Ron Hansen

The uncommonly tall (6’3″) shortstop missed the 1957 season with a slipped disc, and went 0-for-19 in his 1958 Orioles debut. He returned to Baltimore in 1960, and his career-high 22 HR and 86 RBI won him AL Rookie of the Year honors. He led AL shortstops in double plays in 1961, spent six months of 1962 in the Marines due to the Cuban Missile Crisis, re-injured his back, and was traded to the White Sox in a January 1963 deal for Luis Aparicio. Hansen led the league twice more in double plays and four times in assists. On August 29, 1965 he tied an AL record with 18 chances in the first game of a doubleheader, and added 10 more in the second for a total of 28, setting another record. Out again with back problems in 1966, he was swapped to the Senators in a 1968 deal for Tim Cullen. Hansen turned the majors’ first unassisted triple play in 41 years on July 30, 1968 against the Indians. He was then shipped back to the White Sox for Cullen, making them the only two players to be traded for one another twice in the same season. Hansen finished his career as a utility man, and became a coach and minor league manager.