Friday, June 18, 2010

Ravishing Relics

He made his major league debut on April 16, 1946 with the Pittsburgh Pirates. In 1947, he hit 51 home runs. Many of Kiner's homers were hit into a shortened left-field and left-center-field porch at Forbes Field, originally built for Hank Greenberg, and known in the press as "Greenberg Gardens"; the porch was retained for Kiner and redubbed "Kiner's Korner". Kiner would later use "Kiner's Korner" as the title of his post-game TV show in New York.

In 1949, Kiner topped his 1947 total with 54 home runs, falling just two short of Hack Wilson's National League record. It was the highest total in the major leagues from 1939 to 1960, and the highest National League total from 1931 to 1997. It made Kiner the first National League player with two fifty-plus seasons. Kiner also matched his peak of 127 RBIs. From 1947 to 1951, Kiner topped 40 home runs and 100 RBIs each season. His string of seasons leading the league in home runs reached seven in 1952, when he hit 37. This was also the last of a record six consecutive seasons in which he led Major League Baseball in home runs, all under the guidance of manager Billy Meyer and Pirate great Honus Wagner. He was selected to participate in the All-Star Game in six straight seasons, 1948 to 1953. He holds (by himself) the major league record of eight home runs in four consecutive multi-homer games, a mark that he set in September, 1947. This info is from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Kiner

3 comments:

TheRealDFG said...

That card is pretty sweet. Normally I don't like the Manu-patches but that one is kind of cool. What set did that come out of?

The Big Kahuna said...

It came out of 2010 Topps series 2 packs (hobby). I picked up a couple of packs and pulled this out of the third pack.

Fuji said...

Congratulations on pulling this card... These cards sell well too... I've been trying to pick up an A's or Padres card, but they're too expensive.