Olaf Henriksen

Olaf Henriksen
Outfielder
Born: (1888-04-26)April 26, 1888
Kirkerup, Denmark
Died: October 17, 1962(1962-10-17) (aged 74)
Norwood, Massachusetts, U.S.
Batted: Left
Threw: Left
MLB debut
August 11, 1911, for the Boston Red Sox
Last MLB appearance
June 27, 1917, for the Boston Red Sox
MLB statistics
Batting average.269
Home runs1
Runs batted in48
Stats at Baseball Reference Edit this at Wikidata
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Olaf Henriksen (April 26, 1888 – October 17, 1962) was a Major League Baseball outfielder who remains to date the only Danish-born person ever to play in the major leagues. He played seven seasons (1911–17) for the Boston Red Sox as a teammate of Hall of Famers Babe Ruth and Tris Speaker, among others, and he played a role in three World Series victories, namely in 1912, 1915 and 1916.

Defensively Olaf Henriksen solely played the outfield. His primary offensive skill was to get on base, and he recorded the second highest on-base percentage in modern baseball history among rookies with more than 100 plate appearances. He never showed much power, though, as he only had one career home run. Henriksen was mainly a bench player for the Red Sox, but he delivered a decisive hit against the famous pitcher Christy Mathewson in Boston's World Series victory in 1912.

Henriksen's nickname was "Swede".[1] In his active baseball career he was 5 ft. 7½ in. tall and weighed 158 lb.[2]

  1. ^ The Internet Movie Database. "Biography for Olaf Henriksen". IMDb. Retrieved April 28, 2007.
  2. ^ Baseball Almanac. "Olaf Henriksen Baseball Stats". Retrieved April 28, 2007.