Dave Hansen
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Birth Name: David Andrew Hansen College: None
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“I thought I was patient, but I wasn’t close to being patient, I wanted to play so bad. It wears on your insides.” - Dave after returning to the Majors (2005) Dave Hansen is more then just some guy who sits on the bench for 8 innings and comes up to get a pinch hit in the 9th. Simply put Dave is one of baseballs nice guys. Hansen has spent time on four different major league teams, since starting his career as a young kid on the Dodgers in 1990. Dave and his wife Julie have two daughters, Allison and Samantha. Famous for always traveling with a guitar Hansen graduated from Rowland high school where he played football and baseball and was named to the All-State team in his senior season. He earned All Sierra league honors from 1984-1986 and All-San Gabriel Valley honors from 1985-1986. Dodger scout Gib Bodet signed Hansen. Dave think’s Blue (1990-1996) In 1988 Dave tied for the Florida State League lead in doubles (28) and hit .291 which was 7th best in the league. He lead all FSL third basemen in total chances and double plays and was even named to the Topps Single A All-Star team. Things were on the rise for Dave. Dave would spend most of 1989 at Double A San Antonio where he would hit .297 in 121 games. In 1990 Dave was a PCL All-Star while at Albuquerque hitting .316 with 11 homers and 92 RBI and led all third basemen in fielding percentage, assists, total chances and double plays. His impressive season at Albuquerque led to him being called up in September. During the late season call up he went 1-for-7 in 5 games. His first appearance was as a pinch hitter September 16 against the Reds. On October 3rd Dave collected his first hit off of Eric Show of the San Diego Padres. Hansen would spend considerable time on the Dodgers roster in 1991. He was on the roster from June 18 though July 3 and returned on the 10th of July till the end of the season. In total he played in 53 games for the big league club and hit .268. Dave even hit his first career homer on July 20 off of Wally Whitehurst of the Mets. Before his stint with the Dodgers Dave hit .303 in his 68 games in the PCL and was selected as the leagues top defensive third basemen by Baseball America. Dave’s star was on the rise. Then in 1992 Dave crashed hard.. Hansen spent the season on the major league roster. Appearing in 132 games, 98 starts, he struggled with a .214 batting average 6 homers and 22 RBI. If there was anything positive to gain from the season Hansen did lead the league in fielding percentage although he made only 54 starts Dave made only one error. On July 7 Dave started a seven game hit streak. He went 10/21 (.476) with 3 RBI in that span. On June 8th Dave hit a pinch hit homerun off of Atlanta’s Juan Berenguer. The Dodgers then shoved Dave to the role of pinch hitter in 1993. He responded setting the franchise record with 18 pinch hits in the season. His .327 average as a pinch hitter helped him lead the NL pinch hitters in RBI. He reached base in 8 consecutive pinch hit appearances from June 7-June 28 going 5/5 with 3 walks He slugged a 9th inning game winning pinch hit grand slam off of Mike Jackson of the Giants on June 28th. He also had his first 4 hit contest on October 1st against the Giants. In September Dave hit a pinch hit homerun off of Florida’s Charlie Hough. Dave finished 1993 hitting .362/.465/.505 with 4 homeruns and a career high 30 RBI. 1994 was much of the same for Dave. IN 1995 Dave started 15 of the Dodgers first 22 games and made 43 starts at third base, In the 1995 NLDS against the Reds Dave was 2 for 3. The Dodgers were swept by the Reds however. Dave would hit only .221 in 1996 making his first start at first base against the Astros on April 24th. Hansen arrives in Chicago (1997) In 1997 Dave found himself in Chicago. He again was used primarily as a pinch hitter and utility player going .311 in 90 games with 3 homers and 21 RBI. Dave did start 35 games at third base and played 51 there total. Alex Fernandez’, of Florida, no hit bid on April 10th at Wrigley Field was broken up by an infield hit in the 9th inning. Hansen recorded his second career stolen base on May 26th against the Pirates. His 3-for-3 with a homerun performance against the Phillies on June 5th set a career high. On July 30 against the Braves he made his first appearance at second base. He would leg out a triple on August 9th against the Padres for the first of his career. Two days later he got a bit of revenge against the Dodgers when he hit his 5th career pinch hit homer off of Chan Ho Park.Dave in Japan (1998) Oddly Dave found himself playing the 1998 season in Japan. Hansen played on the last place Hanshin Tigers and hit .253 with 13 doubles, a triple and 55 RBI in 121 games. He tied for 4th with 6 sacrifice flies. A return to LA (1999-2002)In 1999 Dave would again find himself in Los Angeles. He would become the first Dodger since Hideo Nomo to play in the Japan leagues then the United States the following season. Dave picked up his pinch hit duties as usual and hit his 6th career pinch hit homer off of Dave Veres of the Rockies in the 9th inning. In 2000 Dave went homerun happy slugging 8. More importantly seven of them were pinch hits. Dave would hit his 10th pinch hit homer as a Dodger on August 9th against the Cubs setting a franchise mark for pinch hit homers. Then September 12 against the Diamondbacks Dave slugged his 7th of the season off of Curt Schilling. The three run blast broke a 4-4 tie and placed Dave into the record books. He would finish th season with a .273 average along with 7 homers and 14 RBI as a pinch hitter. The Dodgers weren’t going to let Dave get away again as they signed him for the following two seasons. In 2001 Dave was again at the top of the pinch hitting heap. Hansen’s five pinch hit doubles were second and he led all pinch hitters with four intentional walks. Dave collected an RBI double on September 25th against the Giants to give him his 100th career pinch hit as a Dodger. He tied a career high with four RBI in the Dodgers 6-2 win against the Marlins on August 23rd. On July 21st 2002 Dave broke into the Dodger record books surpassing Manny Mota for the Dodger franchise record for pinch hits with 107. A Padre (2003) Before the 2003 season our pinch hit hero signed with the San Diego Padres., Dave made his second career appearance at second base July 17, 2003 against the Diamondbacks Dave even started four games in a row against them from May 23 though the 26th batting .500 with three doubles and three RBI. Overall in 17 starts during 2003 Dave hit .333 (24/72) with two homeruns and 12 RBI. A Mariner/Padre/Mariner again (2004-2005) In the winter, The Padres traded Hansen to the Mariners for third basemen Jeff Cirillo and pitcher Kevin Jarvis. The Padres also got 4.775 million to help cover Jarvis and Cirillos’ contracts. The Mariners also received Wiki Gonzalez and Brian Sweeney in the deal. Dave suffered a battle with food poisoning in March. After spending half the season with the Mariners he again found himself back in San Diego when the Mariners traded him for single A reliever Jon Huber. (July 30) “He’s a good player, Not a spectacular player, but a good solid major league player.” - Mike Hargrove (May 4, 2005) Just weeks after having an emergency appendectomy the Seattle Mariners sign Dave to a Minor League deal. (April 29, 2005) On May 4th the Mariners called Hansen up to help a depleted bench. “This is really exciting. I thought I bonded really well last year with these guys, I hoped I would be able to come back.” Ranks among the best pinch-hitters of all-time in career pinch-hits (138) and pinch-hit home runs (15). Delivered go-ahead, two-run pinch-hit single against the Devil Rays on June 4. Life after baseballHansen will be the hitting coach of the Arizona Diamondbacks Double-A Mobile Bay Bears. |
