The
Minnesota Twins had selected Unser in the June draft in 1965, but Unser did not sign with them, nor did he sign with the
Pittsburgh Pirates after they selected him in the winter draft in 1966. However, Unser was drafted in the first round of the June 1966 draft by the
Washington Senators and signed with them, reporting to their Double-A team, the
York White Roses of the
Eastern League. Unser struggled his first season in the minors, batting only .220. However, management in Washington saw something in Unser, and in 1968, he made the leap from double-A to the majors. At the age of 23, on April 10, 1968, Unser made his MLB debut, against the team that had drafted him a year earlier, the Minnesota Twins. Unser got a hit in his major league debut. Unser played for the
Washington Senators from 1968 to 1971. In his first season, he had a five-hit game (four
singles and a
home run) against the
Oakland Athletics on August 20, 1968. In the 1969 season, he led the American League in
triples, with 8. The franchise was moved to the
Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and rebranded as the
Texas Rangers, but Unser would not be part of the transition as he was dealt along with
Denny Riddleberger,
Terry Ley and
Gary Jones to the
Cleveland Indians for
Roy Foster,
Rich Hand,
Mike Paul and
Ken Suarez at the
Winter Meetings on December 2, 1971. Unser was traded again after one season in Cleveland, this time to the
Philadelphia Phillies along with minor league third baseman Terry Wedgewood for
Oscar Gamble and
Roger Freed on December 1, 1972. He also played for the Phillies from 1973 to 1974. After a
season batting .264 with 11 homers, Unser was dealt along with
John Stearns and
Mac Scarce from the Phillies to the
New York Mets for
Tug McGraw,
Don Hahn and
Dave Schneck at the
Winter Meetings on December 3, 1974. He hit .294 for the Mets in 1975, and might have hit .300 that year, but sustained a late-season rib injury which affected his swing. He was hit by a pitch early in the 1976 season and sustained an arm injury, then was traded to the
Montreal Expos on July 21. In 1977, he began to be used primarily as a
pinch-hitter, and also split his time on the field between the
outfield and
first base, and in winter of 1978 became a free agent, returning to the Phillies from 1979 to 1982. Unser played a key role in the Phillies' 1980 World Series victory over the Kansas City Royals, getting crucial
doubles to drive in runs as a pinch hitter in the late innings of Games 2 and 5. The first cut the Royals' lead from 4-2 to 4–3 in the bottom of the 8th inning, and scored the tying run before Mike Schmidt drove in the winning run with a double for a 2-0 Series lead for Philadelphia. In Game 5 in Kansas City and with the series tied at two games apiece, the Phillies were at bat in the top of the ninth and trailing by a score of 3–2. After Schmidt led off with a single, Unser again delivered a double to score Schmidt with the tying run. He later scored the go-ahead run on Manny Trillo's single as the Phillies won the game 4-3 to take a 3–2 lead in the World Series back to Philadelphia, where they closed it out in the 6th game. Unser played a few more years in Philadelphia after that World Series win. However, on June 8, 1982, the Phillies released Unser, ending his stay in the major leagues. Unser's career totals include 1,799
games played, 1,344
hits, 87 home runs, 481
runs batted in, and a lifetime
batting average of .258. Unser, along with
Lee Lacy, is one of two players to hit pinch-hit home runs in three consecutive at-bats. ==Post career==