Ralph McPherran Kiner was an American Major League Baseball player and broadcaster.
| FactSnippet No. 1,746,655 |
26 Facts About Ralph Kiner
2.
An outfielder, Kiner played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, and Cleveland Indians from 1946 through 1955.
| FactSnippet No. 1,746,656 |
3.
Ralph Kiner served as an announcer for the New York Mets from the team's inception until his death.
| FactSnippet No. 1,746,657 |
4.
Ralph Kiner was born in Santa Rita, New Mexico, and raised in Alhambra, California.
| FactSnippet No. 1,746,658 |
5.
Ralph Kiner is the second cousin twice removed of Major League Baseball player for the New York Yankees, Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
| FactSnippet No. 1,746,659 |
Related searches
Pittsburgh Pirates Cleveland Indians Chicago Cubs New York Mets California New Mexico Alhambra Santa Isiah Kiner-Falefa New York Yankees United States Navy Hawaii Chicago White Sox Tim McCarver Gary Carter Los Angeles Dodgers Vin Scully WPIX Elizabeth Taylor Frank Sinatra Bing Crosby Janet Leigh Ava Gardner Bob Hope7.
Ralph Kiner was inducted into the Navy during the spring of 1943.
| FactSnippet No. 1,746,661 |
8.
Ralph Kiner flew PBM Mariner flying boats on submarine patrols from Kaneohe Bay Naval Air Station in Hawaii, accumulating 1,200 flying hours.
| FactSnippet No. 1,746,662 |
9.
Ralph Kiner made his major league debut on April 12,1946, with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
| FactSnippet No. 1,746,663 |
10.
Ralph Kiner finished the season with 23 home runs, but 109 strikeouts.
| FactSnippet No. 1,746,664 |
11.
In 1949, Ralph Kiner topped his 1947 total with 54 home runs, falling just two short of Hack Wilson's then-National League record.
| FactSnippet No. 1,746,665 |
12.
Ralph Kiner was selected to participate in the All-Star Game in six straight seasons, 1948 to 1953.
| FactSnippet No. 1,746,666 |
13.
Equally famous "Home run hitters drive Cadillacs and singles hitters drive Fords, " frequently misattributed to Ralph Kiner himself, was, by his own account, actually coined by teammate Fritz Ostermueller.
| FactSnippet No. 1,746,667 |
14.
On June 4,1953, Ralph Kiner was sent to the Chicago Cubs as part of a ten-player trade.
| FactSnippet No. 1,746,668 |
15.
Ralph Kiner played the rest of 1953 and all of 1954 with the Cubs, finishing his career with the Cleveland Indians in 1955.
| FactSnippet No. 1,746,669 |
16.
In 1961, Ralph Kiner entered the broadcast booth for the Chicago White Sox.
| FactSnippet No. 1,746,670 |
17.
Ralph Kiner was known for his occasional malapropisms, usually connected with getting people's names wrong, such as calling broadcasting partner Tim McCarver as "Tim MacArthur" and calling Gary Carter "Gary Cooper".
| FactSnippet No. 1,746,671 |
18.
Ralph Kiner is the third longest-tenured broadcaster in baseball history, trailing only Los Angeles Dodgers announcers Vin Scully and Jaime Jarrin.
| FactSnippet No. 1,746,672 |
19.
Ralph Kiner's traditional home run call—"It is gone, goodbye, " was a signature phrase in baseball.
| FactSnippet No. 1,746,673 |
21.
Partly owing, as Ralph Kiner once said, to the fact that Hollywood megastar Bing Crosby was part-owner of the Pirates, Ralph Kiner was often closely linked with the likes of celebrities such as Crosby's colleague Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra, but even more to publicized romances, dates or photos with leading ladies, such as Elizabeth Taylor, Ava Gardner and Janet Leigh.
| FactSnippet No. 1,746,675 |
22.
Ralph Kiner died from natural causes in Rancho Mirage, California, on February 6,2014, at the age of 91.
| FactSnippet No. 1,746,676 |
24.
Ralph Kiner had garnered 273 votes by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, one more than the minimum required for election.
| FactSnippet No. 1,746,678 |
25.
Ralph Kiner attended every Hall of Fame ceremony from the time he was inducted until his death.
| FactSnippet No. 1,746,679 |