The Powerful Start to Ralph Kiner's Career is the Stuff of Legends
This is how you reach the Hall of Fame after just 10 years in the big leagues.
Legendary Pittsburgh Pirates slugger Ralph Kiner accomplished a lot in a short amount of time. His big-league career lasted just 10 seasons, but the six-time All-Star is enshrined in Cooperstown as a Hall of Famer.
He suited up for 1,472 games during those 10 years — parts of eight seasons with the Pirates, two with the Chicago Cubs, and one in Cleveland. Kiner slugged 369 homers with 1,015 RBI and a .946 career OPS. He’s also proof that it’s not where you start in Hall of Fame voting, but where you finish.
His first year on the ballot was in 1960, receiving just 1.1% of the vote. He eventually earned enshrinement in 1975 (barely) by receiving 75.4% of the vote. What a meteoric rise, right? That wouldn’t even be allowed to happen now since players with less than 5% of the vote are taken off the ballot (that started in 1979).
This was all made possible because of the first eight years of his career, which all finished with at least 30 homers. I’m focusing on the first seven years, though, because he led the league in dingers…every…single…season.
Kiner’s Seven-Year Reign Atop the Home Run Leaderboard
After serving in the military in World War II from 1944-45, Kiner made his big-league debut in 1946 with Pittsburgh. He finished with a league-high 23 homers. Here’s what the next six years looked like:
1947: 51 homers
1948: 40 homers
1949: 54 homers
1950: 47 homers
1951: 42 homers
1952: 37 homers
It’s not just that Kiner won seven straight single-season home run crowns. That’s certainly impressive, but how he did it was also jaw-dropping. I mean, the dude put together five straight years of 40-plus taters! And he surpassed the half-century mark twice!
Between 1946 and 1952, Kiner slugged 294 homers in 1,054 games. The closest hitters to him in that category were Ted Williams (197 homers in 841 games) and Stan Musial (191 homers in 1,069 games). Kiner’s 41.0 fWAR during this time ranked fourth in baseball behind Musial (56.3), Williams (51.9), and Jackie Robinson (41.6).
If we want to expand this period to include Kiner’s entire career (1946-55), his 369 dingers easily ranked at the top of the leaderboard. Musial was the closest with 289 homers.
He’s Still Littered All Over Pittsburgh’s Franchise HR Leaderboards
As you might imagine, Kiner still has a heavy presence on the Pirates’ single-season and all-time home run leaderboards despite last appearing in a big-league game 70 (!) years ago.
His 301 homers while in Pittsburgh still rank second in franchise history, looking up to only Willie Stargell (475 homers). But where he dominates is the single-season home run leaderboard.
Here’s a quick rundown of where his top six personal performances fall on the Pirates’ leaderboard:
54 homers in 1949 (first)
51 homers in 1947 (second)
47 homers in 1950 (fourth)
42 homers in 1951 (sixth)
40 homers in 1948 (seventh)
37 homers in 1952 (10th)
Oh, and just in case this wasn’t enough, those 54 taters in 1949 are still the most in franchise history by a primary left fielder.
Kiner’s MLB career didn’t last as long as some other Hall of Famers, but he found a way to have as much impact as possible in the period he was on the diamond.
Pretty good announcer too.
Wow, I had no idea Kiner's career was such a short one! Great writeup.