Johnny Temple | |||
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Second baseman | |||
Born: Lexington, North Carolina |
August 8, 1927|||
Died: January 9, 1994 Anderson, South Carolina |
(aged 66)|||
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MLB debut | |||
April 15, 1952, for the Cincinnati Reds | |||
Last MLB appearance | |||
July 8, 1964, for the Cincinnati Reds | |||
MLB statistics | |||
Batting average | .284 | ||
Hits | 1,484 | ||
Runs batted in | 395 | ||
Teams | |||
Career highlights and awards | |||
John Ellis Temple (August 8, 1927 – January 9, 1994) was a Major League Baseball second baseman who played for the Redlegs/Reds (1952–59; 1964); Cleveland Indians (1960–61), Baltimore Orioles (1962) and Houston Colt .45s (1962–63). Temple was born in Lexington, North Carolina. He batted and threw right-handed.
Temple was a career .284 hitter with 22 home runs and 395 RBI in 1420 games. A legitimate leadoff hitter and four-time All-Star, he was a very popular player in Cincinnati in the 1950s. Throughout his career, he walked more often than he struck out, compiling an outstanding 1.92 walk-to-strikeout ratio (648-to-338) and a .363 on-base percentage. Temple also had above-average speed and good instincts on the base paths. Quietly, he had 140 steals in 198 attempts (71%).
In 1957, Temple and six of his Redleg teammates—Ed Bailey, Roy McMillan, Don Hoak, Gus Bell, Wally Post and Frank Robinson—were voted into the National League All-Star starting lineup, the result of a ballot stuffing campaign by Redlegs fans. Bell remained on the team as a reserve, but Post was taken off altogether. Bell and Post were replaced as starters by Hank Aaron and Willie Mays.