Hank Sauer

Position: Leftfielder

Bats: Right • Throws: Right

6-3, 198lb (190cm, 89kg)

Born: March 17, 1917 in Pittsburgh, PA

Died: August 24, 2001 in Burlingame, CA

Buried: Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma, CA

Debut: September 9, 1941 (9,100th in major league history)
vs. BSN 4 AB, 2 H, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 0 SB

Last Game: August 17, 1959
vs. CIN 1 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB

Full Name: Henry John Sauer

Nicknames: The Honker

View Player Info from the B-R Bullpen

View Player Bio from the SABR BioProject

Relatives: Brother of Ed Sauer

Nine Players Who Debuted in 1941

Stan Musial
Phil Rizzuto
Bob Lemon
Vern Stephens
Dave Philley
Jim Hegan
Danny Murtaugh
Dick Wakefield
Virgil Trucks

All-Time Teammate Team

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Notable Events and Chronology

July 16, 1950

Monk Dubiel starts a streak of 18 straight wins over the Chicago Cubs

August 28, 1950

At Wrigley Field, Hank Sauer socks three consecutive home runs off Curt Simmons, as the Cubs edge the Phillies 7 – 5 in game 1. Sauer will connect for three homers off Simmons once more, in 1952. Knuckleballer Dutch Leonard, in his only start of the year, is today’s winner. The Phils then take the nitecap, 9 – 5, to move 5 1/2 games ahead of the Dodgers.

July 8, 1952

The National League defeats the American League, 3 – 2, in the 1952 All-Star Game behind the pitching of Philadelphia’s Curt Simmons and Cub Bob Rush in Philadelphia. The game is ended after five innings because of rain. Cub Hank Sauer’s homer with Stan Musial aboard in the 4th proves to be the deciding run.

September 12, 1952

Pirates become the first team to use protective headgear, a precursor to the batting helmet

December 31, 1952

Major League Baseball Season Recap 1952

Biography

Sauer was a slow-footed slugger who didn’t reach the majors to stay until 1948, when he was 31 years old. That season he hit 35 homers and drove in 97 runs for the Reds, but when he started poorly the next year, he was swapped to the Cubs. He found a happy home in Wrigley Field. In his first full month in Chicago he smacked 11 homers.

In 1952, when he led the NL in RBI and tied Ralph Kiner for the home run championship with 37, Sauer was the NL MVP. After a broken finger slowed him in 1953, he bounced back with 41 homers in 1954.

Sauer was the first player to twice hit three home runs in a game off the same pitcher. The Phillies’ Curt Simmons was the victim. On August 28, 1950, just before Simmons went into the service, Sauer slugged three off him at Wrigley to lead a 7-5 win. Two years later, on June 11, 1952, again at Wrigley Field, Sauer hit three solo homers to beat Simmons, 3-0. Sauer finished up with the Giants, slugging 26 HR in their last season at the Polo Grounds before becoming a part-time player when they moved to San Francisco in 1958.

Sauer’s brother Ed played for the Cubs, Cardinals, and Braves between 1943 and 1949.

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