Dale Long
Dale Long was born in Springfield, Missouri, United States on February 6th, 1926 and is the Baseball Player. At the age of 64, Dale Long biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 64 years old, Dale Long has this physical status:
Richard Dale Long (February 6, 1926 – January 27, 1991) was an American first baseman in Major League Baseball with the Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Browns, Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, New York Yankees, and the Washington Senators between 1951 and 1963.
He batted and threw left-handed. Long, a native of Springfield, Missouri, refused an invitation from the Green Bay Packers to play football and instead chose to play baseball.
Career
Long, a native of Springfield, Missouri, graduated from high school in Adams, Massachusetts, and declined the Green Bay Packers' invite to play football instead opting for a baseball contract. He made his first appearance for the Milwaukee Brewers of the American Association during the wartime 1944 season and then began his career in earnest in 1945 with the Cincinnati Reds' team. Long spent six seasons in the minor leagues, playing for five different parent clubs before he joined the Pirates in 1951, the St. Louis Browns' season ended. During his spring training with the 1951 Pirates, the first baseman was encouraged to try catching by the club's general manager, Branch Rickey. The experiment ended after one game, but Long would return to the position seven years later in the majors.
Pittsburgh gave Long another chance in 1955 after 312 seasons in the minors, including an MVP-winning 1953 appearance in the Pacific Coast League. He hit.291 with 79 RBIs, while still accumulating double-figure figures in extra-base hits with 19 doubles, 13 triples, and 16 home runs. During the 1955 season, Long led the major leagues in triples (13) in the major leagues.
Long recorded career highs in home runs (27) and RBI (1991), made the National League All-Star team, and put his name in the books by winning eight home runs in eight consecutive games between May 19 and May 28, breaking the previous record of six straight games won by Ken Williams (1922), George Kelly (1924), Walker Cooper (1955) and Willie Mays (1955). Since then, his accomplishments have only been matched by Don Mattingly (1987) and Ken Griffey Jr. (1993), both in the American League.
Long's home-run binge marked a promising start to his 1956 debut. During the eight-game stretch, he hit 15 runs, taking his batting average from.384 to.411—and 17 runs batted in. Long was selected as the National League's starting first baseman in the 1956 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Griffith Stadium, with his batting average still above.310 in June. In two at bats, he was hitless in two outfields, but the Senior Circuit took the game 7–3. It will be Long's first appearance in a midsummer classic.
Long belted 55 homers for the Cubs in 212 seasons, retiring in May 1957. He became the majors' first southpaw catcher since Donahue, 56 years ago, in the second weeks of 1958. Long was a hit at Wrigley Field on Thursday during a Cubs' first game against the Pirates on August 20 and the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 21. In both cases, he had been shifted from first base to first base and wore his first-baseman's glove rather than a catcher's glove on his right hand. He caught 123 runs and had one assist, but did not allow a passed ball. He set another home run record in 1959 when he met back-to-back pinch-hit homers.
Long divided his playing time between the Giants and Yankees in 1960. In the 1960 World Series, he met his former Pirates' team as a member of the Yankees. The Yankees tied the score at 9–9 after their pinch single in Game 7's ninth inning tied the game close, but that wasn't enough to set the tone for Bill Mazeroski's Series-winning blow in the Pittsburgh half of the game.
Long was named by the "new" Washington Senators in the 1960 Major League Baseball expansion draft, and he was the club's regular first baseman during the 1961 season. However, Don Lock, a young outfielder, was traded back to the Yankees in July 1962. Long long fought for a championship ring when the Yanks defeated the Giants in 1962 World Series. In Game 1, he was a late-inning replacement for regular Bill Skowron, and he put on an insurance run with a single in the eighth innings of the Yankees' 6–2 victory. He started Game 2 at Candlestick Park and was hitless in three at bats. Overall, he was one-for-five as New York defeated in seven games, but not for the Series. In August 1963, Long's baseball career came to an end. The Bombers cut him from the active roster and announced him as an extra coach on manager Ralph Houk's staff for the remainder of the season. When New York lost in four straight games to the Dodgers, he wasn't ready for the September stretch drive or the 1963 World Series. Long's 21-season playing career came to an end in 1964 with a 24-game stint with the Triple-A Jacksonville Suns. In the late 1960s, he briefly served as an umpire in minor leagues.
Long was a.267 hitter with 805 hits, 132 home runs, and 467 RBI in 1,013 games during his ten-season MLB career. As a first baseman, he had a.988 fielding percentage. He batted in.250 in eight at bats in World Series play, with two singles and one run batted in.
Dale Long died of cancer at the age of 64.