Former All-Star Rich Rollins passed away this week at age 87, according to multiple reports. A third baseman, he spent the majority of his career with the Twins in the 1960s.
Rollins was born a little outside Pittsburgh and moved to Ohio as a child. He attended Kent State and signed with the Washington Senators in 1960. The franchise moved to Minnesota and rebranded as the Twins the following year. Rollins earned a cup of coffee during the first season in Minnesota. He opened the following season as the starter at the hot corner.
That rookie year was probably the best of Rollins’ career. He appeared in 159 games and hit .298/.374/.428 with career marks in homers (16) and RBI (96). He was selected to both All-Star teams — the league briefly had both a midseason and postseason All-Star Game at that time — and placed eighth in AL MVP balloting. Rollins hit another 16 homers while batting a personal-best .307 the following season. He again received a few down-ballot MVP votes.
Rollins had one more quality season and posted a cumulative .291/.356/.425 batting line between 1962-64. He placed among the top 30 qualified hitters in both average and on-base percentage during that stretch. His numbers declined sharply in the middle of the decade, perhaps due to recurring knee injuries. Rollins had brief stints with the Seattle Pilots/Milwaukee Brewers franchise and Cleveland before retiring after the 1970 season. He’d later spend some time as a scout in the Cleveland organization.
Over 10 seasons in the big leagues, Rollins appeared in a little more than 1000 games. He hit .269/.328/.388 with 77 home runs, 399 RBI and 419 runs scored. MLBTR sends our condolences to his family, friends and loved ones.