Remembering former Montreal Expos sparkplug infielder Ron Hunt

August 22, 2026

By Kevin Glew 

Cooperstowners in Canada 

Ron Hunt, who was once described as “the guts” of the early 1970s Montreal Expos teams, died on July 15 at the age of 85. 

He passed away at his home on his farm just outside of Wentzville, Mo., surrounded by his family. He had been battling Parkinson’s disease for several years and had also been fighting cancer. 

Canadian baseball fans will best remember Hunt as a fiery leadoff hitter with the Expos who led the National League in hit by pitches in each of his four seasons with the club. In 1971, his first year with the Expos, Hunt was hit by 50 pitches, which remains the most in an MLB season since 1900. 

“Everything worthwhile in life is worth a price,” Hunt said after getting hit with a pitch for the 50th time in 1971. “Some people give their bodies to science, I give mine to baseball.” 

His propensity for getting plunked also boosted his on-base percentage over .400 in two of his seasons with the Expos. 

Raised in Missouri 

Leading off for a Canadian major league club was something Hunt couldn’t have dreamed of when he was growing up in St. Louis. 

Born on February 23, 1941, Hunt was an only child. His parents divorced when he was young and he and his mother moved in with his grandparents. His grandfather was his first baseball coach. 

At Ritenour High School, Hunt was a three-sport star. He quarterbacked the school’s football team and received gridiron offers from Northwestern University and Southern Illinois University despite his 5-foot-10, 170-pound physique. 

 “I was too small . . .  I had some college offers, but when I got down there and saw the steers they had for linemen, I came back home. I liked the physical contact of football, but there are limits to being stupid,” Hunt told Dan Turner for his 1983 book, The Expos Inside Out. 

Hunt decided to focus on a professional baseball career. But scouts weren’t exactly knocking down his door to sign him until Milwaukee Braves scout Richard Keeley took a flier on the scrappy infielder and signed him late in the summer of 1958.  

Pro career begins 

In 1959, Hunt was assigned to the Braves’ Rookie Ball, Class-D affiliate in McCook – the lowest rung in the club’s minors – where he batted .284 and posted a .431 on-base percentage with 52 RBIs in 62 games. 

His performance convinced the Braves to promote him to class-B Cedar Rapids the ensuing campaign where he struggled, batting just .191 in 124 games.  

But that was where Hunt would meet manager Jimmy Brown, whom he often credited for turning his career around. Brown suggested that Hunt should choke up on the bat and focus on being a contact hitter. He also showed him how to hit a slider and moved the young infielder from third base to second base. He also encouraged Hunt to crowd the plate. 

Hunt responded with a breakout second year in Cedar Rapids under Brown, batting .295 with a .389 on-base percentage and a career-best 16 home runs in 121 games.  

This earned him a promotion to double-A Austin in 1962 where he continued to excel, hitting .310 with a .381 on-base percentage and a career-high 15 stolen bases in 128 games. 

Purchased by Mets 

Following that season, the New York Mets, who had just completed their inaugural campaign, purchased Hunt from the Braves. 

During spring training in 1963, Hunt impressed manager Casey Stengel and he made the club as a backup infielder but he soon took over as the starting second baseman. The hard-nosed infielder ended up batting .272 with 10 home runs and topped the team in hit by pitches (13). His all-out style of play made him a fan favourite and earned him Mets team MVP honours, as well as a second-place finish to Pete Rose in the National League Rookie of the Year voting.  

Hunt was even better for the Mets in 1964 when he batted .303 and became the first Mets player to start in an All-Star Game. The following season Hunt was limited to 57 games by various injuries, but he rediscovered his form in 1966 to earn his second All-Star Game selection. 

Dealt to Dodgers, then Giants 

To the despair of Mets fans after the season, he was dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers where he toiled for one injury-shortened season prior to being swapped to the San Francisco Giants. 

With the Giants, he batted second in the order, ahead of Willie Mays and Willie McCovey. It was his job to get on base and he succeeded. He drew a personal-best 78 walks in 1968 and was hit by 25 pitches to lead the National League for the first of seven consecutive seasons.  

Hunt had another solid year with the Giants in 1969 but saw his playing time diminish in 1970 despite positing a .394 on-base percentage. 

Traded to Expos 

On December 30 of that year, he was traded to the Expos for minor league first baseman Dave McDonald. It turned out to be one of the best trades the Expos ever made. 

“He certainly is the best qualified leadoff man we’ve ever had,” Mauch told the Montreal Gazette after the club acquired Hunt. “He would give us the best second base offence we have ever had. He just hustles out there every game on offence.” 

Mauch also lauded Hunt’s ability to get hit by pitches 

“Hunt has taken shots all over his body – intentionally,” Mauch told the Montreal Star in January 1971. “He’s a hard-nosed, aggressive type. I’d say anywhere from 85 to 90 per cent of the hit batsmen are by intent. He often takes one on purpose. 

“Heck, I’ve kicked a couple of times when I knew he didn’t even make a move to get out of the way. Now I’ll have my turn to watch other managers complain.” 

For his part, Hunt was excited to be coming to the Expos. 

“The Giants, I don’t even care about them anymore,” Hunt told the Montreal Star. “The job I did in the three years I was there speaks for itself – just look at the record . . . I’m really looking forward to playing for Mauch. If he’s as much as a man to play for as he is to play against, I’m sure I’ll enjoy being part of this organization.” 

The sparkplug infielder arrived at Expos camp in 1971 with an intensity that the club hadn’t seen in its first two seasons and proceeded to enjoy a career year as the club’s starting second baseman and primary leadoff hitter. 

Hunt batted .279, posted a .402 on-base percentage and set career-highs with 89 runs and 5.1 WAR. His 145 hits also equaled a career-best. And, as noted earlier, he was hit by 50 pitches, which was the most in a season since the turn of the 20^th century.  

Along the way, Hunt became one of Mauch’s favourite players. 

“In the 30 years that I’ve been connected to baseball, I’ve never enjoyed watching a player more,” Mauch told The Sporting News for an October 1971 article. “Hunt chops away to every field. He invariably gets wood on the ball and seldom strikes out. He plays all-out in everything he does. The fact that he can endure pain enough to get hit and get on base merely typifies his entire approach. He slides hard, charges balls and does everything he can in efforts to win.” 

And Mauch continued to pen Hunt’s name in as the Expos’ leadoff hitter for the next three seasons, in which Hunt again topped the National League in hit by pitches. In 1973, he also recorded a career best .418 on-base percentage. 

“If they threw it inside, it hit me. If they threw it outside, I hit them,” Hunt told Turner when reflecting on his batting approach in the early 1980s.  

By the end of the 1974 season, however, Hunt began to lose some range at second base and when the Expos faltered in the final weeks of the season, they placed Hunt on waivers and he was claimed by the St. Louis Cardinals. 

Hunt finished that year with the Cardinals and then went to spring training with them in 1975 before being released. 

At the time of his retirement, his 243 hit by pitches were the most in MLB history among players since 2000. He has since fallen to fourth place on the list.  

In all, Hunt finished with a .273 batting average and a .368 on-base percentage with 1,429 hits in 1,483 games.  

Post-playing career 

After hanging up his playing spikes, Hunt returned home and worked on his farm in Wentzville, Mo. He tried his hand at various businesses – including a liquor store and sporting goods store – but his heart was in baseball. So, in 1987, he started an elite program for high school kids looking to secure college scholarships called the Ron Hunt Eagles Baseball Association. That program lasted until 2003. 

Hunt was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2018. Doctors suggested that the beanings Hunt sustained during his playing career likely helped bring on the disease. 

Though, according to Montreal Expos book author Danny Gallagher, Hunt suffered from some memory and balance issues, he was still able to work around his farm until relatively recently. 

Hunt is survived by his wife, Jackie, his daughter, Tracy, son, Ron Jr., adopted son, John, and grandson, Nathan. 

You can read his official obituary here.