finalyear bats death_date death_place birth_place debutyear finaldate statvalue position debutdate birth_date article_title statlabel name throws
1977 right 17 october 2010 evansville , indiana somerville , new jersey 1970 may 8 .233 32 92 first baseman/outfielder september 5 15 august 1946 joe lis
 batting average home runs runs batted in joe lis right
joe lis

joseph anthony lis -lrb- august 15 , 1946 -- october 17 , 2010 -rrb- was a first baseman in major league baseball who played for four different teams between the 1970 and 1977 seasons .
listed at 6 ' 0 '' -lrb- 1.83 m -rrb- , 175 lb .
-lrb- 79 k -rrb- , lis batted and threw right-handed .
he was born in somerville , new jersey .
lis entered the majors in 1970 with the philadelphia phillies , playing for them three years before joining the minnesota twins -lrb- 1973 -- 74 -rrb- , cleveland indians -lrb- 1974 -- 76 -rrb- and seattle mariners -lrb- 1977 -rrb- .
basically a first baseman during his major league career , he also played left field , right field , third base , and caught in one game .
a good power hitter in the minor leagues , lis batted at least 33 home runs in three different seasons and was named international league most valuable player in 1976 , an award he shared with fellow infielders mickey klutts and rich dauer .
nevertheless , he never translated his minor league success into a full-time job in the majors .
his most productive season came in 1973 with minnesota , when he posted career numbers in homers -lrb- nine -rrb- , rbi -lrb- 25 -rrb- and games -lrb- 103 -rrb- as a replacement for injured harmon killebrew .
lis also played in nippon professional baseball for the kintetsu buffaloes in 1978 .
he finished his baseball career with the triple-a champion , evansville triplets , in the 1979 season .
following his playing career , lis coached youth baseball for over 30 years , including in the newburgh american legion from 1984 to 2002 .
in 2003 , he became general manager of the evansville wolfepack 18-year-old travel team .
he also owned and operated the joe lis baseball school since 1991 , and worked at james r. pyle insurance agency since 1989 .
lis died in evansville , indiana at the age of 64 .
