Ralph Kiner was an outstanding right handed swinging slugger, whose career was all too brief.
He signed with the Pirates, and after a three years in the minors (including one in Toronto in 1943) he was in majors by 1946, as baseball stars returned from the second World War.
The pitchers who returned encountered a big problem in Ralph. Although they did find some ways to cope with him.
In his rookie year, he hit 23 homeruns to lead the senior league. Now, he also led in strikeouts with 109, as well and batted just .247.
But the next year, Kiner really took off, belting 51 homeruns, upping his average to .313 and drove in 127 runs.
His slugging would continue for the next several years: 40, 54, 47, 42, 37 homeruns. Indeed, he led the league in homeruns his first seven seasons.
Traded, to the Cubs, he added 35 more, although he would finish a distant fifth to Eddie Mathews 47.
From there his totals winded down and he retired after the 1955 season, having played his last season in the AL with the Indians.
About Kiner there are two stories which stand tall:
In the 1950 All Star Game, Kiner hit a high drive to left which Ted Williams made one of the finest catches of his career, a nice over the right shoulder. Unfortunately, The Splendid Splinter crashed into the concrete wall, breaking his elbow. He missed games that season.
And the Red Sox still finished with 94 wins. One has to think that with a healthy Williams, the Red Sox could have won the pennant that season. See dad, the All Star Game does affect pennant races!
The other story was after the 1952 season. Given Ralph's power (He would famously say, "“Singles hitters drive Fords, home run hitters drive Cadillacs.”, at one point in his career) he would usually asked for a raise after putting on a tremendous power display each season. Soon, he was the baseball pro to get $100,000 a season.
He asked for another raise that season, but Branch Rickey, the Pirates GM, famously told him, “We finished last with you, and we can finish last without you.”.
References
http://www.baseball-reference.com/
http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Kiner__Ralph.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Kiner
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