Eight Decades In Baseball TWO OF AMERICA'S GREATEST POSTWAR ATHLETES AND A MOTOWN QUEEN Ralph Kiner broke in with the Pittsburgh Pirates after World War II and became the best right-handed power hitter in the National League. After A Hall of Fame career, he switched to the broadcast booth and became the announcer for the New York Mets, best known for his solecisms and his postgame show, Kiner's Korner. Louise Brough Clapp was one of America's greatest female tennis players right after World War II. She was a fixture at Wimbledon between 1946 and 1955, winning may singles and doubles titles. She was ranked the world's #1 player in 1955. Anna Gordy Gaye was the older sister of Motown founder Berry Gordy, and the wife of Marvin Gaye. He contribution to the development of Motown as the foremost black record label in America was immeasurable. Ralph McPherran Kiner (October 27, 1922 -- February 6, 2014) was an American Major League Baseball player. An outfielder, Kiner played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, and Cleveland Indians from 1946 through 1955. He also served as an announcer for the New York Mets from the team's inception until his death. Though injuries forced his retirement from active play after 10 seasons, Kiner's tremendous slugging outpaced all of his National League contemporaries between the years 1946 and 1952. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1975. At the time of his death, baseball writer Marty Noble named Kiner "one of baseball's genuine and most charming gentlemen". Kiner made his major league debut on April 12, 1946, with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He finished the season with 23 home runs, but 109 strikeouts. After the season, the Pirates convinced future Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg not to retire. Greenberg gave Kiner hours of instruction, and in 1947, Kiner led the major leagues with 51 home runs while striking out fewer than 100 times.[2] Many of Kiner's homers were hit into a shortened left-field and left-center-field porch at Forbes Field (originally built for Greenberg and known in the press as "Greenberg Gardens"); the porch was retained for Kiner and redubbed "Kiner's Korner".[4] Kiner would later use "Kiner's Korner" as the title of his post-game TV show in New York.[1] In 1949 Kiner topped his 1947 total with 54 home runs, falling just two short of Hack Wilson's then-National League record. It was the highest total in the major leagues from 1939 to 1960, and the highest National League total from 1931 to 1997. It made Kiner the first National League player with two 50 plus home run seasons. Kiner also matched his peak of 127 RBIs. From 1947 to 1951, Kiner topped 40 home runs and 100 RBIs each season. Through 2011 he was one of seven major leaguers to have had at least four 30-homer, 100-RBI seasons in their first five years, along with Chuck Klein, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Mark Teixeira, Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard and Ryan Braun. Louise Brough (pronounced Bruff) was born in Oklahoma City in 1923.[2] Their family moved to Beverly Hills, California when she was four years old.[2] She learned to play tennis on the public courts at Roxbury Park[3] and was later coached by Dick Skeen. In 1940 and 1941, she won the US Girls' Championships.[4] In doubles, Brough usually teamed with her longtime friend Margaret Osborne duPont.[2] Both won their first US doubles title at the 1942 US Championships. The successful pair won another eight consecutive doubles titles at Forest Hills until 1950 which is the longest championship run in history in any event at any Grand Slam tournament.[4] Brough and duPont did not play as a team at the US Championships in 1951 or 1952 but in 1953, they returned to extend their record match winning streak to 41 before losing to Hart and Shirley Fry Irvin in the final, 6--2, 7--9, 9--7.[4] Their career record as a team at the US Championships was 58--2, winning 12 of the 14 times they entered the tournament and losing only five sets in those 14 years.[4] In singles, Brough won the US title in 1947. Although she appeared in five more singles finals at Forest Hills, this would remain her only US singles title. In 1948, she had a match point at 6--5 in the third set against duPont.[5][6] She also had three match points in the 1954 final against Doris Hart, the first at 5--4 in the third set and two more at 6--5 in that set.

• published: 18 Feb 2014
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