Billy Hunter

Gordon William Hunter

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 0", Weight 180 lb.
• School State Teachers College at Indiana, Penn State University
• High School Indiana High School
• Debut April 14, 1953
• Final Game September 27, 1958
• Born June 4, 1928 in Punxsutawney, PA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Billy Hunter played six seasons in the majors, mostly at shortstop, and later managed the Texas Rangers. He appeared in the All-Star Game as a rookie in 1953. An outstanding fielder early in his career, Hunter has one of the lowest career batting averages and on-base percentages of any former major league regular.

Hunter was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1948 after briefly attending Penn State University on a football scholarship, and played at Trois-Rivières that same year. During his time in the Dodgers organization, though, Pee Wee Reese owned shortstop, and so Hunter was eventually traded in 1952 to the St. Louis Browns.

In the winter of 1952 he played for the Santurce Crabbers, forming a double-play combination with Jim Gilliam, who would also be a major league rookie in 1953. Billy became the everyday shortstop for the sad-sack St. Louis Browns in 1953, playing every single game of their last season in St. Louis.

In 1954, he was on the team during the first season of the Baltimore Orioles. After the season he was traded to the New York Yankees in a multi-player deal involving Don Larsen and a slew of others, and Billy became the regular shortstop on the Yankees in 1955, appearing a bit more often at the position than the 38-year-old Phil Rizzuto.

For 1957 he moved to the Kansas City Athletics where he became the regular second baseman, also playing a lot of shortstop and some third base. He hit under .200, and the following year when he also hit under .200 for Kansas City and the Cleveland Indians, his major league career was over.

After his playing career ended, Billy Hunter was a scout for the Indians in 1961. He managed the Bluefield Orioles in 1962 and 1963 and was a Baltimore Orioles coach from 1964 to 1977 before becoming skipper of the Texas Rangers for a season and a half. He was also a longtime athletics director at Towson State University. Hunter coached the baseball team at Towson from 1979 to 1987.

Notable Achievements

• 1952 Player of the Year Texas League Fort Worth Cats
• AL All-Star (1953)
• Won a World Series with the New York Yankees in 1956 (he did not play in the World Series)

Preceded by Connie Ryan

Texas Rangers Manager 1977-1978

Succeeded by Pat Corrales

Year-By-Year Managerial Record

Year	Team	League	Record	Finish	Organization	Playoffs	Notes
1962	Bluefield Orioles	Appalachian League	47-23	1st	Baltimore Orioles	none League Champs
1963	Bluefield Orioles	Appalachian League	45-24	1st	Baltimore Orioles	none League Champs
1977	Texas Rangers	American League	60-33	2nd	Texas Rangers		replaced Frank Lucchesi (31-31), Eddie Stanky (1-0) and Connie Ryan (2-4) on June 28
1978	Texas Rangers	American League	86-75	--	Texas Rangers		replaced by Pat Corrales on October 1

Related Sites

• Bily Hunter at the SABR Bio Project
• BR Manager page