks was his favorite. He watched Mr. Cub play every day on WGN-TV and imitated his batting stance. Jesse was 12 when he joined his first baseball team at the repeated prodding of his friend Rick, who urged him to try out for the Belmont Little League. He started as a shortstop and pitcher.5 Jesse’s passion for the sport developed quickly. On a Boys Club trip to Comiskey Park when he was 13, Barfield recalled, “We used to sit up in the right-field upper deck area…I told the guys, no joke, ‘Man, one day I’m going to playing right out there. You watch.’”6 They laughed.

Jesse played Pony League and Colt League ball in Ingalls Park, and made both the basketball and baseball teams at Joliet Central High School. As a junior, he ripped a game-winning double off Joliet Catholic pitcher Bill Gullickson.”7 Since Gullickson would be the number-two overall draft pick the following year, scouts from a handful of big-league teams witnessed it, including Bobby Mattick –who joined the expansion Toronto Blue Jays a few months later. “Bobby liked the way Jesse swung the bat,” recalled scout Al LaMacchia. “The ball he hit was a double that put a hole in the wooden fence.”8 After Barfield earned first team All-American honors as a senior, the Blue Jays selected him in the ninth round of the 1977 June Amateur Draft.

Toronto offered $2,500, but Barfield had other options. He’d won a statewide drafting contest and earned a scholarship to study architectural drawing at Bradley University in Peoria.9 After the Blue Jays tripled their bonus offer, he signed with scout Bob Engle.10 Jesse bought his mother a new Ford Thunderbird.11

He debuted with Utica (New York) in the short-season, Single-A New York-Pennsylvania League in 1977. Jesse’s mom drove him to the Rawlings Adirondack factory 35 miles away in Dolgeville and loaded him up with two dozen customized bats.12 Barfield’s first professional homer was a game-winning, three-run shot, but he went deep only five times in 70 games and batted .226.13 “The first time I saw a slider in the rookie league, I couldn’t hit it,” he recalled. “I just made a half-swing.”14 That fall in the Florida Instructional League, the Blue Jays opened up his stance to help him track the ball better.”15

Barfield’s first full-length season was 1978 with Dunedin in the Single-A Florida State League, where chronic losing in front of small crowds made baseball feel more like a job.16 In 133 games, he produced only two home runs and a .206 batting average while striking out a league-high 125 times. “You’re not going to do well every day,” he reflected. “If you can’t accept this game the way it is, then you might as well get into something else.”17 Barfield’s throwing arm was already big-league, as evidenced by his circuit-best 22 outfield assists. “I believe my fielding is what kept me in the game until I learned how to hit,” he said.18

In 1979, Barfield led the Kinston (North Carolina) Eagles of the Single-A Carolina League with 37 extra-base hits and raised his average to .264 in 136 games. The Blue Jays added him to their 40-man roster. He became an offseason resident of Houston, where his mother had moved for work.19

Toronto had a Double-A affiliate for the first time in 1980, and Barfield hit the first home run in the history of the Knoxville Blue Jays.20 Despite missing the last three weeks with a broken thumb, he paced the Southern League team with 14 homers, 65 RBIs, and 63 runs scored in 124 contests.21 Barfield healed in time for winter ball in Colombia and returned wearing a gold pendant featuring the Blue Jays logo. 22 “The guys give me a lot of noise over it,” he admitted. “They say, ‘What you gonna do if you get traded?’”23

Billy Smith, Toronto’s player development director, encouraged him, saying, “You’re a can’t-miss if you keep the right attitude.”24 Barfield returned to Knoxville in 1981 and earned team MVP honors, batting .261 with 16 homers in 141 games.25 His all-around display included professional highs in triples (13), stolen bases (25), and a league-best 23 outfield assists.

The Blue Jays were on the road when they called Barfield up to the majors. He was to join the team at Comiskey Park, where his Boys Club friends had laughed at him. “After I called my mom first, you’d better believe I got on the horn to talk to those guys,” he said.26 For his debut on September 3, Barfield recalled, “I was so fresh that they had to staple my number to the uniform.27 He stroked an RBI single to center against lefty Steve Trout in his second at-bat and stole second base after reaching first base on a fielder’s choice in the seventh inning. In the series finale on September 6, Barfield blasted his first big-league homer off Britt Burns. He hit safely in his first eight contests and finished the season with a .232 average and two homers in 25 games, plus lessons from hitting coach and Hall-of-Famer Bobby Doerr. “Bobby talked to me about picking the right pitch, swinging at strikes,” Barfield recalled.28

That winter, Toronto GM Pat Gillick said he wanted Barfield to gain Triple-A experience in 1982.29 Barfield led the Venezuelan League’s Cardenales de Lara in RBIs despite coming home early after losing 18 pounds from a virus.30 He gained the weight back and more working out with a Nautilus machine.31 “He’s put on 10 pounds, and it’s all muscle,” Gillick remarked in spring training. Barfield’s Grapefruit League performance convinced manager Bobby Cox to make him Toronto’s Opening Day right fielder. “I just like everything I’ve seen about him,” Cox explained.32 “All Jesse needs is experience here. If he’s struggling with his bat, he’s still going to help you defensively.”33

Sharing outfield time with lefty Hosken Powell, Barfield batted .268 in 46 games before hyperextending his left knee diving and sliding onto Exhibition Stadium’s artificial turf to snare a line drive on June 3. After returning 10 days later, he hit .236 in 93 appearances.34 Barfield’s first homer of the season was a pinch-hit grand slam on April 24. During the final week of the season, he launched what he called “the longest hit I’ve ever had in my life” – a 450-foot blast off Minnesota’s Jack O’Connor.35 Overall, the rookie produced 18 homers in 394 at-bats to rank second on the Blue Jays.

Barfield also enjoyed a breakthrough year off the field. Though he’d never been a heavy drinker or a smoker, he described his early career priorities as “myself, money, and women” and said, “If you called me a no-good so-and-so, we were gonna throw down.” That changed when he became a committed Christian during a Bible study at the home of pitcher Roy Lee Jackson. “[Jackson] seemed to have this inner peace, whether he gave up one hit or nine runs, that I’d never seen before,”36 Barfield remarked. That summer, Jesse married Marla Travis, a Houstonian.

Their first child, Josh, was born that December in Venezuela, where Jesse slugged 12 homers in 44 games (including playoffs) for Lara.37 “I think eight of my 12 homers there were against right-handed pitchers,” he said.38 He platooned again in 1983 and kept working with hitting instructor Cito Gaston. “Cito was like a big brother to me,” Barfield said.39 “He took me from basically a pull hitter to a guy that can drive the ball to all fields.”40 Through July 21, however, Barfield was batting only .197. Jackson and centerfielder Lloyd Moseby encouraged him. “We kept [Barfield] up spiritually,” Moseby explained. “We didn’t even talk baseball because we knew he had all the ability.”41

On July 26, Barfield went deep in each game of a doubleheader against the White Sox, including his first career opposite-field homer. “That showed me something,” he said. “I can drive the ball the other way and be successful.”42 Beginning that night, Barfield batted .317 with 16 home runs in his final 56 games. Between August 29 and September 2, he went deep seven times in five days. He explained that he’d backed away from home plate slightly to give himself an extra split-second to extend his arms and drive the ball.43

By connecting for 27 homers in 388 at-bats during the Blue Jays’ first-ever winning season, he earned a two-year contract. He’d produced both a better slugging percentage and OPS against righthanders, so he wanted to play every day in 1984. “You’ve got to find a spot for me,” Barfield said. “I want to be an All-Star.”44 After a poor April, however, the 6-foot-1, 200-pounder wound up playing less frequently, starting fewer than half the games. Midway through a season in which Barfield batted .284 with 14 homers in 320 at-bats, Angels slugger Reggie Jackson said, “I’d compare Jesse Barfield to me, a guy who hits the ball a mile and strikes out a lot. The thing about Jesse, he doesn’t play enough. You’ve got to be up at that plate, learning.”45

After the Blue Jays dealt outfielder Dave Collins and shortstop Alfredo Griffin to Oakland for All-Star closer Bill Caudill that offseason, they told Barfield that right field was his to lose. “I didn’t like the sound of that, so I’ve got to go out and win it,” he said.46 On April 17, his sudden death homer against the Rangers lifted Toronto back to .500. The team moved into first place to stay during Barfield’s personal-best 16-game hitting streak in May. He finished the season batting .289 in 155 games, with 27 homers and a career-high 22 steals to become the first 20-20 player in franchise history.47 The Blue Jays made the playoffs for the first time, and the local writers voted him the club’s player of the year.48 Barfield went deep once and batted .280 in the ALCS against the Royals, but Toronto fell in seven games. It was to be his only postseason experience.

Though they’d started together the night of Barfield’s big-league debut, 1985 was the first year that George Bell, Lloyd Moseby, and Barfield were Toronto’s regular outfield trio. They soon became the AL’s top such unit. Bell, a hard-hitting Dominican, played left. Moseby, a speedy lefty, manned center. Barfield had the most power and defensive ability. “You can never play any better right field. It’s impossible,” insisted Cox.49 “There is little in baseball, there is little in any sport, to match the splendid thrill of watching Jesse Barfield make a play in right field and make one of his glorious throws to catch the runner at the plate,” wrote John Slinger in the Toronto Star.50 Barfield led all major-league outfielders with 22 assists and eight double plays in 1985.

Barfield and the Blue Jays started slowly under new manager Jimy Williams in 1986. “The pitchers try to find different ways to get you out,” Barfield observed. “They put you under a microscope looking for a weakness they can exploit.”51 Though pitching struggles doomed Toronto to a fourth-place finish, Barfield adjusted and belted 40 home runs to lead the majors. “I’m just trying to drive the ball,” he said. “And when I do that, the homers usually come on their own.”52 He played in his only All-Star Game that year at the Houston Astrodome, won the first of two straight Gold Gloves and edged Montreal Expos’ star Tim Raines to become the first Blue Jay ever honored as Canada’s Baseball Man of the Year.53

That summer, Barfield received a phone call from a woman who identified herself as his grandmother. She revealed that a neighborhood man he’d known growing up named Evell Kelly was his biological father. Jesse’s mother confirmed it. “I guess for many reasons she never wanted me to know,” Barfield said. He got to know Evell, and they shared a resemblance as well as outgoing personalities, but Jesse was already 26 when he learned the truth. “A father-son relationship is something I was deprived of,” he said.54

Barfield’s $1,525,000 salary for 1987 made him the highest paid non-pitcher in Blue Jays history at the time.55 By June 27, Toronto boasted the majors’ best record and he had gone deep 19 times. After combining with Bell to bash 71 homers the previous year, they’d hit 75 in 1987. “[Bell] hits the crowd pleasers, high and you have time to stand and cheer,” Barfield said. “Mine just jump. Usually line drives.”56 Barfield hit two-homers against the Rangers on consecutive Friday nights in early May, including a sudden-death shot off Mitch Williams. In June, he beat Baltimore with another walk-off. “The biggest thing about Jesse Barfield, as far as baseball, is his work habits. He does things with a purpose,” Jimy Williams noted. “He has no waste of physical or mental energy. And this is a young man just entering his prime.” Barfield often led the team’s Bible studies and chapel services. “Jesse is one of the greatest ball players I’ve ever played with,” said shortstop Tony Fernández. “He also has a wonderful heart, compassion.”57 Though it wasn’t publicized until fall, the Blue Jays inked Barfield to a three-year, $4.2 million contract that summer.58

The left wrist that Barfield had broken playing high school basketball was becoming increasingly troublesome, however. He needed seven cortisone shots to get through the 1987 season, making an estimated 20 since he turned pro. After the All-Star break, he managed only nine homers. “I couldn’t get on top of the ball,” he explained. Shortly after the Blue Jays lost their final seven contests to blow a three-and-a-half game lead and miss the playoffs, Barfield had wrist surgery to remove a bone chip and move a tendon. He also underwent an arthroscopic procedure on his left knee.59

On Opening Day 1988, Barfield was in the lineup, but persistent trade rumors had him heading to New York for Dave Winfield. When the Yankees visited for Toronto’s home opener, Barfield and his wife hosted Winfield for dinner, lobbying him to veto the proposed deal.60 Jesse and Marla’s baby, Jeremy, was due that summer, joining five-year-old Josh and three-year-old Jessica.

Barfield spent the second half of May on the disabled list with a swollen, inflamed wrist. “I messed up by trying to lift too many heavy weights,” he said. “I never let the tissue heal properly.”61 In the first half, he batted only .209 with seven homers. “I was trying to mend and play,” he said.62 As Toronto underperformed with a losing record into early September, trade rumors kept swirling around Barfield, including one that he started himself as a joke. “I felt like a scapegoat,” he said.63 “I wasn’t even 30, and I was being written off.”64 In July, he requested a deal, telling Toronto’s Globe and Mail, “I think the writing’s on the wall.”65 Barfield’s wrist improved enough for him to produce a .500 slugging percentage in the second half.

He was still a Blue Jay to begin 1989, but Williams platooned him with rookie Rob Ducey three weeks into the season. Barfield belted his franchise record 179th homer on Saturday night, April 29, in Anaheim. The next day, Toronto traded him to the Yankees.66 New York Vice President Syd Thrift said, “This should stop our opponents from pitching around Don Mattingly to get to somebody else.”67 With Winfield out for the season following back surgery, the Blue Jays received southpaw Al Leiter in return. While Leiter later developed into an All-Star for the Marlins and Mets, shoulder woes prevented him from winning any games for Toronto until 1993.

“I shed some tears leaving. But I know it’s the best thing for me,” Barfield said. Unlike the previous year, he was mentally ready and had decided with his wife that it was a great opportunity.68 The happiest Barfield of all was his son Josh, a big fan of Yankees left-fielder Rickey Henderson.

On May 17, Barfield suffered a mild concussion after crashing into the wall at the Oakland Coliseum.69 He missed a week and struggled through his first two-dozen games with New York. After studying old video, he realized that he was wrapping his bat too far around his head, lengthening his swing.70 Former Yankees manager Lou Piniella worked with him in June after noticing something about the Sadaharu Oh-like leg lift Barfield had adopted as a timing mechanism. “It made him turn his head off the ball,” noted Piniella.71

Barfield soon found his form, going deep twice in the last game of the first half, and lifting New York’s record over .500 with a three-run, walk-off shot in the first series after the All-Star break. “I heard a lot of negatives, but I like being a Yankee,” he said. In a 21-game span from June 13 to July 4, he gunned down 10 opposing baserunners. “I don’t mean to sound cocky, but I’ve been doing that my entire career,” he told reporters.72 Though the club finished in fifth place, Barfield’s defense and 18 homers in 129 games with New York convinced the club to sign him to a three-year contract worth $5.7 million.73

Heading into 1990, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner repeatedly called Barfield, “The best right fielder we’ve ever had,” which the press interpreted as a jab at Winfield.74 At Barfield’s suggestion, Steinbrenner hired four full-time batting practice pitchers to travel with the team.75 Winfield became a designated hitter and left fielder until he was traded to the Angels on May 11.

On April 26, Barfield achieved a milestone at Yankee Stadium. After blasting his 199th career home run in his first at-bat, he was robbed the next up by a leaping grab at the left-centerfield wall by Seattle’s Ken Griffey, Jr. After Barfield bashed a Randy Johnson pitch 20 rows into the seats for his 200th homer next time up, he told Mariners catcher Scott Bradley, “If [Griffey] catches that one, I’m checking his urine.”76

Commissioner Fay Vincent suspended Steinbrenner on July 30 after it was revealed that the owner had paid a gambler $40,000 to dig up dirt on Winfield.77 New York went on to lose more games (95) in 1990 than any club in Yankees history.78 “All the distractions really hurt us,” Barfield said. “All the news was off the field, and it was hard to concentrate on baseball.”79 Nevertheless, he led the team with 25 homers and 78 RBIs in 153 games.

As he had after the 1986 season, Barfield toured Japan with a major-league All-Star team. Based on conversations there with Oakland pitcher Dave Stewart and his own self-analysis, Barfield adjusted his workout routine to make his upper body less bulky and more flexible.80 His .291 April batting average in 1991 was the best of his career, but the Yankees continued to play losing baseball. In mid-May, he hurled a ball out of Yankee Stadium onto the nearby elevated subway tracks on River Avenue in frustration. Though Barfield’s batting average had fallen below .230 by July 13, New York had a winning record, and his defense and 17 homers prompted Yankees GM Gene Michael to insist, “Jesse is the best right fielder in baseball.” Barfield pulled a hamstring that night, however, and hurt the front of his left foot trying to play a few days later. Initially, the team thought it was a sprain, but it was diagnosed as a stress-type fracture that ended his season after only 84 games.81

Barfield began 1992 in right field but got off to a miserable start. He was batting only .141 when he slipped in the sauna on May 23 and dislocated a bone in his left wrist. He tried to play on June 17 but reinjured himself swinging. Arthroscopic surgery on June 30 didn’t help, so Barfield underwent a radical procedure in August in which two tendons were divided and woven through a hole in his ulna bone to provide stability. Doctors weren’t sure if he’d play again.82

In December, Barfield signed with the Japan Central League’s Yomiuri Giants for $1.7 million.83 His 1993 teammates included Moseby and teenage rookie Hideki Matsui. In 104 games, Barfield batted only .215 and whiffed 127 times in 344 at-bats, but his 26 home runs earned him an invitation to spring training with the Houston Astros in 1994. “I didn’t like sushi, but I liked Japan,” he said upon arriving at camp. “I gave up a long-term contract and guaranteed money over there, which should tell you how much this means to me.”84 Houston manager Terry Collins said, “If his hand is healthy, I think he will be our right fielder.”85 It wasn’t to be, however. Barfield missed the beginning of the exhibition season with a strained groin.86 Then he missed a week after an inside pitch clipped his thumb.87 The Astros released him before Opening Day, and Barfield’s 12-year major league career ended with a .256 batting average and 241 home runs in 1,428 games.

In 1995, Barfield joined the Astros as a first-base coach and outfield instructor. He spent the next two years as a hitting coordinator for Texas Rangers’ minor-leaguers. In 1998 and 1999, Barfield was the Seattle Mariners’ hitting coach under manager Lou Piniella. “I was impressed with his play on the field and his comprehension for being a total package. I’m talking about helping in the clubhouse and being an example for the rest of the kids,” Piniella said. “The enthusiasm he has, the love he shows for the game, that’s something you can’t teach.”88

Barfield retired to spend more time with his family. His oldest son, Josh, played four years in the majors as a second baseman with the Padres and Indians. Son Jeremy spent more than a decade in pro ball, peaking in Triple-A. Playing for Double-A Portland in 2017, he hit 27 homers, one of which was the first (and only one until 2021) to go over the center field wall at Hartford’s Dunkin’ Donuts Park.

In addition to appearing at fantasy camps, old-timer’s games, and baseball clinics, Barfield continues to work as a private hitting instructor and motivational speaker as of 2021. Through Sports Designs by Jesse Barfield, he creates customized furniture – desks with ballparks carved into them and lamps made out of bats, for example. He owns 21 design patents and was nominated to Who’s Who of American Inventors.89 “I could have opened a restaurant or a sports bar like a lot of players, but I wanted to do something unique,” he said.90

Since May 21, 2003, a bronze sculpture of Barfield, standing on one leg with his glove hand stretched upward, has greeted visitors to Silver Cross Field, the minor-league ballpark in Joliet, Illinois.91

Last revised: July 22, 2021

Acknowledgments

This article was reviewed by Paul Proia and David H. Lippman and fact checked by David Kritzler.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also consulted www.ancestry.com, www.baseball-reference.com and www.retrosheet.org. The author is grateful for feedback and clarifications contributed by Jesse Barfield in a phone conversion on February 5, 2021.

Notes

1 Jesse Barfield, Twitter post, October 20, 2019, https://twitter.com/jessebarfield29/status/1186054814205140992 (last accessed January 25, 2021).

2 Barry Davis, “Jesse Barfield: Outta the Park with Barry Davis,” August 6, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQX0GEn9Ksk (last accessed January 5, 2021).

3 Davis, “Jesse Barfield: Outta the Park with Barry Davis.”

4 Davis, “Jesse Barfield: Outta the Park with Barry Davis.”

5 Dave Bidini, “An Evening with Jesse Barfield,” May 5, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOB2P9pBJIQ, (last accessed January 5, 2021).

6 Eddie Mata, “Jesse Barfield Where are They Now in Sports Full Interview,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYmgT2A_6SQ&t=328s (last accessed January 5, 2021).

7 Jesse Barfield, Publicity Questionnaire for William J. Weiss, February 9, 1978.

8 Trent Frayne, “Play at Plate Sparks Jays,” Globe and Mail (Toronto), September 10, 1985: S1.

9 Kelly Whiteside, “Sports Desk, Please,” Sports Illustrated, October 19, 1992: 11.

10 Mata, “Jesse Barfield Where are They Now in Sports Full Interview.”

11 Davis, “Jesse Barfield: Outta the Park with Barry Davis.”

12 Davis, “Jesse Barfield: Outta the Park with Barry Davis.”

13 Barfield, Publicity Questionnaire for William J. Weiss.

14 Larry Millson, “Barfield’s Lost Step Will Get Winter Attention,” Globe and Mail, September 4, 1982: S4.

15 “Florida No Rest for Jay Coaches,” Globe and Mail, October 25, 1977: 38.

16 Allen Abel, “There Was Fun in Jay Fantasy,” Globe and Mail, September 24, 1981: S1.

17 Abel, “There Was Fun in Jay Fantasy.”

18 Larry Milson, “Will Mo Make It? Will Barfield Do it Again?” Globe and Mail, February 28, 1983: S4.

19 Jose De Jesus Ortiz, “Barfield Sons Make Mom and Dad Proud,” Houston Chronicle, August 12, 2011, https://www.chron.com/sports/astros/article/Baseball-notebook-Barfield-sons-make-mom-and-dad-1905489.php (last accessed January 25, 2021).

20 “First for Toronto,” The Sporting News, May 10, 1980: 39.

21 Paul Patton, “Blue Jays Call Up Three Farmhands,” Globe and Mail, September 1, 1980: S5.

22 Paul Patton, “Blue Jays Open Winter Season,” Globe and Mail, October 25, 1980: S4.

23 Abel, “There Was Fun in Jay Fantasy.”

24 Tommy George, “Barfield’s Great at Making Something Out of Nothing,” Ottawa Citizen, June 25, 1987: F4.

25 Paul Patton, “Two Minor Leaguers Join Jays in Chicago,” Globe and Mail, September 3, 1981: 48.

26 Mata, “Jesse Barfield Where are They Now in Sports Full Interview.”

27 Millson, “Barfield’s Lost Step Will Get Winter Attention.”

28 Mata, “Jesse Barfield Where are They Now in Sports Full Interview.”

29 James Golla, “Players Impress Blue Jays Official,” Globe and Mail, January 12, 1982: P44.

30 “Roster de Cardenales de Lara en la Temorada 1981-82,” http://www.pelotabinaria.com.ve/beisbol/tem_equ.php?EQ=CDL&TE=1981-82 (last accessed January 25, 1982).

31 Neil MacCarl, “Hustling Barfield a Big Asset to Jays,” The Sporting News, May 3, 1982: 31.

32 “Jesse Barfield is Lone Rookie in Jay Lineup,” Globe and Mail, April 5, 1982: S3.

33 Larry Millson, “Jays Master Basics in Beating Red Sox,” Globe and Mail, April 17, 1982: S3.

34 Millson, “Barfield’s Lost Step Will Get Winter Attention.”

35 Paul Patton, “Barfield’s Long Homer Sparks Jays’ 75th Win,” Globe and Mail, October 1, 1982: P18.

36 George, “Barfield’s Great at Making Something Out of Nothing.”

37 Jesse Barfield’s Venezuelan statistics from http://www.pelotabinaria.com.ve/beisbol/mostrar.php?ID=barfjes001 (last accessed January 26, 2021).

38 Milson, “Will Mo Make It? Will Barfield Do it Again?”

39 Jack O’Donnell, “Barfield Not Surprised by Firing,” Hartford Courant, May 16, 1989: D1.

40 Mata, “Jesse Barfield Where are They Now in Sports Full Interview.”

41 Kevin Boland, “Barfield’s Emotions Mixed after Heady Honor,” Globe and Mail, September 7, 1983: S3.

42 Neil MacCarl, “Old Lefty Hoodoo Big Threat to Jays,” The Sporting News, August 8, 1983: 12.

43 Boland, “Barfield’s Emotions Mixed after Heady Honor.”

44 Kevin Boland, “Barfield Eyes 40 Hrs and a Series,” Globe and Mail, March 1, 1984: 23.

45 Trent Frayne, “Reggie’s Todays Gone Tomorrow,” Globe and Mail, July 4, 1984: S1.

46 “Barfield a Regular Slugger,” Chicago Tribune, April 18, 1985: C2.

47 Nine days after Barfield achieved the feat on September 23, George Bell became the second Blue Jays player to do it. Lloyd Moseby joined the club in 1986.

48 John Slinger, “Creating, Reporting Then Making Waves with the News,” Toronto Star, December 6, 1985: A6.

49 Neil MacCarl, “Barfield Raises Toast, Ignores Spill,” The Sporting News, December 16, 1985: 47.

50 Slinger, “Creating, Reporting Then Making Waves with the News.”

51 Neil MacCarl, “Mature Barfield Reaches a Power Peak with Jays,” The Sporting News, July 21, 1986: 21.

52 Murray Malkin, “40th HR Makes Fans’ Day,” Globe and Mail, October 4, 1986: C5.

53 “Blue Jays,” The Sporting News, March 30,1987: 32.

54 Tommy George, “Jesse Barfield Shocked That Friend is Father,” Toronto Star, June 24, 1987: C1.

55 Neil MacCarl, “Blue Jays’ Boom-Boom Boys Avoid Arbitration,” The Sporting News, March 2, 1987: 26.

56 Joe Donnelly, “Jesse Barfield’s Long Trip is Ending,” Los Angeles Times, May 13, 1989: 1.

57 George, “Barfield’s Great at Making Something Out of Nothing.”

58 “Barfield is Not a Free Agent; He Signed Three-Year Contract,” Baltimore Sun, October 10, 1987: 4B.

59 Neil MacCarl, “Jesse Barfield Suffers Agony of De Feet,” Toronto Star, February 20, 1988: B9.

60 Marty Noble, “Barfield Thrilled by New Address,” Newsday (Long Island, New York), May 2, 1989: 115.

61 Noble, “Barfield Thrilled by New Address.”

62 Mike Payne, “With Spring Comes a New Start,” St. Petersburg Times, March 4, 1989: 1C.

63 Payne, “With Spring Comes a New Start.”

64 Jim Donaghy, “Barfield Boosts Yankees’ Hopes,” Globe and Mail, June 4, 1991: D12.

65 Larry Millson, “Barfield Has Own Season of Quiet Turmoil,” Globe and Mail, August 1, 1988: C5.

66 George Bell hit his 180th home run for the Blue Jays later in the 1989 season. As of 2021, Bell and Barfield rank sixth and seventh in Toronto’s franchise history.

67 “Barfield Traded to Yanks for Leiter,” The Sporting News, May 8, 1989: 12.

68 Noble, “Barfield Thrilled by New Address.”

69 Marty Noble, “Concussion Leaves Barfield Befuddled,” Newsday, May 19, 1989: 162.

70 Donnelly, “Jesse Barfield’s Long Trip is Ending.”

71 Jack O’Connell, “Starting to Hit it Off,” Hartford Courant, June 20, 1989: C3.

72 Jim Brady, “Barfield Has Smoking Gun,” Newsday, July 5, 1989: 93.

73 “Yankees,” The Sporting News, July 24, 1989: 23.

74 “Yankees,” The Sporting News, November 13, 1989: 52.

75 “Yankees and Deion: A Parting of Ways?” The Sporting News, March 5, 1990: 20.

76 Mark Herrmann, “Ken Sr.: Mine’s Better,” Newsday, April 27, 1990: 156.

77 Kevin McCoy and Richard T. Pienciak, “The Boss Gets Benched,” Daily News (New York, New York), July 31, 1990: 4.

78 As of 2020, New York’s 95 losses in 1990 are the most in franchise history since the team became known as the Yankees in 1913. They lost 103 in 1908 and 102 in 1912 when they were known as the Highlanders.

79 “After the Storm: Kinder, Gentler Yanks,” The Sporting News, March 18, 1991: 43.

80 Jon Heyman, “Big Start for Smaller Jesse,” Newsday, May 4, 1991: 99.

81 Filip Bondy, “Injury to Barfield Leaves Yanks with Empty Feeling,” New York Times, July 30, 1991: B9.

82 Mel Antonen, “Barfield Adjusting to Ways of Japanese Ball,” USA Today, April 16, 1993: 4C.

83 “Barfield to Play in Japan,” New York Times, December 3, 1992: B20.

84 Jerry Greene, “Astros Have Hole Without Barfield,” Orlando Sentinel, March 13, 1994: C12.

85 Neil Hohlfeld, “The Right Choice,” The Sporting News, January 3, 1994: 29.

86 Neil Hohlfeld, “Barfield on Hold,” The Sporting News, March 14, 1994: 21.

87 Reid Creager, “Big Bad John,” The Sporting News, March 21, 1994: 17.

88 John McGrath, “Barfield’s Enthusiasm Still a Big Hit in Majors,” Globe and Mail, February 5, 1998: S10.

89 Bidini, “An Evening with Jesse Barfield.”

90 Kelly Whiteside, “Sports Desk, Please,” Sports Illustrated, October 19, 1992: 11.

91 As of 2020, the ballpark has been renamed DuPage Medical Group Field.