Ron Hunt, a Met infielder from 1963-1966, the first player in team history to start an All-Star Game and the runner-up for the 1963 N.L. Rookie of the Year, has died in his hometown of St. Louis, the team announced Friday on X. He was 85. The team said he had been in hospice care battling several illnesses for the last month.
Hunt played the first four of his 12 MLB seasons with the Mets. He hit .282/.344/.379 with 20 home runs for New York. He was traded with Jim Hickman to the Dodgers for Tommy Davis and Derrell Griffith after the 1966 season. He played one year in Los Angeles, then finished his career between the Giants, Expos and Cardinals.
He led the majors in getting hit by a pitch every year from 1968 to 1973 and led the National League in HBPs in 1974. He was plunked a career-high 50 times with the Expos in 1971, which is second in MLB history for a single season to Hughie Jennings, who was hit 51 times for the Baltimore Orioles of the National League in 1896. Hunt’s 243 career HBPs ranks sixth all-time.
Hunt hit .272/.334/.396 with a career-high 10 homers in his rookie year, good enough to come in second to Pete Rose for ROTY. He went 1-for-3 with a single off Dean Chance of the Angels in the 1964 All-Star Game and left the game for pinch-hitter Henry Aaron.
He was a reserve representing the Mets in the 1966 All-Star Game and his sacrifice bunt in the 10th inning moved Tim McCarver to second. McCarver scored the winning run when Maury Wills delivered a walk-off single for the 2-1 National League victory.
Hunt was a lifetime .273/.368/.347 hitter with 39 homers and 370 RBIs over 1,483 games.
“Ron Hunt was a unique fellow,” Howie Rose posted in a tribute on X. “He spoke his mind to anyone and everyone and as such was too hot to handle for front offices.” Rose said Hunt developed a program to help get high school baseball players noticed by college scouts and many earned scholarships as a result.
