Former Met of the Day: "The Grave Digger" Ritchie Hebner (1979)

Richard Joseph Hebner was born November 26, 1947 in Boston Massachusetts. Hebner is probably the most famous for being a grave digger in the off season at a cemetery run by his family. There was a time not so long ago where players had off season jobs, imagine that? He was also one of the best high school hockey players in Massachusetts history.

He was the Pirates first round draft pick of the 1966 and made it to the big leagues at age 21. He arrived at a time when the Pirates dominated the NL East (except when the Mets won it in 1969 & 1973) making five post seasons with them, and winning a World Series in 1971. He was their regular third baseman until 1977 when he signed with the Phillies as free agent and won two more NL East titles there. Hebner was a steady solid player hitting over .290 five times, hitting over 15 HRs seven times, averaging in the range of 55-70 RBIs a season. He was great at getting hit by pitches, usually among the tops in the league and a good sacrifice hitter. In 1973 he hit a career high 25 HRs, while driving in his NL best 74 RBIs.

In the 1971 NLCS he .294 with 2 HRs and 5 RBIs. He hit an 8th inning game winning HR off Juan Marichal in Game #3. In the World Series he hit a HR in Baltimore in the Pirates 11-3 loss. He hit .333 in the 1975 NLCS against the Big Red Machine, and then .357 against L.A. in 1977 while with Philadelphia. Overall Hebner hit .270 in the post season.

In Spring Training of March 1979 Hebner was traded to the Mets for Nino Espinosa. Hebner only spent one season in New York and he hated it. He didn’t like the city or the dismal ’79 Mets team. He was actually one of the best players on that team, usually batting cleanup, and leading the team in RBIS (79) hit by pitches (8) and sac flies (8). He also hit 10 HRs 25 doubles and batted .268. In September he had a two HR game against the Cardinals and had two four hit games in the summer.

On Halloween 1979 the Mets sent him to Detroit for Jerry Morales & Phil Mankowski. He hit .290 and had a career high 82 RBIs in Detroit in 1980. He went back to the Pirates then the Cubs retiring after 18 seasons in 1985. His career numbers are 203 HRs, 890 RBIs, 203 doubles, 57 triples, 1694 hits and a .276 batting average while posting a .385 on base percentage.
Hebner has been a long time minor league coach & manager, currently with the Orioles organization.