CLEVELAND -- Former Cleveland Indians player, coach and broadcaster Dave Nelson has passed away after a lengthy illness.
Nelson was 73.
News of Nelson’s passing was tweeted out by Bob DiBiasio, the Indians’ Senior Vice President of Public Affairs, late Monday morning.
Before Nelson was a coach and broadcaster, he was a second and third baseman for the Indians (1968-1969), Washington Senators (1970-1971), Texas Rangers (1972-1975) and Kansas City Royals (1976-1977) and made an American League All-Star team with the Rangers in 1973.
Nelson played in 140 games over his two years with the Indians, registering 69 hits in 312 at-bats with 25 runs batted in, 37 runs scored, 27 stolen bases and 26 walks.
A 10-year veteran in Major League Baseball, Nelson finished his career with a lifetime .244 batting average, .305 on-base, .312 slugging and .618 on-base plus slugging percentages over 813 games.
During his all-star season with the Rangers in 1973, Nelson hit .286 with 24 doubles, four triples, seven home runs, 48 RBI, 71 runs scored and 43 stolen bases with .325 on-base, .378 slugging and .703 on-base plus slugging percentages.
Following his playing career, Nelson spent 20 years as a coach/instructor for the Oakland Athletics, Montreal Expos, Indians and Milwaukee Brewers. Nelson was a coach with the Indians from 1992-1997, most notably serving as the first-base coach.
After his coaching days in Cleveland, Nelson was a radio broadcaster for the Indians from 1998-1999.