Ronald Mark Blomberg (born August 23, 1948), nicknamed "Boomer", 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 minor league manager. 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 ...

as a

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 ...

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

, and

right fielder A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...

. He played for 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 ...

(1969, 1971–1976) 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) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

(1978), and was the manager of the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox in the Israel Baseball League (2007). He was the first designated hitter in Major League Baseball history. He batted left-handed, and threw right-handed.Ron Blomberg Stats Baseball-Reference.com
/ref> Over eight seasons, Blomberg compiled a .293 batting average (391-for-1,333) with 52 home runs, 224 RBIs, 184 runs, 67 doubles, and 8 triples in 461 games. He added a .360 on-base percentage and a .473

slugging average In baseball statistics, slugging percentage (SLG) is a measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at-bats, through the following formula, where ''AB'' is the number of at-bats for a given player, a ...

. For his career, he hit .304 against right-handers, and .304 with two out and runners in scoring position, as well as .325 when the score was tied.

Early and personal life

Born in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Blomberg is Jewish with roots in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. Blomberg enjoyed the attention he received in New York because he was Jewish: "To be able to play in front of 8 million Jews! Can’t beat it. I lit everyone’s candles for every bar mitzvah in the city. It was like I was related to everyone. They named a sandwich after me at the Stage Deli!" Through 2010, he was seventh all-time in career batting average (behind Hank Greenberg, Ryan Braun, Buddy Myer, Lou Boudreau, Phil Weintraub, and Kevin Youkilis) among Jewish major league baseball players.

High school

Blomberg attended Druid Hills High School, earning four letters each in baseball, basketball, football, and track, and graduated in 1967. He was chosen for the Parade All-American teams in football, basketball, and baseball, the only person ever chosen for all three teams. He received 125 basketball scholarship offers, and

John Wooden John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed "the Wizard of Westwood", he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, nati ...

of the University of California at Los Angeles came out to meet him in person. Roger Couch, Blomberg's basketball coach, said: "Blomberg is the finest basketball player I ever saw — high school or college." He also received 100 football scholarship offers. Blomberg was selected by the Yankees with the first overall pick of the 1967 amateur draft, and signed for $75,000 ($ today). He attended DeKalb Junior College part-time, and later majored in psychology at Farleigh Dickinson University.

Minor league career

Blomberg played in the minor leagues from 1967 to 1971. In 1971 he was hitting .326 with a .565 slugging percentage for the Yankees AAA team, the Syracuse Chiefs, when the Yankees called him up to the major leagues.

Major league career

New York Yankees (1969–1976)

Blomberg made his major league debut on September 10, 1969, two weeks after his 21st birthday. After going 3-for-6 in his first season, Blomberg was out in 1970 with injuries. In

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

, he hit .322 for the parent club in 199 at bats. In

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

, he hit a career-high 14 home runs and 22 doubles in 299 at bats. Blomberg was a natural hitter who had a remarkably quick bat with tremendous power. Many felt that he should play every day but manager Ralph Houk platooned him, hampering his ability to develop into a star player. Blomberg was the first major leaguer to bat as a

in a regular season game. On April 6,

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

, at Fenway Park, he was walked by Red Sox pitcher Luis Tiant on five pitches with the bases loaded in the first inning, and the bat he used is in Cooperstown's Hall of Fame. Blomberg finished 1973 with a healthy .329 average, .395 OBP, and .498 SLG in 301 at-bats; he hit .351 with runners in scoring position. In 1974, Blomberg hit .311, and .338 with runners in scoring position. He was injured in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

, and missed all but one game of the pennant-winning 1976 season. He tore his knee in the 1977 exhibition season when he hit the outfield wall, and missed that season too. "I had four knee and two shoulder injuries," he said. "Still, I gave 120 percent. I lived in Riverdale, and when I was injured, people came up to me and waved to me and hugged me." He became a free agent at the end of the 1977 season.

Chicago White Sox (1978)

The White Sox signed Blomberg as a free agent for $300,000 in 1978. He played his final game for the White Sox on October 1, , at 30 years of age.

Honors

Blomberg was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. In 2007 Blomberg received the city of Atlanta’s Phoenix Award from Mayor Shirley Franklin for his outstanding service and achievements, both as a professional athlete and citizen through his charitable works in Atlanta and throughout the country. Blomberg twice was voted the most popular person in New York.

Managing career

Blomberg managed the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox in the 2007 inaugural season of the Israel Baseball League. He skippered his team to a league-leading 29–12 (.707) regular season won-lost record, as well as to the IBL Championship. Blomberg had previously declined an offer from the Yankees to manage a team in their minor system. Being in Israel, Blomberg said, “was the greatest thing — just one notch below playing for the Yankees.” In the league they were obliged to have at least two Jewish players on each team, and Blomberg had two Orthodox Israelis on his. When they asked for time out to say '' Mincha'', he was taken aback. Then he saw the crowd joining them to '' daven'' behind the food concession. “It was the greatest rush of my life,” he said. “I was in the

Holy Land The term "Holy Land" is used to collectively denote areas of the Southern Levant that hold great significance in the Abrahamic religions, primarily because of their association with people and events featured in the Bible. It is traditionall ...

, near King Solomon’s tomb. I knew I was protected.” But when the team still lost the game, he demanded: “You said your prayers — so what happened?”

Scouting

Blomberg is a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

for the New York Yankees in the Atlanta area.

Writing

In April 2006, Blomberg's biography, ''Designated

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: the Ron Blomberg Story'' was released by Sports Publishing. It was co-written by Dan Schlossberg, the author of over 30

books, including ''The Baseball Catalog,'' and host of the syndicated radio show, ''BallTalk.'' The book discusses Blomberg's life leading up to his major league career, his playing days as a Yankee, and his Jewish heritage. In 2021, Triumph Books published ''The Captain & Me,'' Blomberg's second book. It is subtitled ''On and Off The Field with Thurman Munson.'' Dan Epstein, a well-known baseball writer, assisted Blomberg, and Munson's widow wrote an introduction. Blomberg is using the book to advocate for Munson's induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Summer camp

Blomberg has been running a summer baseball camp for kids at the

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

Y Camps since 2006. He also ran a baseball day camp in Paramus, New Jersey in the 1970s.

Philanthropy

After his retirement from baseball in 1978, Blomberg worked with numerous charitable organizations, most recently the Israel Cancer Research Fund, where he serves as honorary chairman and spokesperson.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blomberg, Ron 1948 births Living people American people of Romanian-Jewish descent Baseball players from Atlanta Chicago White Sox players Druid Hills, Georgia Fairleigh Dickinson University alumni Georgia Perimeter Jaguars baseball players Israel Baseball League managers Jewish American baseball players Johnson City Yankees players Kinston Eagles players Major League Baseball designated hitters Major League Baseball first basemen Manchester Yankees players New York Yankees players Syracuse Chiefs players 21st-century American Jews Jews from Georgia (U.S. state) 20th-century American sportsmen