Raised in Kinnelon, New Jersey, he excelled at soccer and basketball at Peddie School in Hightstown, New Jersey while playing junior varsity baseball in his freshman year before playing golf the following semester. Missing baseball, he came back and played summer baseball after his sophomore year, which also saw him get a growth spurt that saw him graduate at 6'5, as compared to entering freshman year at 5'6. Hanson played high school baseball for coach Lew Watts.,[1][2][3] Eschewing being drafted by the Montreal Expos as a teenager, he attended Wake Forest University (majoring in economics), and in 1984 he played collegiate summer baseball with the Orleans Cardinals of the Cape Cod Baseball League. In 2024, he was inducted into the Wake Forest Sports Hall of Fame.[4][5]
Professional career
Hanson was drafted twice by major league teams, as the Montreal Expos drafted him in the seventh round of the 1983 amateur draft. He elected to play baseball in college instead and was subsequently drafted three years later by the Seattle Mariners in the second round. He rose from Double-A ball to Triple-A by 1987 and was called up by the Mariners as a September callup in 1988; he went back to AAA in 1989 before rising back up to the majors.[6] He started six games and went 2-3 with a 3.24 ERA, which included going 7.1 innings in his debut on September 5, allowing no earned runs with six hits. He went 9-5 with a 3.18 ERA in 17 games while striking out 75 with 32 walks. He excelled in 1990, going 18-9 with a 3.24 ERA and a career-high 236 innings to go with a career-best in strikeouts with 211 to 68 walks. Hanson pitched the Opening Day game of the 1991 season, facing the California Angels. He went 8 1/3 and allowed three runs on eight hits and took the loss.[7] That year, he went 8-8 on 27 starts while having a 3.81 ERA with 143 strikeouts and 56 walks. The following year saw him lose a league-leading 17 times as he went 8-17 on thirty starts with 112 strikeouts and 57 walks. He closed his Seattle tenure out with an 11-12 record in 1993 with 163 strikeouts and 60 walks. He was traded on November 2 along with Bret Boone to the Cincinnati Reds for Bobby Ayala and Dan Wilson.
In his only season with the Reds cut short due to the strike, he went 5-5 on 21 starts with a 4.11 ERA with 101 strikeouts to 23 walks. He signed on as a free agent with the Boston Red Sox in April of 1995. He went 15-5 that year while having a 4.24 ERA that saw him strikeout 139 batters with 59 walks in 186.2 innings and garner his only All-Star selection. Hanson was tabbed to start Game 2 of the Division Series against the Cleveland Indians. He pitched eight innings and allowed four runs on four hits, which included a home run to go with five strikeouts and four walks as Cleveland won 4-0.[8] In the winter of 1995, he signed a deal with the Toronto Blue Jays. He was tabbed as the Opening Day starter for the 1996 season. Facing the Oakland Athletics, he allowed three runs on seven innings of work in a 9-3 victory.[9] He went 13-17 with a 5.41 ERA in a career-high 35 starts with 156 strikeouts and 102 walks. He pitched just three games in 1997. He started eight games (with three relief appearances) in 1998, going 0-3 with a 6.24 ERA with 21 strikeouts to 29 walks, the only time he had more walks than strikeouts. He was released on June 16, 1998. Hanson signed as a free agent with two different teams over the next six months but never reached the majors again.
After retiring from baseball, he took on a career of competitive amateur golf.
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