Gene Taylor Hiser (born December 11, 1948 in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, Maryland) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

who played five seasons for the

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from through . He was drafted in the 1st round (19th pick) of the 1970 amateur draft out of the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

. Hiser was an

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All-American in and a

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First-Team All-American selection in 1970. Hiser went right to the Triple-A Cubs affiliate in Tacoma in 1970, hitting .250 in 232 at-bats. He played briefly with Tacoma in 1971, and spent a portion of the season on active military duty prior to joining the Cubs for 17 games, hitting .207. Hiser split his time in 1972 between

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in Chicago and in Triple-A Wichita, hitting just .192 in 56 big-league at-bats. 1973 was his first and only full-season in the majors, as Hiser saw action in 100 games, batting .174. Hiser was back in the minors for most of 1974 with Wichita, hitting .282 with 10 home-runs in AAA baseball, but did get a September call-up to Chicago, batting .235 in 17 games. 1975 found Hiser bouncing again between Wichita and Chicago, playing in 45 games in the majors with a .242 average. Hiser was sold to the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

after the season and spent 1976 with the Iowa Oaks, the White Sox AAA affiliate. The White Sox released him at the end of the 1976 season. Hiser went through spring training in 1978 with the Baltimore Orioles as a free agent but was released before the season started. Hiser also played professional softball with the Chicago Storm of the American Professional Slo-Pitch League (APSPL) during their inaugural 1977 season. Former Cub teammate

Milt Pappas Milton Steven Pappas (May 11, 1939 – April 19, 2016) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher from through . Nicknamed "Gimpy", the 17-year veteran pitched for the Baltimore Ori ...

served as the Storm manager. After retiring from the field, Hiser joined the

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company The Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, also known as MassMutual, is a Springfield, Massachusetts-based life insurance company. MassMutual provides financial products such as life insurance, disability income insurance, long term car ...

in Chicago as an agent, and in 1983 partnered with fellow agent James Barrett to found the Barrett and Hiser Financial Group based in

Schaumburg, Illinois Schaumburg ( ) is a village mostly in Cook County and partly in DuPage County in northeastern Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 Census, the population was 78,723. Schaumburg is around northwest of the Chicago Loop and northwest of O'Hare I ...

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hiser, Gene 1948 births Living people Chicago Cubs players Baseball players from Baltimore Maryland Terrapins baseball players Tacoma Cubs players Sumter Astros players Wichita Aeros players Iowa Oaks players All-American college baseball players