Leslie Ferdinand "Buster" Narum (November 16, 1940 – May 17, 2004) was an American professional
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
player. Listed as tall and , he was a right-handed
starting pitcher
In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...
in
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
for the
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) 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 America ...
() and
Washington Senators (–).
Born in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, Narum graduated from
high school
A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...
in
Clearwater, Florida
Clearwater is a city and the county seat of Pinellas County, Florida, United States, west of Tampa, Florida, Tampa and north of St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies T ...
. He signed with Baltimore at age 17 in 1958 and debuted with the Orioles early in the season, finishing with no decisions in nine innings of work. The next year, he was sent to the Senators in the same trade that brought
Lou Piniella
Louis Victor Piniella ( usually ; born August 28, 1943) is a former professional baseball player and manager. An outfielder, he played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Royals a ...
to Baltimore. On May 3, 1963, Narum became the first-ever Oriole player to hit a home run in his first Major League at-bat, connecting off
Don Mossi
Donald Louis Mossi (January 11, 1929 – July 19, 2019) was an American Major League Baseball, major league pitcher from 1954 to 1965. He was a left-handed control pitcher whose strikeout-to-walk ratio was regularly among the league leaders (he l ...
of the
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...
in an 8–5 Baltimore triumph.
box score: 1963-05-03
Retrosheet
Retrosheet is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose website features box scores of Major League Baseball (MLB) games from 1906 to the present, and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest since the 1930s. It also includes scores fr ...
Narum had a career batting average of .059 (7-for-118), though three of Narum's seven lifetime hits were home runs.
In 96 career games Narum compiled a 14–27 record, with 220 strikeout
In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...
s, a 4.45 ERA
An era is a span of time.
Era or ERA may also refer to:
* Era (geology), a subdivision of geologic time
* Calendar era
Education
* Academy of European Law (German: '), an international law school
* ERA School, in Melbourne, Australia
* E ...
, two shutout
In team sports, a shutout (North American English, US) or clean sheet (Commonwealth English, UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketba ...
s, and nine complete game
In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...
s in 396 innings pitched
In baseball, the statistic innings pitched (IP) is the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of Batter (baseball), batters and baserunners that have been put out while the pitcher is on the Baseball field#Pitcher's mou ...
. He allowed 398 hits and 177 bases on balls
A base on balls (BB), better known as a walk,
occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches during a plate appearance that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The bas ...
.
Buster Narum died in Clearwater at the age of 63.
See also
* Home run in first Major League at-bat
References
External links
Buster Narum
at SABR
Sabr () (literally 'endurance' or more accurately 'perseverance' and 'persistence'"Ṣabr", ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'') is one of the two parts of Iman (concept), faith (the other being ''shukr'') in Islam. It teaches to remain Spirituality, sp ...
Bio Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Narum, Buster
1940 births
2004 deaths
Aberdeen Pheasants players
Amarillo Gold Sox players
Ardmore Rosebuds players
Baltimore Orioles players
Baseball players from Philadelphia
Bluefield Orioles players
Buffalo Bisons (minor league) players
Fox Cities Foxes players
Hawaii Islanders players
Major League Baseball pitchers
Rochester Red Wings players
Baseball players from Clearwater, Florida
Tulsa Oilers (baseball) players
Victoria Rosebuds players
Washington Senators (1961–1971) players
20th-century American sportsmen