Raymond William Jansen (born January 16, 1889 – March 19, 1934), was an American professional baseball player who played

third base A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

in the Major Leagues in for the

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they ...

. He was born and died in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. Ray Jansen had a very short (one game) but unique career in

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), ...

. On September 30, 1910, with only eight games remaining in the Browns' season, the club—55 games out of first place—called on Jansen to play third base. Although the 21-year-old local boy had never played a professional game in his life, Jansen notched four singles in five at-bats. In the field he was less impressive, with three errors in ten total chances. The Browns lost the game to the Chicago White Sox, 9–1, and Jansen never played in the majors again. Jansen's four hits still is the record for the most hits in a one-game MLB career.Mackin, Bob, "The Unofficial Guide to Baseball's Most Unusual Records", Greystone Books, 2004. Jansen played for Class D

Keokuk, Iowa Keokuk is a city in and a county seat of Lee County, Iowa, United States, along with Fort Madison. It is Iowa's southernmost city. The population was 9,900 at the time of the 2020 census. The city is named after the Sauk chief Keokuk, who is ...

in 1911 and stayed in the minors until 1918, making it up to Class A (then one step below the majors) Southern Association, but never made it back to the big leagues.

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1889 births 1934 deaths St. Louis Browns players Major League Baseball infielders Baseball players from Missouri Fort Wayne Champs players Mobile Sea Gulls players Birmingham Barons players Denison Railroaders players Keokuk Indians players Saginaw Ducks players Sherman Hitters players Wheeling Stogies players {{US-baseball-third-baseman-stub