Del Unser

Delbert Bernard Unser

• Bats Left, Throws Left
• Height 6' 1", Weight 180 lb.
• School Mississippi State University
• High School St. Teresa High School (Decatur)
• Debut April 10, 1968
• Final Game June 6, 1982
• Born December 9, 1944 in Decatur, IL USA

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Biographical Information

Del Unser is the son of Al Unser and brother of Larry Unser, minor league outfielder in the Cleveland Indians chain from 1972-1973. He played in the majors from 1968, when he made his debut for the Washington Senators, until 1982. He finished second in the voting for the 1968 American League Rookie of the Year Award, behind Stan Bahnsen. In addition to Washington, he also played for Cleveland, the Philadelphia Phillies, the New York Mets and the Montreal Expos before finishing his career back with the Phillies as a pinch-hitting specialist. He was a member of the first Phillies team to win a World Series, in 1980. He went 3 for 6 with a pair of doubles as the Phils defeated the Kansas City Royals in the Fall Classic.

When he first came up, he was considered one of the fastest players in the American League and a superlative defensive center fielder, but was mainly a singles hitter (his slugging percentage with Cleveland in 1972 was just .277 in 132 games). He did not reach double figures in homers until he joined the Phillies in 1973, then stayed at that level until 1977, after which he never got as many as 200 at-bats in a season.

He was a coach for the Phillies from 1985 to 1988, and later worked as the team's farm director and as a scout.

Following the 1980 World Series, Unser appeared with four of his Phillies teammates on Family Feud for one week in 1980. He, Larry Bowa, Mike Schmidt, Dick Ruthven and Garry Maddox played against five members of the Kansas City Royals: John Wathan, Willie Wilson, Paul Splittorff, Dan Quisenberry and Dennis Leonard.

Notable Achievements

• 1968 Topps All-Star Rookie Team
• AL Triples Leader (1969)
• Won a World Series with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1980

Related Sites

• Del Unser at the SABR Bio Project