Rich Rollins

Rich Rollins
Rollins in 1962
Third baseman
Born: (1938-04-16) April 16, 1938 (age 86) Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
June 16, 1961, for the Minnesota Twins
Last MLB appearance
September 26, 1970, for the Cleveland Indians
MLB statistics
Batting average	.269
Home runs	77
Runs batted in	399
Stats at Baseball Reference
Teams
Minnesota Twins (1961–1968) Seattle Pilots / Milwaukee Brewers (1969–1970) Cleveland Indians (1970)
Career highlights and awards
2× All-Star (1962, 1962²)

Richard John Rollins (born April 16, 1938) is an American former Major League Baseball third baseman. He played with the Minnesota Twins (1961–68), Seattle Pilots / Milwaukee Brewers (1969–1970), and Cleveland Indians (1970). During a 10-year baseball career, Rollins hit .269 with 77 home runs, and 399 runs batted in (RBI).

Rollins was born on April 16, 1938 in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. The family moved to the Cleveland, Ohio area, where Rollins attended Parma High School. Rollins played baseball in high school as well as for an American Legion team. He accepted a baseball scholarship to Kent State University, where he played for the Golden Flashes from 1958 to 1960. He had a .429 batting average in 1959, and a .358 batting average his senior year, with a career batting average of .3891.^[1][2] He was named three times to the All-Mid-American Conference team. He played second base, with future major league player and manager Gene Michael at shortstop.^{[3][4][2][5][6]}

He graduated in 1960, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Health, Physical Education and Recreation.^[2]

Rollins was signed for $6,000 as an undrafted free agent by the then Washington Senators prior to the start of the 1960 season^[7] and assigned to the Wilson Tobs in the class-B Carolina League, under future major league manager Jack McKeon.^[8][3] He hit into a triple play in his first professional game, which left a significant impact on his baseball career. As a result, despite the embarrassment, it was the main motivation for Rollins to become a better ballplayer.^[9] After hitting .341 with eight home runs and 43 RBI in 62 games, in 1961, Rollins was promoted to Syracuse Chiefs in the Triple-A International League^[10] (IL), but a few weeks into the season, after playing only three games, he was assigned to the Single-A Charlotte Hornets in the South Atlantic League.^[8][3] He hit .270 with four home runs and 16 RBI in 36 early-season games at Charlotte, playing four games in the outfield and then being shifted to third based.^[8][3]

Rollins was promoted to the Twins and made his major league debut on June 16, 1961 against the Chicago White Sox. He finished the game 1-for-4 in Minnesota's 6–1 win.^[11] His first hit major league was against future hall of fame pitcher Early Wynn.^[12] Rollins spent the rest of the season with the Twins as a little-used bench player, batting .294 with 3 RBI in 13 games.^[7] During spring training, in 1962, Rollins started in both shortstop and third base. Twins owner Calvin Griffith saw Rollins' potential in third base, and recommended that Rollins should be given the job over more experienced players like Harmon Killebrew, and John Goryl.^[9] Griffith stated that it was Rollins' "sincerity and steadiness" on how he handled the position that proved that he could start in the American League.^[9] Having got the job, Rollins responded by hitting .486 over the Twins' first 10 games.^[13] Playing in 159 games, Rollins finished the season hitting .298 with 16 home runs and 96 RBI,^[7] production that would earn him the nickname, at least among his teammates, of Pie, after Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame third baseman, Pie Traynor^[14] Rollins was also compared to former longtime Senators third baseman Ossie Bluege.^[9]

Rollins finished eighth in the American League MVP voting and also received the most All-Star Game votes of any American League player, starting both games that year, ahead of hall of fame third baseman Brooks Robinson. Rollins represented the Twins well in the games, reaching base three times in six plate appearances and scoring the AL's only run in their 3–1 loss in the July 10 game.^{[3][15][4][16][17][12]} Supporting his MVP candidacy and All-Star appearances, Rollins finished in the Top 10 in the league in singles (second), plate appearances (third), sacrifice flies (third), hits (sixth), at-bats (sixth), runs (seventh), on-base percentage (seventh), runs batted in (ninth), and batting average (tenth).^[18] His Twins teammates voted him the team's MVP in 1962.^[3]

While he finished third in assists by third basemen, his 28 errors were the most by any AL third baseman and second most in the league behind Detroit Tigers' infielder Dick McAuliffe.^[19] While Rollins' glove work would never be as bad (his errors would decrease from 28 to eight over the next four seasons), his results at the plate would also decline, despite an almost-as-good 1963 season (.307, 16 home runs, 61 RBI) despite an early-season broken jaw when he was hit by a pitch. The .307 average was third in the American League.^[7][3] He played in 140 games for the 1965 Twins American League championship team.^[20]

On June 9, 1966, in the seventh inning of a game against the Kansas City Athletics, Rollins was one of five Twins players to hit home runs. The others were Harmon Killebrew, Don Mincher, Tony Oliva and Zoilo Versalles. These five home runs still stand as a Major League record for the most home runs hit in a single inning, and were hit off starter Catfish Hunter (two) and relievers Paul Lindblad (two) and John Wyatt (one). The Houston Astros tied that record in 2022.^[21][3][22] During the season, he was platooning at third base with Killebrew and César Tovar, among others, with Killebrew playing 107 games at third base.^[23][7]

Rollins career was plagued by illness and injury. In addition to his 1963 broken jaw, among other things, he went to the Mayo Clinic before the 1964 season to treat calcium deposits on his hip. In 1967, he had an infected hand and badly bruised knee in spring training, and a later knee injury that cost him three weeks. His now arthritic hip left him playing in great pain, as well as the chronic pain he was suffering from his knee injuries which had not been properly treated. Twins' owner Calvin Griffith convinced Rollins to go for knee treatment at the Mayo Clinic, rather than retire. Rollins suffered a variety of odd but serious injuries in 1968. In 1969, after leaving the Twins, he had a bad back, and recurrence of knee problems that led to more surgery and the 60-day disabled list.^[3]

Left exposed to the 1968 expansion draft, Rollins was the 26th pick of the Seattle Pilots on October 15.^[24] After backing up Tommy Harper at third base, he was released by the infant Milwaukee Brewers on May 13, 1970, after starting the season hitting .200 with 5 RBI in 14 games.^[7] Rollins was immediately signed by the Cleveland Indians, for whom he would finish the season before retiring.^[7]

Rollins was inducted into the Kent State Sports Hall of Fame in 1979.^[2] He was inducted into the Summit County [Ohio] Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.^[25] He was inducted into the Greater Akron [Ohio] Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001.^[5] In 2014, he was named to the Kent State All-Time Baseball Team.^[26]

• List of Major League Baseball annual triples leaders

• Rich Rollins at the SABR Baseball Biography Project

• Career statistics from Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs
• Interview of Rich Rollins conducted by Dan Coughlin at Cleveland Public Library on September 11, 2017.