Alan Bannister

Alan Bannister (born September 3, 1951) is a retired professional baseball player who played in the major leagues for the Philadelphia Phillies (1974–75), Chicago White Sox (1976–80), Cleveland Indians (1980–83), Houston Astros (1984) and Texas Rangers (1984–85). Originally a shortstop, he was a utility player during his major league career.

Bannister played college baseball at Arizona State University, and represented the United States at the 1971 Pan American Games, where he won a silver medal. Highly touted in college, Bannister was the Phillies' first-round pick in the 1973 draft (January). Although versatile (he played every position but pitcher and catcher) he never lived up to his college billing and was rarely a regular. He opened the 1975 season as the Phillies' starting center fielder until the arrival of Garry Maddox from the San Francisco Giants on May 4. He was traded with Dick Ruthven and Roy Thomas to the Chicago White Sox for Jim Kaat and Mike Buskey on December 10, 1975. Only once, as the 1977 White Sox' shortstop (after the trade of Bucky Dent in April), did he play in over 100 games at a position, and then he led all AL shortstops in errors (40). He led the American League in sacrifice flies (11) in 1977.

In 12 major league seasons he played in 972 games and recorded 3,007 at bats, 430 runs, 811 hits, 143 doubles, 28 triples, 19 home runs, 288 RBI, 108 stolen bases, 292 walks, with a .270 batting average, .334 on-base percentage and a .355 slugging percentage.

After his playing career, he managed two years in the Montreal Expos minor league system and three years for the AZL Giants of the Arizona League. He was inducted to the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2010.

As an amateur, Bannister was involved in a play which resulted in a fatality. In July 1972, he was a participant in a Baseball Federation tour of Japan. While attempting to complete a double play during a game against a Japanese team, he made a throw to first base which struck the head of Akira Toumon, who was advancing from first base to second base. Toumon was knocked unconscious, and later died at a hospital as a result of cerebral contusion.