Born: July 31, 1922 in East St. Louis, IL
Debut: September 6, 1948 (Age 26)
Last Game: July 21, 1961 (Age 38)
Died: February 9, 2007 in Lenexa, KS (Aged 84)
- Before 1946 Season: Signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent.
- December 11, 1959: Traded by the New York Yankees with Don Larsen, Norm Siebern and Marv Throneberry to the Kansas City Athletics for Joe DeMaestri, Kent Hadley and Roger Maris.
- July 26, 1961: Released by the Kansas City Athletics.
OK, not one for one but Bauer was in the trade that brought Roger Maris to the New York Yankees. This post adds some details about Bauer to the previous:
Anatomy of a trade: Roger Maris: KC Athletics to NY Yankees. Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Yogi Berra, Bauer, Mickey Mantle Bowman Gum 1953 Wikimedia Commons |
For the Kansas City Athletics Bauer had only 3 PA batting first in the lineup, so his numbers there are almost exclusively what he did for the Yankees, including almost half his HR:
I | Split | G | GS | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | TB | GDP | HBP | SH | SF | IBB | ROE | tOPS+ | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Batting 1st | 440 | 428 | 1963 | 1746 | 318 | 481 | 74 | 21 | 78 | 233 | 21 | 17 | 182 | 228 | .275 | .345 | .476 | .821 | 831 | 20 | 9 | 16 | 10 | 10 | 32 | .278 | 108 |
That may be why Yankee manager Casey Stengel initially put the newly acquired Maris directly into Bauer's spots: RF and leadoff. However, leadoff lasted only two games because in Yankee game number one in Fenway Park Maris had four hits, including a double and two homers. Stengel learned quickly that he had more than Hank Bauer on his hands.
As mentioned in the previous post the key acquisition for the Athletics in the Maris trade was lefty batter Norm Siebern who went on to have a fine career. But Bauer brought Yankee credentials to Kansas City, which included:
- the longest hitting streak in WS history: 17 games
- four HR in the 1958 WS against the Milwaukee Braves off Warren Spahn, Lew Burdette, Don McMahon, Warren Spahn.
Bauer hit very poorly in his first four WS but the Yankees won them all so that was not held against him. But then he picked up the pace and had OPS 1.032 in 1958, his final WS.
Hank Bauer brought veteran leadership to the Athletics in a tangible way. In July 1961 Bauer went immediately from player to manager of the Athletics.
Managerial Stats
Rk | Year | Age | Tm | Lg | W | L | G | Finish | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1961 | 38 | Kansas City Athletics | AL | 2nd of 2 | 35 | 67 | .343 | 102 | 9 | 0 | 0 | Player/Manager | |
2 | 1962 | 39 | Kansas City Athletics | AL | 72 | 90 | .444 | 162 | 9 | 0 | 0 | |||
3 | 1964 | 41 | Baltimore Orioles | AL | 97 | 65 | .599 | 163 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |||
4 | 1965 | 42 | Baltimore Orioles | AL | 94 | 68 | .580 | 162 | 3 | 0 | 0 | |||
5 | 1966 | 43 | Baltimore Orioles | AL | 97 | 63 | .606 | 160 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | WS Champs | |
6 | 1967 | 44 | Baltimore Orioles | AL | 76 | 85 | .472 | 161 | 7 | 0 | 0 | |||
7 | 1968 | 45 | Baltimore Orioles | AL | 1st of 2 | 43 | 37 | .538 | 80 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
8 | 1969 | 46 | Oakland Athletics | AL | 1st of 2 | 80 | 69 | .537 | 149 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
Baltimore Orioles | 5 years | 407 | 318 | .561 | 726 | 3.2 | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | 1 Pennant and 1 World Series Title | ||||
Oakland Athletics | 3 years | 187 | 226 | .453 | 413 | 6.7 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
8 years | 594 | 544 | .522 | 1139 | 4.5 | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | 1 Pennant and 1 World Series Title |
Bauer was succeeded as manager of the Kansas City Athletics by his former Yankee teammate, southpaw Eddie Lopat. However, as you can see Bauer went on to manage the Baltimore Orioles to the 1966 WS championship.
The only references to Bauer in the previous post were a footnote and as the principal in the 1957 Copacabana night club incident. I didn't want that to be all. The old Marine deserved better than that.
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