Ronald Ralph Pruitt (born October 21, 1951) is a former
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 professiona ...
player. He played all or part of nine seasons in
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) ...
for the
Texas Rangers (1975),
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive ...
(1976–80 and 1981),
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 ...
(1980) and
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Y ...
(1982–83). Primarily 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 ...
, he also played substantially at
catcher
Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catcher ...
.
After attending
Flint Central High School, Pruitt was drafted out of
Michigan State University
Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...
by the Rangers in 1972. In 9 seasons he played in 341 games and had 795 at bats, 88 runs scored, 214 hits, 28 doubles, 4 triples, 12 home runs, 92 RBI, 8 stolen bases, 94 walks (7 intentional), a .269 batting average, a .345 on-base percentage, a .360 slugging percentage, 286 total bases, 7 sacrifice hits, and 7 sacrifice flies.
Pruitt was traded along with
Stan Thomas from the
Rangers
A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...
to the
Indians
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
for
John Ellis John Ellis may refer to:
Academics
*John Ellis (scrivener) (1698–1791), English political writer
*John Ellis (naturalist) (1710–1776), English botanical illustrator
*John Ellis (physicist, born 1946), British theoretical physicist at CERN
* Jo ...
at the
Winter Meetings
Representatives of all 30 Major League Baseball teams and their 120 Minor League Baseball affiliates convene for four days each December in the Winter Meetings to discuss league business and conduct off-season trades and transactions. Attendees in ...
on December 9, 1975.
Durso, Joseph. "Veeck Has Funds to Pay White Sox Price Today," ''The New York Times'', Wednesday, December 10, 1975.
Retrieved October 17, 2022.
On September 9th, 1982, Ron had a late-season ninth inning walk-off single to overcome a 6-5 deficit to give the Giants a 7-6 win over the Astros in the midst of a division race.
References
External links
1951 births
Living people
Major League Baseball left fielders
Major League Baseball right fielders
Major League Baseball catchers
Texas Rangers players
Cleveland Indians players
Chicago White Sox players
San Francisco Giants players
Denver Bears players
Flint Central High School alumni
Fort Myers Sun Sox players
Spokane Indians players
Pittsfield Rangers players
Toledo Mud Hens players
Charleston Charlies players
Phoenix Giants players
Portland Beavers players
Michigan State Spartans baseball players
Baseball players from Flint, Michigan
All-American college baseball players
Anchorage Glacier Pilots players
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