Word: kiner
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1940-1949
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...three consecutive years, Kiner has hit 40 or more home runs, thus set a mark never equaled by such sluggers as Rogers Hornsby, Jimmie Foxx and Joe DiMaggio. Furthermore, the 26-year-old pride of Pittsburgh seemed to be improving with age. One night last week, with 50 homers to his credit, he stepped to the plate with 11,881 fans howling for him to hit another. With the National League's home-run record of 56 (set by Hack Wilson back in 1930) so close and time so short, Kiner's big problem was to keep from...
...Babe Ruth? Against Boston's right-handed Bill Voiselle, Right-hander Kiner picked a fat curve and put his 195 Ibs. into an easy, carefully grooved swing. The ball cleared the left-field fence for home run No. 51. Three innings later, he put No. 52 in the same place. To Pittsburghers, who head for the exits the moment Kiner has taken his last turn at bat, even Babe Ruth's record mark of 60 (in 1927) still seemed within Kiner's reach...
Although the Boston Red Sox's slugging Ted Williams spends more time practicing before mirrors, Kiner is easily the most thorough and scientific hitter in the game today. In his room, he keeps a complete card-index file showing what type of ball each opposing pitcher has thrown him all season...
Another aid to Kiner's hitting is his movie camera and projector. Part of his homework is studying slow-motion pictures of himself at bat, looking for telltale hitches, lunges and hesitations. At the first sign of any break in his smooth-flowing style he goes to work on himself. Unlike most contemporary sluggers, Kiner digs into a wide-legged stance at the plate and takes almost no stride at all as he meets the ball. The usual forward stride, he thinks, is a waste motion and throws a power hitter off balance. To get maximum power into...
...Gold Trinkets. Kiner, who lives with his widowed mother in California in the offseason, spent three seasons in the minors (at Albany and Toronto), then went off to hunt enemy submarines as a Navy PBM pilot. In 1946, as a rookie with the Pirates, he led the National League in homers with 23. With some instruction from his roommate, Hank Greenberg (58 home runs with Detroit in 1938), he boosted his home-run production to 51 the following year-and his salary from $10,000 to $30,000. With that he could afford to buy his mother a new home...