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Ron Blomberg

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Full Name: Ronald Mark Blomberg Primary Position: DH,1B,OF,RF
Height/Weight: 6' 1.5"/195 First Game: September 10, 1969
Birthdate: August 23, 1948 Final Game: October 1, 1978
Birthplace: Atlanta, Georgia MLB Experience: 8 years
Bat/Throw: Left/Right
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Contents

  • 1 Biography
  • 2 Quotation
  • 3 Statistics
    • 3.1 Batting Stats
    • 3.2 Fielding Stats
  • 4 Transactions
  • 5 Trivia
  • 6 Video Gallery
  • 7 Picture Gallery
  • 8 See Also
  • 9 Categories

[edit] Biography

Ronald Mark Blomberg (born August 23, 1948 in Atlanta, Georgia), nicknamed "Boomer", is a former Major League Baseball first baseman who played with the New York Yankees (1969, 1971-76) and Chicago White Sox (1978). He batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Blomberg's name is pronounced "Bloomberg", like Michael Bloomberg, the NYC mayor.[1]

A perennial prospect for most of his career, Blomberg was selected by the Yankees in the first round (1st pick) of the 1967 amateur draft. He debuted on September 10, 1969.

Unfortunately, Blomberg disappointed the Yankees' great expectations for him. He was a notoriously injury-prone player. After going 3-for-6 in his first season, Blomberg was out in 1970. Things were not much better in the years to come. He played 107 games in 1972, 100 in 1973, 90 in 1974, 34 in 1975, and only one in 1976. Out in 1977, he was granted free agency at the end of the season. He played his final game for the White Sox on October 1, 1978.

Blomberg's place in baseball history, however, is assured, as he has the distinction of being the first major leaguer to play a game as a designated hitter. On April 6, 1973 at Fenway Park, he was walked by Red Sox pitcher Luis Tiant in his first plate appearance of the game.

In his eight-season career, Blomberg compiled a .293 batting average (391-for-1333) with 52 home runs, 224 RBI, 184 runs, 67 doubles, eight triples, and six stolen bases in 461 games. He added a .360 on base percentage and a .473 slugging average, for a combined .833 OPS.

In April 2006, Blomberg's biography, Designated Hebrew: the Ron Blomberg Story [2]was released by Sports Publishing. It was co-written by Dan Schlossberg, the legendary author of over 30 baseball books including The Baseball Catalog and host of the syndicated radio show, BallTalk.

[edit] Quotation

     
  The strapping, ebullient Southerner was the nation's and the Yankees' first draft pick in 1967. A powerful lefthanded hitter and terrible fielder, on Opening Day, 1973 he became baseball's first designated hitter; the irrepressible Blomberg commented: "I've been a DH all my life: Designated Hebrew." Accused of being a Designated Hypochondriac, the perennial prospect spent months, and years sidelined with a variety of muscle injuries. Even when he was healthy, he was seldom permitted to face lefthanded pitching. In 1973, he hit a career-high .329 while playing in 100 games -- for him, a full season.


 

— Jane Charnin-Aker, at Baseball Library [3]

[edit] Statistics

[edit] Batting Stats

Year Team G AB R H HR RBI AVG OBP SLG 2B 3B BB SO HBP SH SB IBB GDP
1969 NY A 4 6 0 3 0 0 .500 .571 .500 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
1971 NY A 64 199 30 64 7 31 .322 .363 .477 6 2 14 23 0 1 2 3 2
1972 NY A 107 299 36 80 14 49 .268 .355 .488 22 1 38 26 3 0 0 4 4
1973 NY A 100 301 45 99 12 57 .329 .395 .498 13 1 34 25 0 1 2 4 7
1974 NY A 90 264 39 82 10 48 .311 .375 .481 11 2 29 33 2 0 2 2 5
1975 NY A 34 106 18 27 4 17 .255 .336 .481 8 2 13 10 0 0 0 1 3
1976 NY A 1 2 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1978 CHI A 61 156 16 36 5 22 .231 .280 .372 7 0 11 17 0 1 0 2 1
Total 461 1333 184 391 52 224 .293 .360 .473 67 8 140 134 5 3 6 16 22

[edit] Fielding Stats

Year Team POS G GS INN PO A ERR DP TP PB SB CS PkO AVG
1969 NY A OF 2 2 13 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000
1969 NY A LF 2 2 13 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000
1971 NY A OF 57 49 450.2 96 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 .970
1971 NY A RF 57 49 450.2 94 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 .969
1972 NY A 1B 95 90 715.1 813 32 13 88 0 0 0 0 0 .985
1973 NY A DH 56 49 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1973 NY A 1B 40 37 312 359 28 8 38 0 0 0 0 0 .980
1974 NY A OF 19 15 129.2 32 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000
1974 NY A RF 17 15 125 31 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000
1974 NY A DH 60 56 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1974 NY A LF 2 0 4.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1975 NY A DH 27 26 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1975 NY A RF 1 1 8 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000
1975 NY A OF 1 1 8 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000
1976 NY A DH 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1978 CHI A DH 36 34 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1978 CHI A 1B 7 7 59 70 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 .986
Total 1B 142 134 1086.1 1242 63 22 128 0 0 0 0 0 .983
Total OF 79 67 601.1 132 3 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 .978
Total DH 180 165 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Total RF 75 65 583.2 127 3 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 .977
Total LF 4 2 17.2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000

[edit] Transactions

  • Selected by New York Yankees in the 1st round (1st pick overall) of the free-agent draft (June 6, 1967).
  • Granted free agency (October 20, 1977).
  • Signed by Chicago White Sox (November 17, 1977).
  • Released by Chicago White Sox (March 30, 1979).

[edit] Trivia

[edit] Video Gallery

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Retrieved from "http://armchairgm.wikia.com/Ron_Blomberg"

This page was last modified 22:23, 6 November 2007. Content is available under the GFDL.

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