Card Corner--Richie Hebner

Card Corner

It's Monday, which means it's time for the latest edition of "Card Corner." In today's installment, we examine a colorful player who had one of the most unusual of postseason jobs.

Like many of the Pittsburgh Pirates stars of the 1970s, Richie Hebner first dipped into the pool of fame in 1971, when the team surprised almost every rational baseball onlooker by beating the seemingly impregnable Baltimore Orioles in a classic seven-game World Series.

It was during that 1971 season that Hebner provided some details about his celebrated wintertime occupation—gravedigging. Hebner revealed that he made $35 a grave while working for his father, the superintendent of a cemetery in West Roxbury, Massachusetts. "The faster I dig, the more money I make," Hebner told the Boston Record American, using unflappable logic. Hebner explained that he could typically dig a single grave in about two hours. "It’s all pick and shovel. Some people thought it was a gag at first when they found out I dig graves, but it’s no gag. I really do it."

After the ’71 World Series, and presumable in between gravedigging assignments, Hebner’s hometown of Norwood, Massachusetts held a special day in his honor. During the offseason, the newly discovered Hebner, one of the few Pirate bachelors, received five marriage proposals in one batch of mail. "One of the girls who proposed forgot to sign her name," Hebner said with a laugh in a 1972 interview with The Sporting News. "Come to think of it, maybe she didn’t forget."

On the field, Hebner continued to improve his power production, hitting 19 home runs in 1972 and a career-high 25 the following summer. During the 1973 season, the likable Hebner became attached to controversy when he and Bill Virdon twice engaged in shouting matches. All the while, Hebner continued to battle his reputation as Pittsburgh’s most eligible swinging bachelor. "They talk as if the only things I think about are women and booze," Hebner complained to the Associated Press. Meanwhile, some Pirate officials criticized him for a lack of concentration, which may have caused some of his defensive problems at third base. Hebner also encountered difficulties with some fans, whose heckling clearly bothered the sensitive third baseman.

"Once I used to be the good guy," Hebner told The Sporting News in January of 1974. "Now every place I go, I’m looked on as the bad guy." Hebner admitted his guilt in the shouting matches with Virdon, who had since become the manager of the New York Yankees. "Those two run-ins with Bill Virdon probably did it. I was wrong about that. I know it now."

Hebner remained in Pittsburgh for three more seasons, before signing a free agent contract with Pennsylvania’s other team, the Phillies. Hebner inked a three-year deal worth an estimated $600,000. Later, when the Phillies signed Pete Rose as a free agent, Hebner became expendable in the City of Brotherly Love. On March 27, 1979, the Phillies traded him and infielder Jose Moreno to the Mets for pitcher Nino Espinosa. The Mets hoped that Hebner would fill their long troublesome third base position, but his stay in the Big Apple turned into a disaster. New York fans booed Hebner as he struggled at the plate, and in his re-adjustment to playing third base. Just a few days before his wedding day, the Mets traded Hebner to the Tigers for a pair of mediocre players, outfielder Jerry Morales and third baseman Phil Mankowski. Mets general manager Joe McDonald had come to the realization that the New York lifestyle did not suit Hebner. "Richie hated crowds and traffic," McDonald told The Sporting News in November of 1979. "He went into Manhattan only once all the time he was here."

While in Detroit, Hebner failed to take advantage of Tiger Stadium’s right field porch and never did justify manager Sparky Anderson’s initial confidence in him as Detroit’s cleanup hitter. Late in the 1982 season, the Tigers sold Hebner’s contract, returning him to Pittsburgh. He played two seasons for the Pirates as a pinch-hitter and utilityman and then signed as a free agent with the Cubs, where he contributed as a backup infielder on the team’s 1984 National League East championship. Hebner remained with the Cubs until March 1, 1986, when he drew his release.

Hebner didn’t remain out of baseball for long. In October of 1988, the Blue Jays named Hebner their first base coach. Two days later, the Boston Red Sox offered Hebner, the Massachusetts native, a position replacing Walt Hriniak as hitting instructor. The Red Sox sought permission from the Blue Jays, who agreed to let Hebner out of his contract. In 1995, Hebner became the manager of the Blue Jays’ Triple-A affiliate, the Syracuse Chiefs. He lost the job two years later, only to return to his first professional organization, the Pirates, as a minor league hitting instructor. In 2005, Hebner became the hitting instructor for the Durham Bulls of the International League.