1967-1968

A strong, quiet, and athletic 205-pounder, who stood 6-feet-2, wore glasses, batted from the left side, and threw right-handed, Norm Siebern split time between first base and the outfield for six major-league teams. Originally a Yankee, he played in two World Series for New York, and was part of the package the Yankees sent to Kansas City for Roger Maris. He was an All-Star first baseman for the Athletics and the Baltimore Orioles, and later played with California and San Francisco before he closed out his career in Boston in 1967 and 1968.

Siebern was born on July 26, 1933, in Wellston, Missouri. A scout for the Yankees, spotted Siebern when the young slugger was 15, and signed him as soon as he graduated from high school in 1951. That summer Siebern started his professional baseball career at the age of 17 at McAlester in the Class-D Sooner State League.

Siebern moved up the next season to Joplin, Missouri, in the Class-C Western Association, where he batted .324.That effort earned he a promotion for 1953 to Birmingham of the Double-A Southern Association, where he hit .281 with 21 homers.

Like many players of the era, Siebern entered the US Army and missed the 1954 and 1955 seasons. He returned to baseball in 1956. Still just 22 years old, he joined the Denver Bears of the Triple-A American Association, the Yankees’ top farm team, to start the 1956 season. In 36 games, he collected 30 hits in 100 at-bats, slammed 8 homers and drove in 19 runs.

The Yankees took notice and in mid-June, Siebern was called up to New York. He made his debut on June 15th and in 54 games batted just .204. Meanwhile, the Yankees cruised to their seventh AL pennant in eight years, and avenged their 1955 World Series loss to the Brooklyn Dodgers. Siebern, now 23, was retired in his only appearance, a pinch-hit opportunity

The following spring, the young thumper was farmed back to Denver, where he put together a spectacular season batting .349 in 144 games, slugged and 24 home runs. He was back in New York’s plans for 1958. The 24-year-old took over as the Yankees’ regular left fielder. He played in 134 games and batted .300. He also won a Gold Glove for his fielding, and solidified left field, a Yankee sore spot. 

Casey Stengel seemed to lose confidence in Norm in 1959. Siebern played just 93 games in the outfield. On December 11, 1959, the Yankees traded Siebern, Don Larsen, Marv Throneberry, and Hank Bauer to the Kansas City Athletics for Roger Maris, Joe DeMaestri, and Kent Hadley.

The trade worked out well for Siebern, who blossomed in Kansas City. In 1960, he slugged 31 doubles, 6 triples, and 19 home runs, seven more than anyone else on the Athletics. He improved his batting average to .296 in 1961 and smacked 18 home runs.  In 1962, the Athletics improved by 11 games, and he flourished. He played all 162 games at first base, led the AL in putouts, and steadied the infield. He batted .308 with 25 home runs. In July he was the lone Kansas City player selected for major-league baseball’s two All-Star Games. 

in 1963 as Kansas City improved by one game, and Norm slipped to a .272 average, but still hit 16 home runs, and drove in 83 runs. Once again he was Kansas City’s lone All-Star.

Despite his success, in November the Athletics traded him to the Baltimore Orioles. Siebern joined an infield that included shortstop Luis Aparicio, and third baseman Brooks Robinson. Now 30 years old, She slumped to .245. On December 2nd he was traded to the California Angel. He spent the 1966 season in California and batted .247.

Norm was on the move again after the season. This time he was swapped to San Francisco for Len Gabrielson. Starting the 1967 season as a backup to Willie McCovey. His brief National League tenure ended on July 16th, when he was acquired by the Red Sox for the waiver price of $20,000.

Red Sox manager Dick Williams, a teammate of Siebern’s at Kansas City in 1960, welcomed the well-traveled slugger. But despite his hustle and effort, he hit just .205 in 33 games for the ’67 Red Sox. While George Scott continued to boom out base hits through the season, Siebern sat, making an occasional appearance as the Red Sox clinched the AL flag on the season’s final day. For the third time, Norm played in a World Series. He made three appearances, all as a pinch-hitter.

Siebern appeared in just 27 games, and just four in the field, in 1968. He played a pair of games in the outfield and a pair at first base, and collected two hits in 30 trips to the plate. He played in his last major-league game on July 30th, and was released by the Red Sox on August 1st, a week past his 35th birthday.

His playing days over, he returned to Independence, Missouri, in the Kansas City area. He scouted for the Atlanta Braves and then the expansion Kansas City Royals, played in several Yankees Old Timer’s games, and joined his ex-Yankee teammates at several Roger Maris Memorial Charity Golf Tournaments in Fargo, North Dakota. He later moved to Naples, Florida, where he owned an insurance agency for several years. He sold the agency in 2000 and finally retired to Lady Lake, Florida.

In 2002 he was honored by Missouri State University, when the 1952 and 1953 NAIA championship teams held a 50-year reunion. In his later years, he was an active member of the Naples chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research and the Kansas City Baseball Historical Society, which presented him with a lifetime achievement award in 2013.

Norm Siebern died on October 30, 2015 at the age of 82, at Avow Hospice in Naples.