Hal Naragon

Harold Richard Naragon (born October 1, 1928 in Zanesville, Ohio) is a former catcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Cleveland Indians (1951; 1954–59) and Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins (1959–62). He batted left-handed and threw right-handed, and was listed as 6 feet (1.8 m) tall and 160 pounds (73 kg).

In his 10-season MLB career, Naragon was a .266 hitter, with 262 hits, 27 doubles, 11 triples, six home runs and 87 RBI in 424 games played.

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 against the New York Giants. He spent much of his career backing up starting catchers Jim Hegan and Earl Battey.

Following his playing career, Naragon was the bullpen coach for the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers from 1963–69. He was closely associated with pitching coach Johnny Sain, and was a member of the 1965 American League champion Twins and the 1968 world champion Tigers.

Naragon graduated from Barberton (Ohio) High School.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
• Baseball Library
• Retrosheet
• Bio from Cool of the Evening: The 1965 Minnesota Twins