Larry Eugene Hisle (; born May 5, 1947) is an American former 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 and

hitting coach In baseball, a number of coaches assist in the smooth functioning of a team. They are assistants to the manager, who determines the starting lineup and batting order, decides how to substitute players during the game, and makes strategy decisi ...

. He played 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 ...

(MLB) as 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 catch ...

for the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

(1968–71),

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

(1973–77), and

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. The Brewers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Di ...

(1978–82). A two-time

All-Star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...

, he was the American League (AL) RBI champion. As a coach, Hisle was a member of two World Series-winning teams for 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) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

Playing career

Hisle was drafted by the Phillies in the second round of the 1965 MLB draft as the 38th overall pick. He signed in August and made his professional debut with the Class A Huron Phillies in 1966. Hisle made his MLB debut on April 10, 1968 and played in seven games before being sent back down to the minors. Hisle played his first full season in 1969, when he batted .266 with 20 home runs and finished fourth in NL Rookie of the Year voting. His average plummeted to .204 over the next two seasons and he was subsequently traded to the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

on October 21, 1971. He spent all of the 1972 with the Triple-A Albuquerque Dukes, where he batted .325 with 23 home runs, 91 runs batted in and 20 stolen bases over 131 games. After the 1972 season, the Dodgers traded Hisle to the St. Louis Cardinals. Just over a month later, on November 29, 1972, he was traded again, along with John Cumberland to the

for Wayne Granger. In a

spring training Spring training, also called spring camp, is the preseason of the Summer Professional Baseball Leagues, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), and it is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spri ...

game for the Minnesota Twins on March 6, 1973, Hisle was MLB's first

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. Unlike other players in a team's lineup, they generally only play as an offensive player and usually do not play defense as ...

; in five at bats, he hit two home runs (one of them a grand slam) and had seven RBIs. A month later,

Ron Blomberg Ronald Mark Blomberg (born August 23, 1948), nicknamed "Boomer", is an American former professional baseball player and minor league manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a designated hitter, first baseman, and right fielder. He played ...

of the

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

would become the first DH in a regular-season game. That year, Hisle hit .272 with 15 home runs. He remained a reliable member of the Twins' lineup throughout the mid-1970s, and

hit for the cycle Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization ...

on June 4, 1976. Hisle's best season with the Twins came in 1977, when he hit .302 with 28 home runs and an AL-leading 119 RBIs, as well as being named to his first

All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that showcases 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 division, bu ...

. After the 1977 season, Hisle became a free agent and signed with the

. In 1978, Hisle turned in another productive year as he hit .290 and finished third in

AL MVP The Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) is an annual Major League Baseball (MLB) award given to one outstanding player in the American League and one in the National League (baseball), National League. The award has been present ...

voting. His 34 home runs, 115 RBIs and 96 runs scored placed second, third, and fifth in the American League respectively. A torn

rotator cuff The rotator cuff (SITS muscles) is a group of muscles and their tendons that act to stabilize the human shoulder and allow for its extensive range of motion. Of the seven scapulohumeral muscles, four make up the rotator cuff. The four muscles a ...

suffered in 1979 limited Hisle's playing time for the remainder of his career, as he played in only 79 games over his final four seasons before retiring in 1982.

Post-playing career

Hisle was the hitting coach for the Toronto Blue Jays from 1992 through 1995, helping them to

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB). It has been contested since between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winning team, determined through a best- ...

titles in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

and

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

. Under his coaching in 1993, Toronto players John Olerud, former Brewers teammate Paul Molitor, and

Roberto Alomar Roberto Alomar Velázquez (; ; born February 5, 1968) is a Puerto Ricans, Puerto Rican former second baseman who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for seventeen seasons. He is regarded as one of the greatest second basemen and all-around pla ...

finished 1-2-3 in the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

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 ...

. As of 2019, Hisle is employed with the Milwaukee Brewers as Manager of Youth Outreach, and is the president of Major League Mentoring in Milwaukee.

References

External links

Larry Hisle
at SABR (Baseball BioProject) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hisle, Larry 1947 births Living people Baseball players from Ohio American expatriate baseball people in Canada American League All-Stars African-American baseball players African-American baseball coaches Milwaukee Brewers players Minnesota Twins players Philadelphia Phillies players Huron Phillies players Tidewater Tides players Florida Instructional League Phillies players Eugene Emeralds players San Diego Padres (minor league) players Albuquerque Dukes players 20th-century American sportsmen American League RBI champions Major League Baseball outfielders Major League Baseball left fielders Major League Baseball center fielders Major League Baseball right fielders Major League Baseball coaches Sportspeople from Portsmouth, Ohio 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen

Playing career

Post-playing career

See also

References

Further reading

External links