When Maury Wills was selected by the Montreal Expos in the 1968 Major League Baseball expansion draft,[3] it created a hole at third base that Hebner was expected to fill.
The Pirates repeated as division champions to face the San Francisco Giants in the 1971 National League Championship Series.
He redeemed himself in the eighth, hitting a game-winning solo shot off Juan Marichal to give the Pirates the 2–1 edge in the series.
He hit a career-high 25 home runs in 1973, the most memorable of which came when the St. Louis Cardinals and Pirates went into extra innings in the first game of a September 3 doubleheader.
With the two teams battling for first place in the division, Hebner led off the bottom of the thirteenth inning with a walk off inside-the-park home run.
Hebner hit a three-run home run off Cardinals closer Al Hrabosky at Three Rivers Stadium on September 19 to carry his team to an 8-6 victory.
The Pirates' Jim Rooker and Cardinals' Lynn McGlothen both pitched masterfully, as the game headed into extra innings scoreless.
Coupled with an abysmal month of May (.149 batting average, 5 RBI), this landed Hebner square in the crosshairs of Pirates fans and sports writers.
Needing a change in scenery, Hebner opted to play out his contract and become a free agent at the end of the season.
First-base umpire Bruce Froemming called Lopes safe, however, allowing Mota to score the tying run.
After a botched pickoff attempt moved Lopes to second, Bill Russell drove him home with a single to center for the game-winning run.
[14] When Rose signed a four-year deal with the club on December 5,[15] Hebner became trade bait for a much needed starting pitcher.
After considering moving Hebner to second base or into the outfield,[16] the Phillies returned to plan A, and put him on the trading block for a starting pitcher.
Though instant replay showed that Hebner clearly touched home plate before Johnny Bench's tag, Harris called him out.
[22] Hebner was batting .291 with a team leading 82 RBIs when he strained instep ligaments in his right foot on August 22 against the Minnesota Twins.
The system seemed to be working as both ended the month of May batting over .300, but he would still wind up on waivers on August 13 to make room for prospect Howard Johnson.
[29] Used primarily as a pinch hitter, and occasionally filling in at first and third, he played a valuable role for the team that reached the postseason for the first time since 1945.
When the owners decided to go with replacement players the following spring, the Blue Jays determined that they would prefer that manager Cito Gaston and his major league staff not work with the strike-breakers.
In January 2002, he was hired by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays as hitting coach for the triple A Durham Bulls of the International League.
When he was fired at the end of the 2006 season, he jumped to the Chicago White Sox organization as hitting coach for the double A Birmingham Barons.
He spent just one season at Birmingham then was hired as manager of the Frederick Keys 49 games into the 2008 campaign on May 26, replacing Tommy Thompson who was granted a leave of absence for personal reasons.
[38] He was named the hitting coach for the Norfolk Tides on January 7, 2010;[39] he lasted one season in that capacity, as the Orioles declined to retain him on September 24.