On the blog today, a career-capping "not so missing" 1973 card for former American League Rookie of the Year Ron Hansen, who played the last games of his 15-year career in 1972 with the Kansas City Royals:
Hansen
appeared in only 16 games for the Royals in his final Big League
campaign, hitting only .133 with four hits over 30 at-bats while putting
in time at third, second and short.
Back in 1960 he was
Rookie of the Year after hitting 22 homers while driving in 86 runs for
the Baltimore Orioles, also finishing fifth in the MVP race at season's
end.
In between he was a solid shortstop, getting some MVP
attention in 1964, 1965 and 1967 while playing with the Chicago White
Sox, but never having a season again like he did in 1960.
All
told, by the time he retired, Hansen finished with a career .234
average, with 1007 hits and 106 homers over 1384 games and 4311 at-bats,
getting named to one All-Star team.
