The Historical Society of Avon ParkAVON PARK, FL · EST. 1886
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Hal McRae

Hal McRae was born in Avon Park on 10 July 1945[sabr-mcrae][bbref-mcrae] and spent nineteen seasons in the major leagues,[bbref-mcrae] where he became one of the first designated hitters to be a team’s central offensive player rather than a place to park an aging veteran — winning three Outstanding Designated Hitter awards and leading the American League in runs batted in in 1982.[sabr-mcrae][almanac-mcrae] The Avon Park street he grew up on now carries his name.[sabr-mcrae][newssun-avon-park-home-baseball]

Avon Park and Florida A&M

Evidence: corroborated.

McRae attended Avon Park Hopewell as a boy and went on to E. O. Douglas High School, in Sebring.[sabr-mcrae][bbref-mcrae] He graduated in 1963.[newssun-arnold-jackson-mccrae-markell] Douglas was Highlands County’s high school for Black students under segregation, which is why McRae does not appear among the Avon Park High School alumni counted in Avon Park in the Majors — he is a son of Avon Park, but not a graduate of that school. The distinction matters, and Corrections turns on it.

McRae grew up in a family of ten children raised on Castle Street (now Hal McRae Boulevard) by his parents, citrus laborer and yard worker Willie James McRae and Virginia Lily “Sister” (Foster) McRae.[sabr-mcrae][legacy-lawrence-mcrae] His father played for and managed the segregated semi-pro Avon Park Black Tigers, and Hal accompanied him to Sunday doubleheaders after church services.[sabr-mcrae] Next door lived his uncle Moses McRae and his eleven children; together, the McRae brothers and cousins formed the core of neighborhood baseball teams, competing against clubs like the Bradenton Nine Devils or choosing sides among themselves.[sabr-mcrae][si-1991-06-17-montville]

In the 1950s, McRae developed his right-handed swing playing stickball on a makeshift diamond at the corner of Delaney Avenue and Castle Street.[retrosimba-mcrae] Accepting induction into the Avon Park Champions Club Hall of Fame in 2024, McRae credited this neighborhood stickball with forging his plate discipline and bat control.[newssun-arnold-jackson-mccrae-markell] As he recalled to the Tampa Tribune, a neighbor, Mrs. Austin, lived on that corner: her property formed left field, and she refused to return any balls hit into her yard.[retrosimba-mcrae] To prevent losing valuable balls, McRae learned opposite-field bat control, intentionally driving pitches to right field.[retrosimba-mcrae] Federal census schedules corroborate both the McRae and Austin households on Castle Street: in the 1950 census (ED 28-8, sheets 14–15), Moses McRae and his wife Clara live in Household 156 on Castle Street with eight children, Hal’s grandmother Anna McRae (80) lives two doors down in Household 158, and four doors down in Household 161 live sandwich-shop manager Alex Austin (53) and his wife Bertha Austin (48, earlier enumerated in the 1930 census as proprietress of a Black-owned grocery store), together with their unmarried great-niece Blond E. Austin (22), a third-grade teacher at Hopewell School; a second married Austin couple in the neighborhood, public school bus driver Henry Austin (56) and his wife Lourenia Austin (53), had likewise been enumerated on Castle Street in 1930 and in ED 28-8 (Household 302, sheet 75) in 1950.[census-1930-avon-park][census-1950-ed-28-8]

He went to Florida A&M University and became the first FAMU player to reach the major leagues,[sabr-mcrae][newssun-arnold-jackson-mccrae-markell][blackcollegenines-living-hbcu-baseball-history] ahead of the FAMU big leaguers who followed him — Andre Dawson, Vince Coleman and Marquis Grissom.[blackcollegenines-living-hbcu-baseball-history] Sources disagree on whether he played second base or shortstop for the Rattlers, and on whether the scholarship that brought him there was for football or baseball.[sabr-mcrae][blackcollegenines-living-hbcu-baseball-history]

The designated hitter

The Cincinnati Reds drafted McRae in the sixth round of the 1965 amateur draft out of Florida A&M.[sabr-mcrae][bbref-mcrae] His first professional assignment was with the Tampa Tarpons of the Class A Florida State League in 1965, where he played 22 games.[sabr-mcrae][bbref-mcrae-minors] He made his Major League Baseball debut for Cincinnati on July 11, 1968, starting at second base against the San Francisco Giants and going 2-for-4 against Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry.[bbref-mcrae][sabr-mcrae] He reached the majors permanently with Cincinnati before being traded to the Kansas City Royals, where he spent the bulk of his playing career.[sabr-mcrae][almanac-mcrae][bbref-mcrae] Shifted to designated hitter after struggling in the outfield, he made the role a genuine offensive position rather than a holding pen for declining veterans.[sabr-mcrae]

Over nineteen seasons and 2,084 games he recorded 2,091 hits, 484 doubles, 66 triples, 191 home runs and 1,097 runs batted in, batting .290 with a .351 on-base percentage and a .454 slugging percentage.[bbref-mcrae][almanac-mcrae] He was a three-time All-Star and won a Silver Slugger.[sabr-mcrae][bbref-mcrae]

In 1982 he led the American League with 133 runs batted in while batting .308 with 46 doubles — the first designated hitter to lead the league in RBIs.[sabr-mcrae][almanac-mcrae] He won three Outstanding Designated Hitter awards, in 1976, 1980 and 1982.[sabr-mcrae][almanac-mcrae] He was a World Series champion with the Royals in 1985.[sabr-mcrae][newssun-arnold-jackson-mccrae-markell]

The 1976 batting title

Evidence: contested.

Going into the final day of the 1976 season, McRae led the American League batting race at .33078, a fraction ahead of his teammate George Brett at .33073 and Rod Carew at .32945.[sabr-october-3-1976-american] In that game — Minnesota 5, Kansas City 3, at Royals Stadium before 15,665 — Brett went 3-for-4 and McRae 2-for-4.[retrosheet-1976-10-03] Brett’s last hit was a fly ball that Twins left fielder Steve Brye, playing deep, let drop and bounce over his head for an inside-the-park home run. Brett finished at .333 to McRae’s .332 and took the title.[sabr-mcrae][sabr-october-3-1976-american]

The archive does not decide what happened, and records each account as its author gave it:

Managing

Evidence: corroborated.

When Kansas City hired McRae on 24 May 1991, he became the Royals’ first African American manager and the fifth Black manager in major-league history, following Frank Robinson, Larry Doby, Maury Wills, and Cito Gaston.[latimes-1991-05-25-mcrae][sabr-mcrae]

He managed the Kansas City Royals from 1991 to 1994, going 66-58, 72-90, 84-78 and 64-51 in the strike-shortened season, a combined 286-277.[sabr-mcrae][statscrew-mcrae][bbref-mcrae-manager] Because his son Brian McRae was the Royals’ starting center fielder, they formed only the second father-manager and son-player combination in major league history, following Cal Ripken Sr. managing Cal Jr. and Billy Ripken for Baltimore in 1987.[latimes-1991-05-25-mcrae] Hal managed Brian in 482 games across four seasons in Kansas City.[latimes-1991-05-25-mcrae]

On 26 April 1993, after a loss to Detroit dropped the Royals to 7-12, a reporter asked whether he had considered pinch-hitting George Brett. McRae erupted, threw objects including a telephone — one of which struck a reporter in the face — and cleared the room.[sabr-mcrae][hardball-times-mcrae-1993]

Evidence: contested. Accounts differ on what followed: his biography says he apologized to the injured reporter, while a later review of the episode found no record of a fine, suspension or apology.[sabr-mcrae][hardball-times-mcrae-1993]

He managed the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2001 and 2002, going 58-90 and 55-106, and was dismissed on 30 September 2002, the day after the season ended.[sabr-mcrae][espn-2002-mcrae-fired][statscrew-mcrae][bbref-mcrae-manager] His career managerial record was 399-473.[statscrew-mcrae][bbref-mcrae-manager] “It’s not a surprise,” he said. “The only thing I regret is we didn’t win more games.” General manager Chuck LaMar was blunt about the roster McRae had been given: “I’m not making him a scapegoat. I’m responsible for the personnel.”[espn-2002-mcrae-fired] Tampa Bay carried the lowest payroll in baseball that year.[espn-2002-mcrae-fired] McRae stayed with the club as assistant to the general manager.[espn-2002-mcrae-fired]

He was hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals from 2005 to 2009, working with Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen among others, and was on the staff when St. Louis won the 2006 World Series — a second ring, this one as a coach.[sabr-mcrae][newssun-arnold-jackson-mccrae-markell][retrosimba-mcrae]

How Avon Park has marked him

Hal McRae Boulevard carries his name where it crosses US 27. It was formerly Castle Street — the street he grew up on, beside the sandlot where he learned to hit.[sabr-mcrae][newssun-avon-park-home-baseball][retrosimba-mcrae] The city made the change at the turn of 1991 and 1992, after he became the Royals’ manager: the Orlando Sentinel reported in February 1992 that the city had renamed the street “last December,” while the St. Petersburg Times later gave January 1992. His SABR biography’s date of 1986 rests on a family email written in 2018 and is not borne out by the 1992 reports (see Castle Street and the Hal McRae Boulevard Renaming).[os-1992-02-25-mcrae][sptimes-2001-04-22-rays-tales][sabr-mcrae]

He was inducted into the Avon Park Champions Club Hall of Fame with the Class of 2024.[newssun-arnold-jackson-mccrae-markell] The exterior mural on the Depot Museum’s baseball wing, painted by Avon Park native Keith Goodson, shows him alongside Thomas “Flash” Gordon.[newssun-artist-signs-mural-depicting] See Visiting the Avon Park Baseball Museum.

He was inducted into the Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame in 1989, alongside pitcher Dennis Leonard.[mlb-royals-hof]

He was inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame in 1986,[sabr-mcrae][fla-sports-hof-mcrae] the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2004,[sabr-mcrae][mo-sports-hof-mcrae] and the Florida A&M University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1977 (Class of 1965).[famu-hof-mcrae] Each year is the hall’s own record of its own induction. His SABR biography gives 1974 for the Florida A&M induction;[sabr-mcrae] the university’s 1977 date is preferred here because the fact is the university’s to keep. FAMU’s page also carries a separate “Class: 1965” field — that is McRae’s class year as a player, a different fact from when he was inducted.

He appeared on the Baseball Writers’ Association ballot for the National Baseball Hall of Fame once, in 1993, his first year of eligibility, and received no votes.[bbref-hof-1993]

References

Where this comes from

Evidence
corroborated — More than one independent source agrees.
Review
unverified — Drafted from sources but not yet checked by a volunteer.
Rights
public-domain

Sources

  1. Orlando Sentinel, McRae Manages K.C. With Eye on a Target (1992) · newspaper
  2. St. Petersburg Times, Rays Tales — The Hal McRae Edition (2001) · newspaper
  3. Royals Name McRae Manager: Father-Son Combination Formed in Kansas City, Los Angeles Times, 25 May 1991 (1991) · newspaper
  4. Hal McRae — SABR BioProject (2018) · secondary
  5. Hal McRae Stats — Baseball-Reference · secondary
  6. Hal McRae — Baseball Almanac · secondary
  7. Avon Park: home of baseball legends — Highlands Sun (2021) · newspaper
  8. Arnold, Jackson, McCrae, Markell and Mundt inducted into Avon Park Champions Club Hall of Fame — Highlands News-Sun (2024) · newspaper
  9. Living HBCU Baseball History with The Legends — Hal McRae of Florida A&M — Black College Nines (2020) · secondary
  10. October 3, 1976: American League batting race between George Brett, Hal McRae, Rod Carew ends in controversy — SABR Games Project · secondary
  11. Box score, Minnesota Twins at Kansas City Royals, October 3, 1976 — Retrosheet (1976) · archival
  12. Hal McRae thought the 1976 batting title was stolen from him in a racist plot — NBC Sports · secondary
  13. Artist signs mural depicting baseball history — Highlands News-Sun (2026) · newspaper
  14. Hal McRae coaching and managing records — StatsCrew · secondary
  15. Hal McRae Managerial Record — Baseball-Reference · secondary
  16. 20th anniversary: Hal McRae loses his mind — The Hardball Times (2013) · secondary
  17. Devil Rays fire McRae — ESPN.com (2002) · newspaper
  18. How Hal McRae showed the way to improved hitting — RetroSimba (2025) · secondary
  19. Hal McRae — Florida Sports Hall of Fame · official
  20. Hal McRae — Missouri Sports Hall of Fame · official
  21. Harold "Hal" McRae — Florida A&M University Athletics Hall of Fame · official
  22. 1993 Hall of Fame Voting — Baseball-Reference · secondary
  23. Lawrence Bernard "Puncho" McRae Obituary — Legacy.com / Fountain Funeral Home (2025) · official
  24. Every Day Is Father's Day, Sports Illustrated (Leigh Montville, 17 June 1991) (1991) · secondary
  25. United States Bureau of the Census, Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930, population schedules, Florida, Highlands County, enumeration district 28-2 (Avon Park city, New Part), sheets 2B and 4A, NARA microfilm T626 roll 318 (1930) · official
  26. United States Bureau of the Census, 1950 Census population schedules, Florida, Highlands County, enumeration district 28-8 (Avon Park city), sheets 14, 15, and 75 (1950) · archival
  27. Royals Hall of Fame Members — Kansas City Royals / MLB.com (2026) · official
  28. Hal McRae Minor League Statistics — Baseball-Reference (2026) · official

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