Ronald Lavern Hansen (born April 5, 1938) is a former

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists wh ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

who played for the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

(1958–1962),

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

(1963–1967, 1968–1969), Washington Senators (1968),

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

(1970–1971) and Kansas City Royals (1972). He batted and threw right-handed. In a 15-season career, Hansen was a .234 hitter with 106

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s and 501 RBI in 1384 games. Hansen's career was hampered throughout and was eventually cut short by chronic back ailments and other injuries. Despite being a tall shortstop at , , Hansen was fluid and smooth in the field. He was a competent hitter as well. Hansen was born in

Oxford, Nebraska Oxford is a village in Furnas and Harlan counties in the U.S. state of Nebraska. The population was 779 at the 2010 census. History Oxford was established as a town in 1880, when the railroad was extended to that point. Geography Oxford is loc ...

on April 5, 1938, and moved with his family to Albany, California when he was age 2. He was a three-sport star in

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

and football at Albany High School where he graduated in 1955. He signed with the Orioles on April 7, 1956 after declining a scholarship to the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. A case of

sciatica Sciatica is pain going down the leg from the lower back. This pain may go down the back, outside, or front of the leg. Onset is often sudden following activities like heavy lifting, though gradual onset may also occur. The pain is often described ...

forced him to miss the entire 1957 season, costing him his first chance to make the Orioles. His major-league debut came in a 6–1 win over the Washington Senators in the 1958 season opener at Memorial Stadium on April 15. His first hit in the majors was a single to center field off Pedro Ramos in the sixth inning of another season-opening victory over the Senators in the same ballpark two years later on April 19, 1960. Between the two milestones, he appeared in only 14 games in the majors and established an Orioles record among position players by going hitless in his first 25 at-bats to begin his career with the ballclub. Ron Hansen 1960

Hansen surpassed all expectations by turning in a solid, injury-free 1960 season, filling the Orioles urgent need for a quality shortstop. He appeared in 153 games, and finished with 22 home runs, 86 RBI, 22 doubles, five triples, a .255

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

and a .342 on-base percentage, batting from the eight spot. He was selected for the

All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or d ...

and earned American League Rookie of the Year honors, getting 22 of 24 votes, as well as the ''TSN'' Rookie of the Year Award. Hansen led AL shortstops in double plays in 1961, hitting 12 home runs with 51 RBI in 155 games. In the fall of 1961, Hansen was recalled for military service. Before the 1963 season, he was sent to the White Sox along with

knuckleball A knuckleball or knuckler is a baseball pitch thrown to minimize the spin of the ball in flight, causing an erratic, unpredictable motion. The air flow over a seam of the ball causes the ball to change from laminar to turbulent flow. This cha ...

Hoyt Wilhelm James Hoyt Wilhelm (July 26, 1922 – August 23, 2002), nicknamed "Old Sarge", was an American Major League Baseball pitcher with the New York Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, Cleveland Indians, Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, California Angel ...

in the same trade that brought

Luis Aparicio Luis Ernesto Aparicio Montiel (born April 29, 1934), nicknamed "Little Louie", is a Venezuelan former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a shortstop from 1956 to 1973 for three American League (AL) teams, m ...

to the Orioles. With Chicago, Hansen led the AL twice more in double plays and four times in

assist Assist or ASSIST may refer to: Sports Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team: *Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a ba ...

s. During a doubleheader in 1965, he tied an AL record with 18

total chances In baseball statistics, total chances (TC), also called ''chances offered'', represents the number of plays in which a defensive player has participated. It is the sum of putouts plus assists plus errors. ''Chances accepted'' refers to the total ...

in the first game and added 10 more in the second for a total of 28, to set a major league record for a doubleheader. In 1964, Hansen posted career-highs in batting average (.261), runs (85), hits (160) and doubles (25), and belted 20 home runs with 68 RBI. In 1965 he led the league with 162 games played, but was out again with back problems in 1966, appearing in only 23 games. He underwent surgery for a ruptured spinal disc and returned in 1967, playing in 157 games. In February 1968, Hansen was sent to the Senators as part of a six-player trade, with infielder Tim Cullen being one of the players received by the White Sox. On July 30, while playing for the Senators in a game against the Cleveland Indians, Hansen turned the eighth

unassisted triple play In baseball, an unassisted triple play occurs when a defensive player makes all three outs by himself in one continuous play, without his teammates making any assists. Neal Ball was the first to achieve this in Major League Baseball (MLB) under ...

in major league history and the first in 41 years. In the bottom of the first inning, Hansen caught a line drive off the bat of

Joe Azcue José Joaquín Azcue López (born August 18, 1939) is a Cuban former professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher, most prominently as a member of the Cleveland Indians where he played the bulk of hi ...

, touched second base to put out

Dave Nelson David Earl Nelson (June 20, 1944 – April 22, 2018) was an American professional baseball infielder. He played in Major League Baseball for the Cleveland Indians, Washington Senators / Texas Rangers, and Kansas City Royals from 1968 through 19 ...

, then tagged

Russ Snyder Russell Henry Snyder (born June 22, 1934) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder for the Kansas City Athletics (1959–60), Baltimore Orioles (1961–67), Chicago White Sox (1968), C ...

coming from first base. In the at-bats following the triple play, Hansen struck out six consecutive times – four times on July 30, and twice more on July 31. On August 1 he hit a grand slam home run, and the following day, batting .185, was traded back to the White Sox. Curiously, Hansen was exchanged for Cullen, the first time in MLB history where two players were traded for each other twice in the same season. Again with the White Sox, Hansen served in a backup role for the rest of the 1968 season, and again in 1969. He then finished his career as a

utility infielder In baseball, a utility player is a player who typically does not have the offensive abilities to justify a regular starting role on the team but is capable of playing more than one defensive position. These players are able to give the various s ...

with the

and the Kansas City Royals. After retiring as a player, he stayed involved with baseball, serving at different times as a major league coach and minor league manager, and also as an advance scout for the Yankees and then the Philadelphia Phillies, until retiring in 2010. During his work with the Phillies, Hansen was in the stands at Progressive Field in Cleveland on May 12, 2008, when Indians second baseman Asdrúbal Cabrera made his

, against the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

References

External links

Baltimore Sun: Catching Up With ... former Oriole Ron Hansen

Video: Former Orioles shortstop Ron Hansen talks about his unassisted triple play
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hansen, Ron 1938 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Nicaragua American League All-Stars Baltimore Orioles players Baseball players from California Baseball players from Nebraska Chicago White Sox players Kansas City Royals players Knoxville Smokies players Major League Baseball first base coaches Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award winners Major League Baseball shortstops Milwaukee Brewers coaches Montreal Expos coaches New York Yankees players New York Yankees scouts People from Albany, California People from Oxford, Nebraska Philadelphia Phillies scouts Sportspeople from Alameda County, California Stockton Ports players Vancouver Mounties players Washington Senators (1961–1971) players