{"id":980,"date":"2014-02-07T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-07T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=980"},"modified":"2015-01-09T15:48:26","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T20:48:26","slug":"ralph-kiner-pirates-legendary-slugger-and-voice-of-the-mets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/02\/07\/ralph-kiner-pirates-legendary-slugger-and-voice-of-the-mets\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cRalph Kiner, Pirates\u2019 legendary slugger and Voice of the Mets\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"March <\/a>
March 16, 1941: Kiner (Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph photo) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"March <\/a>
March 4, 1949: Ralph Kiner and Pittsburgh Mayor David Lawrence at spring training camp in San Bernandino, Calif. (Photo credit: Associated Press) <\/div> <\/div>
\"May <\/a>
May 9, 1950: Ralph Kiner and Jackie Robinson at Forbes Field on a day when Robinson batted in all three Brooklyn runs in its 3-2 win. (Photo credit: Associated Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"July <\/a>
July 29, 1951: Thousands of little leaguers from across Pittsburgh spent a day at Forbes Field. These four got to meet Kiner before the game. (Photo credit: unknown) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"March <\/a>
March 20, 1953: Ralph Kiner and Pittsburgh GM Branch Rickey shaking hands at camp in Havana, Cuba, after the two agreed on a new contract. (Photo credit: Associated Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"May <\/a>
May 29, 1980: Ralph Kiner went on to a career in broadcasting for the New York Mets. (Harry Coughanour\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"April <\/a>
April 6, 1970: Willie Stargell and Ralph Kiner at Forbes Field during its final season. (James Klingensmith\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"June <\/a>
June 26, 1987: Ralph Kiner taking batting practice at a Pirates old-timers game at Three Rivers Stadium. (Darrell Sapp\/Post-Gazette) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Ralph Kiner had a rare talent. He knew how to hold his crowds captive. As a baseball player, Kiner fascinated them in the visual and physical sense of the game. The Pittsburgh Pirates could be trailing 8-1 in the ninth inning and a Forbes Field crowd would stay until the final out. They didn\u2019t want to miss a chance of seeing slugger Ralph Kiner stepping to the plate.<\/p>\n

As an announcer for the New York Mets \u2014 although some would argue that in the traditional sense he wasn\u2019t just an announcer \u2014 Kiner captivated the audience by his nuanced explanations of hitting and his great storytelling.<\/p>\n

Kiner died Thursday, Feb. 6, at age 91.<\/p>\n

He was a champion who left quite a legacy behind. \u201cHe was a great teammate,\u201d former Pirates right-hander Bob Friend, 83, said, \u201cAll the players liked him. He was just a great guy. \u2026 Two players I saw hit the biggest power home runs ever? One was Ralph Kiner and the other was Willie Stargell. They hit those towering home runs. Just pure, home run hitters\u201d.<\/p>\n

Home runs? Kiner had 369 of them. The Hall-of-Famer tied or led the league in home runs during all seven seasons with the Pirates \u2014 including 54 in 1949 \u2014 even while playing half his games at spacious Forbes Field. Kiner averaged a home run every 7.1 at bats, second-highest all-time behind Babe Ruth.<\/p>\n

By 1952, his output made him $90,000 in annual salary, the highest in the league then. Pirates General Manager Branch Rickey decided the figure should be cut by 25 percent. Kiner, after a three-week holdout in spring training, ended up taking a 15 percent pay cut and played for $76,500.<\/p>\n

That spring, Kiner wrote, \u201cA baseball player on the trading block is like a prize steer waiting to be sold to the highest bidder.\u201d Three months after the Pirates resigned him, they traded him to the Chicago Cubs in a 10-player deal that included $100,000 in cash coming to Pittsburgh. The deal was made and fans were heartbroken.<\/p>\n

He played two more full seasons and retired after he\u2019d played 10 years because of his back injury.<\/p>\n

Kiner\u2019s short career meant he had to wait nearly 20 years to earn Hall of Fame induction. He got into the Hall during his final year of eligibility on the baseball writers\u2019 ballot.<\/p>\n

In 1975, he was inducted into Hall of Fame. \u201cInside, I\u2019m emotionally high,\u201d he told UPI. \u201cBut outside, I probably seem calm. That\u2019s because I guess I\u2019ve faced a lot of 3-2 counts with bases loaded.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more photos of Ralph Kiner as a Pirate and beyond, visit the Post-Gazette\u2019s photo gallery<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ralph Kiner had a rare talent. He knew how to hold his crowds captive. <\/p>\n

Look at the pictures\u201cRalph Kiner, Pirates\u2019 legendary slugger and Voice of the Mets\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[944],"tags":[961,969,977,1001,1057,1005,1027,1032,1035],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/tumblr_n0lo84enoc1rr5swxo2_1280-e1418794099818.jpg?fit=997%2C527&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1840,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/04\/29\/branch-rickey-pirates-general-manager\/","url_meta":{"origin":980,"position":0},"title":"Branch Rickey, Pirates\u2019 general manager","date":"April 29, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"As a manager of baseball teams, he was innovative and his ideas improved the game we know today.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/tumblr_mltqzn5KWT1rr5swxo3_r1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C893&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":542,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/06\/20\/boyhood-memories-at-forbes-field\/","url_meta":{"origin":980,"position":1},"title":"Boyhood memories at Forbes Field","date":"June 20, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Two boys, two hot dogs and a magical season at Forbes Field.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/tumblr_n7dmswA6VE1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C882&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":954,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/02\/14\/final-moments-of-forbes-field\/","url_meta":{"origin":980,"position":2},"title":"Final moments of Forbes Field","date":"February 14, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Instead of demolition, the question was asked \u201cWhy not open it up for kids to play ball?\u201d","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/tumblr_n0yi05o5031rr5swxo7_1280.jpg?fit=1000%2C788&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":295,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/09\/03\/1960-pittsburgh-pirates-hands-in-detail\/","url_meta":{"origin":980,"position":3},"title":"1960 Pittsburgh Pirates hands in detail","date":"September 3, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"They belong to two battery mates in Pittsburgh: catcher Smoky Burgess and relief pitcher ElRoy Face.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/tumblr_nbaldpTNMN1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C698&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1320,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/10\/09\/dreaming-of-the-world-series-too-soon-you-say\/","url_meta":{"origin":980,"position":4},"title":"Dreaming of the World Series\u2026 Too soon, you say?","date":"October 9, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"It\u2019s not done yet. The story hasn\u2019t played out.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/tumblr_mudg87B6mh1rr5swxo5_r1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C818&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2644,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/08\/13\/oct-14-1925-world-series-at-forbes-field\/","url_meta":{"origin":980,"position":5},"title":"The 1925 World Series at Forbes Field","date":"August 13, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"We found this crumbling print in an oversized folder labeled \u201cB\u201d (for baseball). A sea, an ocean of HATS.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/tumblr_m8hvmrZ1fe1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=864%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=980"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4066,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980\/revisions\/4066"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}