Ronald James Northey (April 26, 1920 – April 16, 1971) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

player and coach. He was an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

for the Philadelphia Phillies (1942–44, 1946–47 and 1957),

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

(1947–49), Cincinnati Reds (1950), Chicago Cubs (1950 and 1952) and

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 ...

(1955–57). Northey was born in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania; he batted

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subject ...

, threw

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

, stood tall and weighed during his playing career. His son, Scott Northey, also was a Major League outfielder.

Early life

Northey graduated from Frackville High School and went to Duke University.

Military service

Northey was drafted into the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

in 1945 and conducted his initial training at New Cumberland Army Reception Center near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He was subsequently based at Fort Lewis, Washington and was discharged in 1946. He played baseball while serving in the army.

Baseball career

Ron Northey finished 29th in voting for the 1943 National League MVP, and 18th in voting for the 1944 NL MVP. In 12 MLB seasons, he played in 1,084 games and had 3,172 at bats, with 385 runs scored, 874 hits, 172 doubles, 28 triples, 108 home runs, 513

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the ba ...

, seven stolen bases, 361 walks, a .276

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 ...

, .352 on-base percentage, .450 slugging percentage, 1,426 total bases and 14 sacrifice hits. Northey was especially adept as a pinch hitter: he appeared in 297 games as an emergency batsman and batted .288, with 69 hits—including nine pinch homers, eight doubles and two triples, and 75 runs batted in. In , as a member of the White Sox, he batted .385 and collected 15 pinch hits, with three homers and 21 RBI. Northey was a coach on the staff of skipper

Danny Murtaugh Daniel Edward Murtaugh (October 8, 1917 – December 2, 1976) was an American second baseman, manager, front-office executive, and coach in Major League Baseball ( MLB). Murtaugh is best known for his 29-year association with the Pittsburgh Pira ...

, his former teammate on the early 1940s Phillies, with the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1961 to 1963. He died suddenly in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

at the age of 50 after being taken ill at his home.Northey dies
/ref> He is buried at Fairfield Memorial Park, Stamford, Connecticut.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Northey, Ron 1920 births 1971 deaths Baseball players from Pennsylvania Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players Charleston Senators players Chicago Cubs players Chicago White Sox players Chicago White Sox scouts Cincinnati Reds players Federalsburg A's players Indianapolis Indians players Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players Major League Baseball first base coaches Major League Baseball right fielders Minneapolis Millers (baseball) players People from Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania Philadelphia Phillies players Pittsburgh Pirates coaches St. Louis Cardinals players United States Army personnel of World War II Williamsport Grays players