Blast From the Past: Who In the World is Willie Kirkland? 1958

I case you are wondering, the title of this post came from Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?  OK, with that out of the way, the San Francisco Giants first ever Opening Day lineup, appropriately enough, included 4 rookies:  Bob Schmidt(C), Jim Davenport(3B), Orlando Cepeda(1B) and Willie Kirkland(RF).  Davvy and Cepeda are well known to Giants fans but you don't ever hear or read much about Schmidt or Willie Kirkland.  So, who in the world is Willie Kirkland?

I was actually not able to find much information about Willie Kirkland even though he had a not-insignificant MLB career.  He does not have a SABR biography to date.  Like Leon Wagner, Kirkland was born in the South but grew up in the Detroit, Michigan area.  He was signed by the Giants out of high school in 1952 and worked his way up the farm system ladder.  His MLB debut was delayed by a year of military service in 1957.  He was the Giants primary RF and Opening Day starter there in his rookie campaign of 1958.  His batting line was a respectable .258/.332/.447, 25 2B, 6 3B, 14 HR, 470 PA.  That improved to .272/.335/.475 22 2B, 3 3B, 22 HR, 511 PA in 1959 and .252/.315/.454, 21 2B, 10 3B, 21 HR, 567 PA in 1960.

Somewhat inexplicably, the Giants traded him and LHP Johnny Antonelli to the Indians for Harvey Kuenn after the 1960 season.  Kirkland had his best power season for the Indians in 1961 with a line of .259/.318/.474, 22 2B, 5 3B, 27 HR, 525 PA.  His production fell off dramatically after the 1961 season as he never hit above .231 the rest of his career through 1966.  For his part, Harvey Kuenn had little power but proved to be a good OBP man and played a significant role in the Giants 1962 pennant run.  Johnny Antonelli was done and 1961 was his final season in which he pitched just 58.2 innings for two teams, so the trade worked out well for the Giants.

Willie Kirkland extended his baseball career playing in Japan.  I was not able to find any other information about his post-MLB life.  He is apparently still alive at the age of 86.