Billy Hunter (baseball)

Hunter was born in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, on June 4, 1928. He attended Indiana High School in Indiana, Pennsylvania.^[1][2] In 1947, he attended Indiana State Teachers College (now Indiana University of Pennsylvania). In 1948, he transferred to Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) on a baseball and football scholarship, where he played as a T-formation quarterback.^[1]

Hunter was listed as 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and 180 pounds (82 kg). He threw and batted right-handed.^[3] After attending college, Hunter was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1948.^[1] He spent five years in Brooklyn's minor league system, with his best year coming in 1952 with the Fort Worth Cats of the Double-A Texas League. He hit for a .285 batting average,^[4] had 75 runs batted in and 24 stolen bases,^[1] and led the Texas League in fielding and stolen bases.^{[citation needed]} He was chosen the Texas League's Most Valuable Player.^[5]

He was traded to the St. Louis Browns of the American League (AL) on October 14, 1952, for three players (Ray Coleman, Stan Rojek, and Bob Mahoney), along with a $95,000 payment to the Dodgers.^[1][2]

Hunter was the starting shortstop for the last Browns club in 1953 (and hit the team's final home run). He also made the American League All Star team that year. His lone Browns all-star teammate was the legendary Satchel Paige, and while he did not play the field or bat in the game, he was a pinch-runner for another legend, Mickely Mantle.^[6][1]

He was the first shortstop on the modern Baltimore Orioles team when the Brownies moved to Maryland in 1954.^[7] He was part of a multi-player trade between the Orioles and New York Yankees in November 1954.^[2] For the remainder of his career, however, he was a second-string infielder for the Yankees, Kansas City Athletics and Cleveland Indians.^[3] He was a member of the 1956 Yankees championship team, but did not get into any of the seven world series games.^[7][1] Hunter batted .219 with 16 home runs and 144 RBI in 630 games over his six-year (1953–58) AL career.^[3][8]

His final year of professional baseball was with the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League in 1959.^[4]

As of 2024, he is the last living player from the 1954 Baltimore Orioles.^[9]

When Hunter finished his playing career, he scouted for the Indians and Orioles.^[1] He managed the Bluefield Orioles to Appalachian League championships in 1962 and 1963.^[8] Hunter was promoted to Baltimore on November 20, 1963, as third-base coach by former Yankees teammate Hank Bauer, who had become the team's manager one day earlier.^[10] Bauer was fired in 1968, but new Orioles manager Earl Weaver kept Hunter as his third base coach.^[1] He performed that role for almost 14 seasons^[11] for four AL champions and two World Series winners.^[12] When Weaver was ejected in game 4 of the 1969 World Series, Hunter filled in as manager.^[1] Hunter declined an offer from former Orioles general manager Harry Dalton to manage the California Angels on November 23, 1971.^[13]

Hunter departed from the Orioles on June 27, 1977, to become the Texas Rangers' fourth manager that season, succeeding Connie Ryan, who had served in the interim for six games. His appointment ended the Rangers' bizarre search for a new manager, which had begun five day prior with Frank Lucchesi's dismissal, followed by Eddie Stanky's one-game stint.^[14][8] Despite the team trailing by 5+1⁄2 games in fifth place in the AL West, he stated upon his arrival, "I am accepting this job because I think the Texas Rangers have a contending team."^[8] Under Hunter, the Rangers won 60 of their final 93 games and climbed from fifth to second place. He lost out in manager of the year voting to Earl Weaver.^[15][1]

In 1978 the Rangers finished tied for second, five games behind the division-leading Kansas City Royals.^[16] During the season, Hunter had a confrontation with pitcher Dock Ellis on a team bus. Ellis was later quoted saying Hunter "may be Hitler, but he ain't making no lampshade out of me."^[17] After turning down a five-year contract extension in midseason,^[18] offered by Rangers' young owner, Brad Corbett, Hunter was fired with one day left in the campaign due to his poor relationship with his team. When asked if he was sorry he took the manager's job, Hunter replied "yes."^[19] Just one year earlier, first baseman Mike Hargrove had called Hunter "'a perfect blend of knowing how to handle people, plus knowing the game.'"^[1]

Hunter's record over his one-and-a-half seasons was 146–108 (.575),^[20] but he never returned to the Major Leagues as a coach or manager, though he claimed to have received a half dozen job offers in the winter of 1978.^[21]

He became head baseball coach (1979-1988), and athletic director (1984-1995) at Maryland's Towson State University, retiring in 1995.^[7] During his time as athletic director the men’s lacrosse team went to the NCAA championship game, and the men’s basketball team twice reached the NCAA tournament. Also while athletic director, he served as president of the East Coast Conference and Big South Conference. In 1998, he was inducted into the Towson Hall of Fame.^[7]

He was a 1996 honoree into the Orioles Hall of Fame,^[7] inducted with Jerry Hoffberger and Cal Ripken, Sr.^[22] These three men were so well thought of in Baltimore that a crowd of 400 showed up at the luncheon at the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel.^[23]

• Career statistics from Baseball Reference, or Baseball Reference (Minors)