Gene Alley played his entire career for the Bucs from 1963 to 1973, helping beat out the Orioles in 1971 for the championship. Lingering shoulder and knee problems forced him into an early retirement in 1973 at the age of 33. Gene was best known for his 2 time Gold Glove winning fielding abilities, teaming up with Hall of Fame second baseman Bill Mazeroski to create on of the best infield duos ever. The two set a MLB record for 161 double plays in a season in 1966 which still stands, also setting the Pirates up for a NL record with 215 double plays as a team. At one point in 1969 starting on August 13, Gene started a 21 game hitting streak during which he went 30 for 82 (.366) with 8 home runs, 21 RBI and 15 runs scored. He raised his batting average from .218 to .266 after that stretch.
Here's Gene wearing the number 22, not his normal number of 14 which I believe he wore every year except for 1968.
Did Alley change his number in 1968 to accomodate Jim Bunning?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure, I couldn't find the answer to that.
ReplyDeleteAs I suspected. Here are the uniform numbers for thwe 1968 Pirates:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1968&t=PIT
Gotta love that shot of him over 2nd base.
ReplyDelete