Hank Bauer

Henry Albert Bauer (July 31, 1922 – February 9, 2007) aka Hank Bauer was an American right fielder and manager in Major League Baseball. He played with the New York Yankees (1948–1959) and Kansas City Athletics (1960–1961); he batted and threw right-handed. He served as the manager of the Athletics in both Kansas City (1961–62) and in Oakland (1969), as well as the Baltimore Orioles (1964–68), guiding the Orioles to the World Series title in 1966, a four-game sweep over the heavily favored Los Angeles Dodgers. This represented the first World Series title in the franchise’s history.

Hank Bauer Early years

Born in East St. Louis, Illinois, as the youngest of nine children, Hank Bauer was the son of an Austrian immigrant, a bartender who had earlier lost his leg in an aluminum mill. With little money coming into the home, Bauer was forced to wear clothes made out of old feed sacks, helping shape his hard-nosed approach to life. (It was said that his care-worn face “looked like a clenched fist”.) While playing baseball and basketball at East St. Louis Central Catholic High School, Bauer suffered permanent damage to his nose, which was caused by an errant elbow from an opponent. Upon graduation in 1941, he was repairing furnaces in a beer-bottling plant when his brother Herman, a minor league player in the Chicago White Sox system, was able to get him a tryout that resulted in a contract with Oshkosh of the Class D Wisconsin State League.

World War II – Marine Corps

One month after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Bauer enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and served with the 4th Raider Battalion and G Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines. While deployed to the Pacific Theater, Hank Bauer contracted malaria on Guadalcanal, however he recovered from that well enough to earn 11 campaign ribbons, two Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts (for being wounded in action) in 32 months of combat and the Navy Commendation Medal. Bauer was wounded his second time during the Battle of Okinawa, when he was a sergeant in command of a platoon of 64 Marines. Only six of the 64 Marines survived the Japanese counterattack, and Bauer was wounded by shrapnel in his thigh. His wounds were severe enough to send him back to the United States to recuperate.

After the war – minor league

Returning to East St. Louis, Bauer joined the local pipe fitter’s union, and he stopped by the local bar where his brother Joe Bauer worked. Danny Menendez, a scout for the New York Yankees, decided to sign him for a tryout with the Yankees’ farm team in Quincy, Illinois. The terms of his contract were $175 a month (with a $25 per month increase if he made the team) and a $250 bonus. Batting .300 at Quincy and with the team’s top minor league unit, the Kansas City Blues, Bauer eventually made his debut with the Yankees in September 1948.

Final Years and death

In his later years, Hank Bauer continued to be involved in baseball as a scout for the Yankees and Royals. He battled throat cancer in 1993 but remained active in the baseball community. Bauer passed away on February 9, 2007, at the age of 84, after a long fight with lung cancer. He died in the Kansas City area, where he had lived for nearly 60 years. Bauer left behind a legacy as a tough, no-nonsense player and manager who excelled both on the baseball field and in military service. He is remembered for his contributions to seven World Series championships as a player with the Yankees and for managing the Baltimore Orioles to their first World Series title in 1966. Hank Bauer’s life story serves as an inspiration, showcasing the values of hard work, perseverance, and dedication in sports and in life.