Bisons' greats Ted Savage, Alex Ramirez elected to Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame
The Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame Committee is proud to announce that former Bisons' outfielders ALEX RAMIREZ and TED SAVAGE have been elected to the Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame.
Ramirez and Savage will all be formally inducted during special Hall of Fame ceremonies during the Bisons fridaynightbash!® on July 29 against the Syracuse Chiefs (7:05 p.m.). TICKETS
The Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame now has 96 members. Each member of the Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame has a plaque in their honor hanging in Coca-Cola Field's Hall of Fame Heritage room. There accomplishments can also be seen on the Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame page on Bisons.com.
Alex Ramirez
Alex Ramirez played three seasons with the Bisons from 1997-1999 and was one of the franchise's most prolific power hitters of the modern era. In 315 career games with Buffalo, he hit 57 home runs (4th in the team's modern era) and drove in 197 runs (5th) while averaging .296 (14th) at the plate while helping the Herd to a 1998 Governors' Cup Championship.
Originally signed by the Cleveland Indians as free agent in 1991, Ramirez made his Bisons debut in 1997, hitting .286 with 11 home runs, 38 extra-base hits and 44 RBI in 119 games. A season later, the Venezuelan slugger produced maybe the greatest offensive season in the modern era. He set single-season team-records with 34 home runs and 103 RBI while hitting .299 in 121 games. He started the year with a team-record 28-game hit streak and by year's end had also collected 21 doubles, eight triples and six stolen bases. He was named the Bisons' 1998 Stan Barron MVP as well as International League postseason All-Star. Ramirez then hit three more home runs in eight playoff games, propelling the team to their first Governors' Cup championship in 37 years.
Ramirez hit 12 more home runs and averaged .305 in 75 games for the Bisons in 1999, earning an IL midseason All-Star selection. The slugger then played 135 Major League games with Cleveland and Pittsburgh before becoming an international star in Japanese baseball. In 13 seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball, Ramirez hit 380 home runs with 1,272 RBI in 1,744 games with Yakult, Yomiuri and Yokohama. He became the first foreign-born player to record 2,000 hits in the NPB and the first ever to join Japan's Meikyukai, an elite private club that recognizes the absolute best players in the country's history (just the 42nd member).
Ted Savage
Ted Savage played one season with the Bisons, taking home the honor of International League Most Valuable Player in 1961 after hitting .325 and winning the IL's batting title in 149 games with Buffalo. Originally signed by the Philadelphia Phillies as a free agent in 1960, the outfielder reached the Triple-A level in just his second professional season. The Herd's last MVP of the pre-modern era, Savage had a team-best 24 home runs to go along with 29 doubles, four triples, 65 RBI and 31 stolen bases (also lead the Bisons that season). He also scored 111 runs that season, nearly 40 more than any of his teammates.
The 1961 Bisons went on to capture the International League Governors' Cup Championship before sweeping Louisville to win the Little World Series.
Savage went on to play for eight Major League teams, debuting with the Phillies in 1962. In 642 games, he hit .233 with 34 home runs, 163 RBI and 49 stolen bases. He set personal bests with 114 games played, 12 home runs and 50 RBI in 1970 with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame Committee
The Buffalo Baseball Hall of Fame committee is charged with the task of screening all candidates eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame and to select for induction such persons who have made a significant contribution to Buffalo professional baseball, or such Western New Yorkers who have made a meaningful contribution to professional baseball generally.
The committee is comprised of Tom Burns, Bob Dicesare, Mike Harrington, Kevin Lester, Duke McGuire, Bob Miske, John Murphy and Pete Weber.
-the herd-