Ralph Kiner- Seven Straight Home Run Titles for Pittsburgh Pirates

Ralph Kiner was the face of the Pittsburgh Pirates for the seasons immediately following World War II. The National League's home run champion seven straight years, Ralph Kiner played only ten seasons, leaving the game early because of a bad back. But Ralph Kiner retired from the sport with only Babe Ruth having a better home run to at-bats ratio. He then became a broadcaster for the New York Mets and provided his listeners with some of the funniest lines ever uttered concerning baseball.

Ralph Kiner was born in Santa Rita, New Mexico in 1922. Ralph signed with the Pirates for an $8,000 bonus and hit 27 homers in the minor leagues before he went into the military for three years. Kiner came out of the war and became the starting left fielder for the Pirates at the age of 23 in 1946. That season, Ralph Kiner belted 23 home runs, but that total managed to lead the National League by one, over Johnny Mize, who missed fifty games with an injury. Kiner and Mize would be involved in some of the closest home run chases in Major League Baseball history over the next few seasons. In 1947, Ralph Kiner had the first of five consecutive one hundred plus RBI seasons when he smashed 51 homers and collected 127 runs batted in.

Pittsburgh had acquired slugger Hank Greenberg from the Tigers prior to the 1947 campaign and the club proceeded to alter the dimensions of Forbes Field to accommodate the pair of right handed hitters. A double bullpen was added in the outfield; the renovation shortened the distance from home to the left field corner from 365 feet to 335 and in the left field power alley from 406 to 355. Kiner and Greenberg combined for 76 homers in '47, but Greenberg retired after the season. Kiner credited Greenberg for helping him greatly with his advice on hitting, and the next year the bullpen became known as Kiner's Korner, due to the number of round trippers Ralph deposited there.