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Class of 1988
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Jim Lemon
A lanky country boy from Covington, Virginia, who could hit a baseball a country mile, turned that ability into a more than 40-year association with the game of professional baseball. Jim Lemon started his professional career in 1948 following his graduation from Covington High school. He ended his Major League career, which included stints with the Cleveland Indians, Washington Senators, Minnesota Twins, Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago White Sox, in 1963.
The following year, Lemon managed a team in York, PA, before joining the Minnesota Twins as a coach for three seasons. He then succeeded Gil Hodges as manager of the Washington Senators in 1968. A year later, Lemon was replaced by the great Ted Williams.
Lemon played most of his Major League career with the Senators after being signed by the Cleveland Indians. His career was interrupted by a two-year hitch in the U.S. Army in 1951. When he returned from his service, the Indians traded Lemon to the Senators. He compiled a lifetime batting average of .262, driving in 529 runs with a career season high of 164 home runs.
While playing in the 1955 Southern Association All-Star game in Birmington, Alabama, Lemon hit four home runs off four different all-star pitchers. He nearly duplicated that feat in 1956 when he hit three consecutive homeruns off the New York Yankees’ star Whitey Ford with President Dwight Eisenhower among the spectators that night.
After a 12-year hiatus from baseball, Lemon joined the Twins as a hitting instructor from 1981-84. He then went into scouting and served as a minor league instructor. Lemon spent part of the 1988 season as hitting instructor for the Twins’ rookies.
(To Sports Inductees List) |
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