Billy Hunter Was the Last Living Member of the St. Louis Browns

Former MLB player, coach and manager Billy Hunter passed away yesterday at the age of 97. 

At the time of his death, Hunter was both the last surviving member of the St. Louis Browns as well as the last living member of the inaugural Baltimore Orioles team of 1954. He played six seasons in MLB with the Browns/Orioles, New York Yankees (where he earned a World Series ring in 1956), the Kansas City A's and the Cleveland Indians. In 630 career games, Hunter collected 410 hits for a lifetime batting average of .219 with 16 HR and 144 RBI. Despite his light hitting reputation, Hunter was solid on defense and did earn an AL All-Star Team selection during his tenure with the Browns during their final year of existence in 1953. Hunter's death comes less than a week after the passing of Ed Mickelson, who drove in the final run in Brown's history.

Hunter would later become part of the coaching staff of the Balitmore Orioles earning two World Series rings in 1966 and 1970 under managers Hank Bauer and Earl Weaver, respectively. For his long tenure with the Orioles organization, Hunter would be inducted into the team's Hall of Fame in 1996.

In 1977, Hunter became manager of the Texas Rangers. He was actually their fourth manager that season which began with Frank Lucchesi before he was dismissed in the middle of the season in favor of Eddie Stanky who abruptly quit after one game. Connie Ryan took over the team for a week on an interim basis before Hunter was brought aboard. Remarkably, the Rangers went 60-33 under Hunter finishing second in the AL West, 8 games back of the Kansas City Royals. However, there was no wild card system in place at the time. 

The Rangers would finish tied for second in the AL West in 1978 with the California Angels only five games back of the Royals. However, Hunter was dismissed on the last day of the season in favor of Pat Corrales. Because of his abrupt dismissal, Hunter vowed never to coach or manage in MLB ever again.

True to his word, Hunter would return to Maryland and join the collegiate ranks as the head baseball coach at Towson University in 1979. He would later become the university's athletic director. 

Although Hunter's legacy is most closely tied to Maryland by virtue of his association with both the Balitmore Orioles and Towson University, his significance in MLB will be as the final link to the St. Louis Browns, a nearly forgotten entity in baseball with (save for a single AL pennant in 1944) a long legacy of losing, incompetence and bad luck even if he rose above such circumstances. R.I.P.