Willie Horton

Willie Horton (born William Wattison Horton, October 18, 1942) is an American professional baseball left fielder and designated hitter who played in Major League Baseball from 1963 to 1980 primarily for the Detroit Tigers. Over an eighteen-year career spanning six American League teams, he was a four-time All-Star and won a World Championship with the 1968 Tigers. He hit 20 or more home runs seven times, and his 325 career home runs ranked sixth among AL right-handed hitters when he retired. He enjoyed his best season in 1968, finishing second in the AL with 36 homers, a .543 slugging average and 278 total bases. In the later years of his career, he was twice named the AL's top designated hitter. Early years Horton is the youngest of 14 children of James Horton and his wife Lillian (Wattison) Horton. He was born in Arno, Virginia, a small community in the corporate limits of Appalachia, Virginia. He hit a home run at Tiger Stadium at 16 years old during an all-city high school game. After winning a city championship with Detroit Northwestern High School in 1959 he signed with the Tigers in 1961, playing for the Tigers' farm team, the Duluth Dukes, on the shores of Lake Superior. Detroit Tigers Horton made his debut with the Detroit Tigers on September 10, 1963. He hit a pinch-hit home run off Robin Roberts in his second at bat. He saw limited playing time in his first two years before his official rookie campaign in 1965, in which he finished second in the AL with 104 runs batted in (RBI) and third with 29 home runs. He was named to the All-Star team, and placed eighth in the MVP balloting. Becoming known for his bulging forearms and tremendous strength, he again reached 100 RBIs in the 1966 season. During the 1967 Detroit 12th Street riot, he tried bravely to restore peace. He stood in his Tiger uniform on a car in the middle of the chaos, pleading for calm. However, despite his impassioned pleas, the city burned for five more days. Horton posted double-digit home run totals in 12 regular seasons from 1965 to 1976, and hit two home runs in a game on 30 occasions. He had a career-high 36 home runs in 1968, a pitcher's year in which Detroit won the World Series; he finished second in the AL to Frank Howard in homers, slugging and total bases. In a year in which the league batting average was .230 and Carl Yastrzemski won the batting title with a .301 mark, Horton's .285 average was good for fourth in the AL. He finished fourth in the MVP voting.