Harold Richard Naragon (October 1, 1928 – August 31, 2019) was a

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

who played for the

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

(1951; 1954–59) and Washington Senators/ Minnesota Twins (1959–62). He batted

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subject ...

and threw

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

, and was listed as tall and . Naragon was born in

Zanesville, Ohio Zanesville is a city in and the county seat of Muskingum County, Ohio, United States. It is located east of Columbus and had a population of 24,765 as of the 2020 census, down from 25,487 as of the 2010 census. Historically the state capita ...

and graduated from Barberton (Ohio) High School.

Career

In his 10-season MLB career, Naragon was a .266 hitter, with 262 hits, 27 doubles, 11 triples, six

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s and 87 RBI in 424 games played. He recorded a .991 fielding percentage. His most productive season came in 1959, when he posted career-highs in games (85) and hits (57) while dividing his playing time with Cleveland and Washington. He also caught one inning for the Indians in Game 3 of the

1954 World Series The 1954 World Series matched the National League champion New York Giants against the American League champion Cleveland Indians. The Giants swept the Series in four games to win their first championship since , defeating the heavily favored Ind ...

against the New York Giants. He spent much of his career backing up starting catchers

Jim Hegan James Edward Hegan (August 3, 1920 – June 17, 1984) was an American professional baseball player, coach, and scout. He played for 17 seasons as a catcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) from to and to , most notably for the Cleveland Indians w ...

and

Earl Battey Earl Jesse Battey, Jr. (January 5, 1935 – November 15, 2003) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Chicago White Sox (1955–1959) and Washington Senators / Minnesota Twins (1960� ...

. Following his playing career, Naragon was the bullpen

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

for the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers from 1963–69. He was closely associated with pitching coach

Johnny Sain John Franklin "Johnny" Sain (September 25, 1917 – November 7, 2006) was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who was best known for teaming with left-hander Warren Spahn on the Boston Braves teams from 1946 to 1951. He ...

, and was a member of the 1965 American League champion Twins and the 1968 world champion Tigers. He participated in the 50th anniversary commemoration of the 1968 Detroit Tigers World Series championship in 2018 at Comerica Park.

Death

Naragon died August 31, 2019 at the age of 90.

References

External links

Hal Naragon
- Baseballbiography.com

:
1928 births 2019 deaths Baseball players from Ohio Cleveland Indians players Detroit Tigers coaches Harrisburg Senators players Major League Baseball bullpen coaches Major League Baseball catchers Minnesota Twins coaches Minnesota Twins players Oklahoma City Indians players Sportspeople from Zanesville, Ohio Pittsfield Electrics players San Diego Padres (minor league) players Washington Senators (1901–1960) players Watertown Athletics players {{US-baseball-catcher-1920s-stub