Don Hahn (baseball)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Donald Antone Hahn, born November 16, 1948 in San Francisco, California, is a former Major League baseball player. Hahn played for the Montreal Expos, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, and San Diego Padres.

Hahn attended Campbell High School in Campbell, California. There, along with his studies, he played baseball, basketball, and football.

The right-handed throwing and batting Hahn was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 17th round of the 1966 amateur draft

On April 8th, 1969, Hahn was the starting centerfielder in the Montreal Expos' first game ever. The game was played at Shea Stadium in Flushing, New York, and the Expos defeated the New York Mets by a score of 11-10.

Hahn would later become quite accustomed to the Shea Stadium outfield grass; a few days before the 1971 baseball season began, the Mets traded 1969 World Series hero Ron Swoboda, along with minor leaguer Rich Hacker, to the Expos, in exchange for the young, slick-fielding outfielder.

Hahn's best season at the plate was 1974. Nevertheless, after the 1974 season, he was traded to the Phillies, along with relief pitcher Tug McGraw and fellow outfielder Dave Schneck. The Phillies sent catcher John Stearns, relief pitcher Mac Scarce, and outfielder Del Unser to the Mets.

Although he had a rather modest career at the bat, Hahn did have some memorable events. One of them was on September 5th, 1971 against the Phillies. It was then that Hahn hit the first inside-the-park home run at the brand-new Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

Despite the fact that Hahn had the honor of being Le First Expo Centerfielder, he was soon demoted to the minors. Hahn's hitting was poor, and he was put into the minor leagues after four games. In nine at-bats with Montreal, the 20-year-old fly chaser batted .111, with two runs batted in and no home runs in 1969.

1970 was an improvement for Hahn, as he batted .255 in 149 at-bats. However, he drove in only 8 runs, and, again, hit no home runs. However, he was torrid on the basepaths; Hahn stole four bases in six attempts.

In 1971, his first year as a Met, Hahn finally hit his first major league home run.