Hank Bauer (MLB)

Full Name: Henry Albert Bauer	Primary Position: OF,RF
Height/Weight: 6' 0"/192	First Game: September 6, 1948
Birthdate: July 31, 1922	Final Game: July 21, 1961
Birthplace: East St. Louis, Illinois	MLB Experience: 14 years
Died: February 9, 2007
Deathplace: Lenexa, Kansas
Bat/Throw: Right/Right

Biography

Henry Albert "Hank" Bauer (born July 31, 1922 in East St. Louis, Illinois) is a former right fielder and manager in Major League Baseball. He played with the New York Yankees (1948–1959) and Kansas City Athletics (1960–61); he batted and threw right-handed. He served as manager for the Athletics (KC in 1961-62 and Oakland in 1969) and Baltimore Orioles (1964–68).

Early years

The youngest of nine children, Bauer's Austrian immigrant father was a bartender who had earlier lost his leg in an aluminum mill. With little money coming into the home, Bauer was forced to wear clothes made out of old feed sacks, helping shape his hard-nosed approach to life.

Playing baseball and basketball at East St. Louis Central Catholic High School, Bauer's nose was permanently damaged after an errant elbow from an opponent. Upon graduation in 1941, he was repairing furnaces in a beer-bottling plant when his brother Herman, a minor league player in the Chicago White Sox system, was able to get him a tryout that resulted in a contract with Oshkosh of the Class D Wisconsin State League.

One month after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Bauer enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. While in the South Pacific, Bauer contracted malaria, but recovered enough to earn 11 campaign ribbons, two Bronze Stars and a pair of Purple Hearts in 32 months of combat. His second injury had come at Okinawa, when he commanded a platoon of 64 men. Only six survived the brutal siege, with shrapnel hitting Bauer in the thigh and sending him home.

Returning to East St. Louis, he joined the local pipe fitter's union and stopped by a local bar where his brother Joe worked. Danny Menendez, a New York Yankees scout, signed him for a tryout with the team's farm club in Quincy, IL. The terms: $175 a month (a $25 increase if he made the team) and a $250 bonus.

Batting .300 at both Quincy and with the team's top minor league unit, the Kansas City Blues, Bauer eventually made his debut with the Bronx Bombers in September 1948.

Career

In a 14-season career, Bauer had a .277 batting average with 164 home runs and 703 RBI in 1544 games.

As a manager, he helped guide the Orioles to the 1966 World Championship. During the regular season he posted a 594-544 record, including two second-place finishes for the 1967 Orioles and 1969 Athletics.

Statistics

Batting Stats

Year	Team		G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG	2B	3B	BB	SO	HBP	SH	SB	IBB	GDP
1948	NY	A	19	50	6	9	1	9	.180	.268	.300	1	1	6	13	0	0	1	0	0
1949	NY	A	103	301	56	82	10	45	.272	.354	.432	6	6	37	42	1	5	2	0	9
1950	NY	A	113	415	72	133	13	70	.320	.380	.463	16	2	35	41	5	3	2	0	7
1951	NY	A	118	348	53	103	10	54	.296	.373	.454	19	3	42	39	1	3	5	0	10
1952	NY	A	141	553	86	162	17	74	.293	.355	.463	31	6	50	61	3	9	6	0	10
1953	NY	A	133	437	77	133	10	57	.304	.394	.446	20	6	59	45	6	1	2	0	8
1954	NY	A	114	377	73	111	12	54	.294	.360	.459	16	5	40	42	0	3	4	0	5
1955	NY	A	139	492	97	137	20	53	.278	.360	.461	20	5	56	65	8	4	8	1	4
1956	NY	A	147	539	96	130	26	84	.241	.316	.445	18	7	59	72	2	7	4	3	11
1957	NY	A	137	479	70	124	18	65	.259	.321	.455	22	9	42	64	4	6	7	4	8
1958	NY	A	128	452	62	121	12	50	.268	.316	.423	22	6	32	56	1	3	3	1	7
1959	NY	A	114	341	44	81	9	39	.238	.307	.375	20	0	33	54	2	2	4	1	4
1960	KC	A	95	255	30	70	3	31	.275	.326	.369	15	0	21	36	1	3	1	1	11
1961	KC	A	43	106	11	28	3	18	.264	.319	.396	3	1	9	8	0	2	1	0	1
Total			1544	5145	833	1424	164	703	.277	.346	.439	229	57	521	638	34	51	50	11	95

Fielding Stats

Year	Team		POS	G	GS	INN	PO	A	ERR	DP	PB	AVG
1948	NY	A	OF	14	0	0	26	1	1	0	0	.964
1949	NY	A	OF	95	0	0	156	11	4	3	0	.977
1950	NY	A	OF	110	0	0	228	8	3	3	0	.987
1951	NY	A	OF	107	0	0	188	7	2	1	0	.990
1952	NY	A	OF	139	0	0	233	16	4	2	0	.984
1953	NY	A	OF	126	0	0	230	13	2	3	0	.992
1954	NY	A	OF	108	0	0	179	6	2	1	0	.989
1955	NY	A	C	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
1955	NY	A	OF	133	0	0	248	13	5	3	0	.981
1956	NY	A	OF	146	0	0	242	10	8	2	0	.969
1957	NY	A	RF	133	120	1065	197	7	3	1	0	.986
1957	NY	A	LF	4	3	19	2	0	0	0	0	1.000
1957	NY	A	OF	135	123	1084	200	7	3	1	0	.986
1958	NY	A	RF	120	106	922.1	190	7	4	0	0	.980
1958	NY	A	LF	3	3	27	2	0	0	0	0	1.000
1958	NY	A	OF	123	109	949.1	186	7	4	0	0	.980
1959	NY	A	RF	107	80	765.1	139	2	4	0	0	.972
1959	NY	A	LF	5	3	29.2	1	0	0	0	0	1.000
1959	NY	A	OF	111	83	795	139	2	4	0	0	.972
1960	KC	A	RF	67	60	515.1	85	4	2	1	0	.978
1960	KC	A	OF	67	60	515.1	85	4	2	1	0	.978
1961	KC	A	RF	27	20	176.2	32	2	2	0	0	.944
1961	KC	A	LF	11	2	29.1	10	0	0	0	0	1.000
1961	KC	A	OF	35	24	223	44	2	2	0	0	.958
1961	KC	A	CF	2	2	17	1	0	0	0	0	1.000
Total			C	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Total			OF	1449	399	3566.2	2384	107	46	20	0	.982
Total			CF	2	2	17	1	0	0	0	0	1.000
Total			RF	454	386	3444.2	643	22	15	2	0	.978
Total			LF	23	11	105	15	0	0	0	0	1.000

Transactions

Signed as an amateur free agent by New York Yankees (1946).
Traded by New York Yankees with Don Larsen, Norm Siebern and Marv Throneberry to Kansas City Athletics in exchange for Roger Maris, Joe DeMaestri and Kent Hadley (December 11, 1959).
Released by Kansas City Athletics (July 26, 1961).

Trivia

All-Star in 1952, 1953, and 1954
World Series Champion in 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1956, and 1958
From 1956-58 set a World Series hitting streak record of 17 games, which was later matched as a postseason record by Derek Jeter and Manny Ramírez.