Ron Hunt, the first Met to start an All-Star Game, died this in St. Louis. He was 85.
The St. Louis native, who spend the last month in hospice battling several illnesses, per the team, spent 12 seasons in the majors, the first four with the Mets.
Known for his hard-nosed style of play, Hunt started at second base for the National League in the Midsummer Classic at Shea Stadium in 1964, his second season in the majors.
Hunt, a Met from 1963-66, represented the Mets as an All-Star again in 1966, before being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers that offseason.
Never afraid of physical contact, Hunt led the NL in getting hit by pitch seven times — and the majors six. He was drilled 243 times in his career- sixth-most in MLB history.
When he retired after spring training in 1975, no one had been hit more than Hunt and he holds the modern (post-1900) single-season record of 50 HBPs in 1971 with the Expos.
Ron Kenneth Hunt was born in St. Louis on February 23, 1941, the only child of Floyd and Bernice Hunt. Hunt was also raised by his grandfather, Walter Gronemeyer, who passed along his passion for baseball.
Hunt signed with the Milwaukee Braves out of Ritenour High School, where he played baseball and football.
His contract was purchased by the Mets after their inaugural 1962 season and he also played for the Dodgers, Giants, Expos and Cardinals.
After joining the Mets, Hunt went straight to the majors in 1963 and became the starting second baseman.
In that first season, Hunt had 145 hits, 28 doubles, 10 home runs and 42 RBIs, numbers he never surpassed in the rest of his career.
The results were good enough that Hunt finished second in the NL Rookie of the Year voting, losing out to Pete Rose.
Over a dozen years in the majors, Hunt had 1429 hits.
More than numbers, though, Hunt made his mark with his tenacity between the lines.
As a 22-year-old rookie, Hunt led the Mets with 13 HBPs that season.
“Some folks give their bodies to science,’’ Hunt said. “I gave mine to baseball.”
As he explained to noti.group’s Ken Davidoff in 2018, “I found out I could get hit by the ball, so I worked on it in front of a mirror. I’d give, give, give, and if it broke over the plate, I’d foul it off. I got hit [on] a lot of 3-and-1 pitches. The pitchers said if I got to 3-and-1, they might as well hit me, because I could foul balls off.”
His physicality, which endeared him forever to fans, had a down side, as it helped lead to as many as 16 baseball-related surgeries and may have contributed to the onset of Parkinson’s disease, the incurable neurodegenerative disorder that plagued him in his later years.
“I can tell you, considering what he did for a living and looking at him now, it’s really hard to stomach. It really is,” Tracy Hunt, Ron’s daughter, told The Post in 2018.
Hunt didn’t just lack fear in the batter’s box. It was also true when he was playing the infield and running the bases.
On May 11, 1965, in a game against St. Louis at Shea Stadium, Hunt collided with the Cardinals Phil Gagliano as he fielded a grounder at second base. Hunt was sidelined for nearly three months while recovering from injuries to his head, as well as a shoulder.
And on Aug. 6, 1969, while with the Giants at Philadelphia’s Connie Mack Stadium, Hunt scored from first base on a double by Willie Mays. During the play, Hunt was hit in the head as he slid into home plate by a relay throw from Phillies infielder Cookie Rojas. Hunt stayed overnight in Philadelphia for observation, but played three days later in San Francisco.
He was also hit in the head by a Tom Seaver pitch against the Mets later that month and again sent to the hospital.
Despite the possible link between his style of play and his Parkinson’s diagnosis, Hunt said in 2018 he had no regrets.
“Hell no,” Hunt said. “I’m still married.”
Hunt was surrounded by stars throughout his career, first playing for Casey Stengel in Queens, where he was teammates with former Dodger Duke Snider.
He also played with Mays, Warren Spahn, Willie McCovey and Keith Hernandez, who made his MLB debut with the Cardinals in 1974, Hunt’s final season.
And it was the Mets that he made a lasting impression — and it didn’t take long for him to do so.
In his home debut at Shea, on April 19, 1963, Hunt hit a walk-off, two-run double with one out in the bottom of the ninth to give the Mets their first win after opening the season with eight straight losses.
All-Star appearances followed in ‘64 and ‘66 before he was shipped to Los Angeles, along with Jim Hickman, in exchange for Tommy Davis and Derrell Griffith.
“I thought I was going to be a Met all my life,” Hunt said. In 2018. “But they screwed me.”
Despite the bitter ending with the organization, Hunt made it to Citi Field on more than one occasion.
He is survived by his wife Jackie, as well as daughter Tracy and son, Ron Jr.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
