MINNEAPOLIS -- Jim Lemon, a former All-Star outfielder and major
league manager who once received personal congratulations from
President Eisenhower after a slugging show, has died. He was 78.

Lemon died Sunday at his home in Brandon, Miss. He had been ill with
cancer.

Lemon spent 26 seasons with the Washington Senators and Minnesota
Twins as a player, manager, coach, scout and instructor. He also
played for Cleveland, Philadelphia and the Chicago White Sox.

"I saw him actually last year because we had our 40th reunion of
our '65 World Series team," former teammate Jim Kaat said Monday
night. "Lem was a fixture in that organization for years. I just
knew him as a good, power-hitting outfielder when I came up, and
just a pleasant guy."

An All-Star in 1960, Lemon batted .262 with 121 doubles, 35 triples,
164 home runs and 529 RBIss in 1,010 career games. He hit 33 home
runs with 100 RBIss for the Senators in 1959 and had 38 homers and
100 RBIss in 1960.

Lemon hit four home runs in the 1955 Southern Association All-Star
game. The performance that really got him noticed, however, came the
next year.

On Aug. 31, 1956, Lemon hit three straight home runs off Whitey Ford
in a game the Senators lost to the New York Yankees. Eisenhower was
in attendance that night at Griffith Stadium, and summoned Lemon to
his box to shake his hand.

Originally signed by Cleveland as a free agent in 1948, Lemon was
bought by the Senators in 1954 and continued playing with the Twins
after the franchise moved west in 1961. He was a regular in the
lineup for six years.

Lemon, who batted cleanup and played left field on opening day in
1961 for Minnesota, retired in 1963. He continued to work in the
game for the next 20 years, including serving as hitting coach on
the 1965 Twins team that went to the World Series.

"I think he had some strong ideas on hitting and later became a
hitting coach," said Kaat, a pitcher who had 16 career home
runs. "He actually helped me a little bit with my hitting because he
used to say, 'Spread out, take a short stride and swing the bat like
a hammer, not like a broom."

Lemon took over for Gil Hodges and managed the Senators in 1968.
They went 65-96, the worst record in the majors, and Ted Williams
became Washington's manager in 1969.