1994 Rookie of the Year Countdown – Bob Hamelin

Alligator it!

Continuing our Tuesday look at the countdown to the Rookies of the Year in 1994, today we examine former Royals/Tigers/Brewers DH and first baseman Bob Hamelin.

Nabholz was able to acquire
more WAR because he was
drafted when he was seven.

Hamelin attended Irvine High School in Irvine, CA, where he excelled in baseball and football.  Despite being recruited by Notre Dame to play football, he decided to pursue baseball, and was drafted in the second round of the 1988 Major League draft by the Kansas City Royals out of Santa Ana College in Santa Ana, CA.  The Dons have produced a total of six major league players which include Heath Bell and Darryl Ward.  Ward, despite not having played a Major League game since 2008, continues to live the dream to this day, playing in the Mexican league at age 39.  Hamelin has the third most WAR of players drafted in the second round in 1988, behind Arthur Rhodes and Chris Nabholz.

More on this later.

Upon signing with the Royals, they assigned him to A- ball Eugene.  In his first season of professional ball, he would hit .298 with 19 doubles, one triple, 17 home runs and 61 RBIs, with 56 walks and 67 strikeouts.  He would lead the team in almost every offensive category, and some by a wide margin.  The second place home run hitter had five, who was also second in RBIs with 28, and average at .265.  Hamelin even finished tied for fourth in stolen bases with nine, and he was only caught once.  His slugging percentage was 217 points higher than second place.  He played all his games in the field at first base, with a .978 fielding percentage.

In 1989, Hamelin was promoted to AA Memphis, where he would build upon the success of the previous season.  There, he would hit .308 with 12 doubles, five triples, 16 home runs and 47 RBIs, with 52 walks and 52 strikeouts.  His on base percentage was .454.  Due to only playing in 68 games, presumably due to injury, he wasn’t among the leaders in many categories, but he still led the team in average, and was fourth in walks, with all three players ahead of him playing in over 100 games.  Playing mainly at first base, he had a .985 fielding percentage.

Due to his numbers in his first two years, he was ranked the 31^st best prospect in the game prior to the 1990 season.  That year, he was promoted to AAA Omaha.  There, as a 22 year old who was more than four years younger than league average, his numbers took a nosedive.  In 90 games, he hit .232 with 11 doubles, two triples, eight home runs and 30 RBIs, with 62 walks and 78 strikeouts.  In 48 of his 90 games, he played first base, with a .991 fielding percentage.

Hamelin would find himself back at Omaha in 1991.  Injuries limited him to 37 games, and his average dipped all the way to .189.  He also had three doubles, a triple, four home runs and 19 RBIs, with 16 walks and 32 strikeouts.  He only managed to play in six error-free games at first base.

The Royals attempted to hit the reset button on Hamelin for 1992.  He started the season at A+ Baseball City, where he hit .273 with one triple, one home run and six RBIs, with two walks and 11 strikeouts.  He was then promoted back to AA Memphis, where he hit .333 with eight doubles, six home runs and 22 RBIs, with 26 walks and 17 strikeouts.  This led to another promotion to AAA Omaha, where he would again tank.  He hit .200 with three doubles, one triple, five home runs and 15 RBIs, with 14 walks and 15 strikeouts.

In 1993, Hamelin was finally healthy, playing in 137 games, again with Omaha.  His numbers would somewhat improve.  He hit .259 with 19 doubles, three triples, 29 home runs and 84 RBIs, with 82 walks and 94 strikeouts.  In 127 games at first base, he only made 11 errors, good for a .991 fielding percentage.

Hamelin was called up to the big show for the end of the season in 1993, about the time that first baseman Wally Joyner went on the DL for the remainder of the season.  He would make his debut on September 12^th, in a Royals 10-2 victory over the New York Yankees.  He would strike out in the bottom of the eighth as a pinch hitter for Jose Lind against Lee Smith.  Tom Gordon entered the game in the top of the ninth and danced around solo home runs to Paul O’Neill and Jim Leyritz to close out the game.

Four days later, Hamelin again would be hitless, popping out to third base in the top of the ninth in a 14-1 loss to the Seattle Mariners.  Two days later, Hamelin would get his first hit off of Chris Bosio in a 1-0 victory over the Mariners.  Three days later, he would get his first home run, a solo shot off of Kelly Downs in a 9-6 loss to the Oakland Athletics.  In all, in 16 games, he would hit .224 with three doubles, two home runs and five RBIs, with six walks and 15 strikeouts.

In 1994, Hamelin would open the season with the big club.  Through his first 10 games, he hit .324 with four home runs and 14 RBIs.  This included a 1-3 effort with a three run home run, a sacrifice fly and a bases loaded walk on April 16^th, totaling five RBIs in a 12-9 win over the Cleveland Indians.  Overall for the month of April, he hit .361 with four doubles, six home runs and 21 RBIs, with 10 walks and 11 strikeouts.  He was AL Player of the Week for the week of April 17^th, when he hit .500 with a double, four home runs and 13 RBIs in five games.

When the calendar turned to May, Hamelin went south.  In 21 games, he only had a hit in eight of them.  Overall, he hit .158 with two doubles, a triple, four home runs and 10 RBIs, with 16 walks and 14 strikeouts.  Even with the horrible average, his walks buoyed his on base percentage to .345, and at the end of May, his OPS was still .973.

June was somewhat better for Hamelin as far as batting average goes, but that’s about it.  In 23 games, he hit .238 with nine doubles, two home runs and six RBIs, with five walks and 13 strikeouts.  He did hit .333 over the final five games of the month, but all six of his RBIs on the month came in three different games.

Hamelin continued to steadily improve in July.  For the month, he hit .296 with six doubles, nine home runs and 20 RBIs, with 18 walks and 20 strikeouts.  He had his first career two-home run game on July 8^th, hitting two solo shots off of Dave Stewart in a 6-5 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.  He also had a four RBI game on July 25^th, hitting a walk-off three run home run off of Roberto Hernandez in the bottom of the 12^th in a 6-5 win over the Chicago White Sox.  That was part of the last nine games of the month, when he hit .375 with four home runs and nine RBIs.

Over the last 10 games of the season in August, Hamelin finished on a tear.  He hit .394 with four doubles, three home runs and eight RBIs, with seven walks and four RBIs.  In those 10 games, he had 13 hits.

Overall for the 1994 season, on his way to American League Rookie of the Year honors, Hamelin hit .282 with 25 doubles, a triple, 24 home runs and 65 RBIs, with 56 walks and 62 strikeouts.  His on base percentage was .388, his slugging percentage was .599, and his OPS was .987.  His slugging and OPS percentages were good enough for fifth in the AL behind Frank Thomas, Albert Belle, Ken Griffey Jr. and Paul O’Neill.  He was ninth in the AL in home runs, and forth in AL in at bats per home run at 13.0.

George Brett’s retirement in 1993 opened up a roster spot for Hamelin, and he took full advantage of it.  With Wally Joyner’s return to health, for the most part, Hamelin just had to show up, eat some sunflower seeds, and hit every two or three innings.  He only played 24 games in the field, all at first base.  There, he only made two errors, good for a .992 fielding percentage.

In 1995, Hamelin took the phrase “sophomore slump” to a whole new level.  For the season, in 72 games, he hit .168 with seven doubles, a triple, seven home runs and 25 RBIs, with 26 walks and 56 strikeouts.  He went on the DL on June 8^th, when he was only hitting .175.  He came back for the month of July, when he only hit .145, and he was then sent back to AAA Omaha.  Between the rehab stint while he was on the DL, and for the month of August, at Omaha he did hit .294, but his MINOR success (see what I did there?) didn’t translate back to the big leagues.  Over the final month of the season back in Kansas City, he only hit .184.

Was this the worst
baseball card ever?

Health issues continued to plague Hamelin in 1996, which would be his last season in Kansas City.  Overall, he hit .255 with 14 doubles, a triple, nine home runs and 40 RBIs, with 54 walks and 58 strikeouts.  At the end of May, he was only hitting .196, but through the first half of June, he hit .367.  At that time, he went on the DL until the middle of July.  When he returned, he hit .298 through the end of August, although there was little power, as his slugging percentage over that time was only .464.  It appears he battled through injuries through the month of September, where in only eight games, he hit .222.

The Royals released Hamelin on March 26^th, 1997.  A couple of weeks later, he was signed by the Detroit Tigers.  He started out the season at AAA Toledo, where he hit .242, but he did have 27 walks and 24 strikeouts.  This was good enough for the Tigers, and he made his debut with them on May 7^th.  Through his first 23 games with the Tigers, he was hitting .394, but for the rest of the season, he only hit .238.  Overall, he hit .270 with 15 doubles, 18 home runs and 52 RBIs, with 48 walks and 72 strikeouts.

Hamelin was granted free agency at the end of 1997, and he signed with the Milwaukee Brewers for the 1998 season.  He did play in 109 games, but he only had a total of 167 plate appearances.  For the Brewers, he hit .219 with six doubles, seven home runs and 22 RBIs, with 16 walks and 30 strikeouts.  His final Major League game came on September 27^th, when he went 1-4 with a strikeout in a 2-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In 1999, he was signed a minor league deal with the Tigers, but at AAA Toledo, through 46 games, he hit .221 with nine doubles, five home runs and 20 RBIs, with 24 walks and 29 strikeouts.  One day, Hamelin grounded out, went back to the dugout, and told the manager that he was done, and so it was.

For his career, across 497 games, Hamelin hit .246 with 70 doubles, three triples, 67 home runs and 209 RBIs, with 206 walks and 293 strikeouts.  He had a respectable .352 on base percentage, which helped boost his career OPS to .816, making his career OPS+ 109.  He only played in 138 games in the field, all at first base, where he committed a total of 10 errors, and had a fielding percentage of .990.  All of these numbers equal a seven or eight hitter in today’s game, but this wasn’t nearly good enough for the offensive environment of the mid-to-late 1990’s.  Leg injuries and an eye problem quickened his exit from the game.

Bob Hamelin came relatively out of nowhere to claim the 1994 American League Rookie of the Year honors.  And that’s ok.  Jim Edmonds and Manny Ramirez I’m sure are glad to have traded that honor for their World Series rings.  That’s ok though.  There are two things that I’ll always remember about baseball in 1994 – we lost a third of the season to the strike, and some guy named Bob Hamelin won the AL Rookie of the Year.

And yes, according to this blog, he has the worst baseball card ever.  So he has that going for him.

1994 Rookie of the Year Countdown – John Hudek

Continuing our Tuesday look at the countdown to the Rookies of the Year in 1994, today we examine former Astros/Mets/Reds/Braves/Blue Jays pitcher John Hudek.

He was an American hero!

Hudek was originally drafted by the Texas Rangers in the 30^th round of the 1985 Major League draft out of H.B. Plant High School in Tampa, FL, the alma mater of Wade Boggs.  Feeling it would be tough to escape the shadows of Bobby Witt and Jose Guzman, he decided to decline the Rangers’ offer, and head to college.  Later, he would be drafted in the 10^th round of the 1988 Major League draft by the Chicago White Sox out of Florida Southern College in Lakeland, FL.  The Moccasins have produced a total of 13 major leaguers, including Brett Tomko, Matt Joyce and Rob Dibble.  Five players from the 10^th round made it to the major leagues, none of whom you’ve ever heard of.  Well, I guess after reading this, you will have heard of Hudek, but none of the others you’ve ever heard of.  Although, it’s unfortunate that Giants 10^th round pick, first baseman Turtle Zaun out of NC State, never made the majors.

Turtle Zaun was real!

After signing with the White Sox, they assigned Hudek to A ball South Bend.  There, in 26 games across 542/3 innings, he would go 7-2 with a 1.98 ERA, 35 strikeouts, 21 walks and eight saves.  He allowed 19 runs, but seven of those were unearned, which surely contributed to at least one of those losses.

The following year, Hudek found himself back at A ball to start the season, this time in Sarasota.  In 27 games across 43 innings, he was 1-3 with a 1.67 ERA, 39 strikeouts, 13 walks and 15 saves.  He only allowed one home run in those 27 relief appearances.  The White Sox liked what they saw, and promoted him to AA Birmingham in the second half of the season.  There, in 18 games across 17 innings, he went 1-1 with a 4.24 ERA, 10 strikeouts, nine walks and 11 saves.

In 1990, Hudek would again find himself in Birmingham.  This time, he would be given the opportunity to be a starter for the first time in his career.  In 42 games, across 92 1/3 innings and 10 starts, he went 6-6 with a 4.58 ERA, 67 strikeouts, 52 walks and four saves.

Hudek would again be in Birmingham for the 1991 season.  The starting pitching experiment would be overfor now, as all 51 of his games would be out of the bullpen.  Across 65 2/3 innings, he went 5-10 with a 3.84 ERA, 49 strikeouts, 28 walks and 13 saves.  For the second consecutive years, he hit six batters and threw five wild pitches.

The now 25 year old Hudek would AGAIN start the season in AA Birmingham to start the 1992 season.  After five games and 11 2/3 innings, he was 0-1 with nine strikeouts, 11 walks and one save.  He also gave up nine hits, which equaled a 1.714 WHIP.  Clearly, it was time to promote him.  He would spend the rest of the season at AAA Vancouver, where in 39 games across 85 1/3 innings and three starts, he would go 8-1 with a 3.16 ERA, 61 strikeouts, 45 walks, a shutout and two saves.

After the 1992 season, Hudek was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the Rule 5 draft.  The Tigers assigned him to AAA Toledo.  There, in 16 games across 38 2/3 innings and five starts, he went 1-3 with a 5.82 ERA, 32 strikeouts and 22 walks.  The Tigers were let off the hook by the Astros, who claimed him off waivers on July 29^th.  The Astros assigned him to AAA Tucson, where he show signs of improvement, as do most people that leave Toledo.  In 13 games across 19 innings and one start, he went 3-1 with a 3.79 ERA, 18 walks and 11 strikeouts.

Hudek would start his seventh professional season yet again in the minors in 1994 at AAA Tucson, but he wouldn’t be there long.  Through six games across 7 1/3 innings, he didn’t have a decision and had a 4.91 ERA with 14 strikeouts, three walks and two saves.  He WAS there long enough to reach base for the only time in his entire minor league career, drawing a walk in his only plate appearance that year.  He was then caught stealing.  Added with his two strikeouts in two previous plate appearances, you have to have one of the worst hitting lines of all time.

Baserunning errors aside, the Astros, needing bullpen help, decided to call him up.  Why did the 1994 Astros need help in the bullpen?  A big part of it was due to the acquisition of Mitch Williams from the Philadelphia Phillies the prior offseason.  The Astros traded away Doug Jones and Jeff Juden to get him.  Apparently, the two losses and 20.25 ERA in the 1993 World Series weren’t a red flag to the Astros, so they went after him to be their closer.  Unfortunately, Williams would only pitch in 25 games for them, going 1-4 with six saves and a 7.65 ERA before being released on May 31^st.  Jones would go on to be an All Star for the Phillies and save 27 games.  Juden would firmly cement himself as a failed prospect, leaving the Phillies after the ’95 season and playing for six teams the following four years.

After releasing Williams, the Astros then needed someone to close, and JEFF HUDEK WAS SOMEONE.  He would make his major league debut on April 23^rd, 1994 in a 15-5 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.  Finishing the game, he would get Stan Royer and Jose Oquendo to pop out, and he earned his first career strikeout against Ray Lankford.  Six days later, he would pitch two innings, striking out four and not allowing a baserunner as the Astros again defeated the Cardinals, this time 4-3 in 10 innings.

In May, Hudek would officially take over as the closer.  He would earn his first save on May 5^th in an 8-6 win over the Cincinnati Reds.  On May 9^th, he would allow his first run as a major leaguer, but it would be over a month before he would allow another one.  Through the end of May, he didn’t have a decision with a 0.56 ERA, 19 strikeouts, six walks, one hold and six saves.

Hudek would keep his hot streak rolling through most of the month of June.  Through June 26^th, his ERA was still 0.69.  The next day, he would give up four runs in a 7-6 win over the Reds.  He walked Bret Boone before allowing career home run #20 for Eddie Taubensee, and with two outs, walked Barry Larkin and then allowed a home run to Hal Morris.  His ERA shot up to 2.02.  However, two days later, he earned a save with a scoreless ninth inning, and finished the month of June without a decision, with a 3.86 ERA, 11 strikeouts, two walks and six saves.

In Hudek’s first five appearances in July, he had a blown save, a save, another save, a loss, and another save.  In his defense, the blown save came on an unearned run in a 5-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs.  Overall for the month, he was 0-2 with a 4.15 ERA, six strikeouts, four walks, two blown saves and four saves.  His second blown save of the month was on July 29^th, when he would allow a walk off, three run home run to Delino DeShields in a 7-5 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.  His save on July 20^th would actually be the last of the season for him.

As the season wound down, Hudek would pitch in four more games in August.  Over those fourappearances, he didn’t have a decision, with a 9.00 ERA, three strikeouts and three walks.  In his second to last appearance, he allowed three runs in an 8-7 win over the San Francisco Giants.  He allowed a leadoff single to Dave Martinez, followed by a John Patterson walk and then a Jeff Reed home run.  Dave Veras then relieved Hudek, hitting Mark Carreon with a pitch and allowing a Todd Benzinger single before getting Barry Bonds to foul out to third base.

Overall for the 1994 season, on his way to the second place finish in the NL Rookie of the Year voting, Jack Hudek finished 0-2 with a 2.97 ERA, 1.068 WHIP, 39 strikeouts, 18 walks and 16 saves.  He only allowed an earned run in 42 games.  In three of those games, he allowed only one run.  In two of those games, he allowed three runs, and in one game he allowed four runs.  Those 16 saves were good enough for eighth place in the NL in the strike shortened season.  He also earned an All Star appearance that year, the only one of his career.

It was pretty much downhill for Hudek from that point on out.  In 1995, in his first nine games of the season, he didn’t allow a run, was 2-0 with four saves and 19 strikeouts vs. just two walks.  Opponents hit .094 off of him in those nine games.  His WHIP was a tidy 0.500.  Over the next 10 games that season, he gave up 12 runs in 10 innings, going 0-2 with three saves and two blown saves, with 10 walks vs. three strikeouts.  His WHIP was 1.900.  After giving up three runs in a third of an inning in a 13-2 loss to the Cubs on June 22^nd, his season was over.  His total line for 1995 was 2-2 with a 5.40 ERA, 29 strikeouts, five walks and seven saves. 

In 1996, Hudek didn’t pitch until July 15^th.  After three games, he missed another month after giving up four runs in three innings pitched.  When he came back, he only gave up one run in his last 12 appearances.  In total, he was 2-0 with 14 strikeouts, five walks and two saves.

1997 would be the last season Hudek would have in Houston.  At the end of April, he had only given up two runs in nine innings, earning a hold and four saves.  Then the wheels fell off.  In 12 games between May 1^st and June 1^st, he gave up 13 runs in 12 innings, with a hold and two blown saves.  He would miss the next three weeks, come back and pitch six games, then return to the DL until August 19^th.  From there on out, he would only pitch in 12 more games, going 1-2 with two blown saves.  He finished at 1-3 with 36 strikeouts, 33 walks and four saves.

I hated New York so much,
I went to play for the Red Sox.

After the ’97 season, the Astros traded Jerry Hudek to the New York Mets for a player who, at the time, had a .245 average, 29 home runs and 133 RBIs in all or parts of five seasons.  In 1997, he walked 32 times and struck out 102.  That player was Carl Everett.  Everett would give the Astros two seasons, where he would combine to hit .310 with 40 home runs, 184 RBIs and 41 stolen bases.  He also finished 17^th in the NL MVP voting in 1999.  Hudek would give the Mets 27 innings in 28 games with a 4.00 ERA, 28 strikeouts, 19 walks and zero saves.  The Mets then decided it was time to celebrate their independence from Hudek a day early, trading him to the Reds on July 3^rd for Lenny Harris.  The Reds may have actually won this trade, as Harris only hit .232 for the Mets (3-13 pinch hitting) while Hudek went 4-2 with a 2.43 ERA, 40 strikeouts, 28 walks and zero saves.  Still, his WHIP was 1.486, which sadly was the lowest he had at any stop after his ’96 season in Houston.

1999 would be Hudek’s last season in the majors, but he made the most of free travel, playing for three different teams.  He started out in Cincinnati, where in two games, he had a 27.00 ERA.  That’s when the Reds traded him to the Atlanta Braves for Mark Wohlers.  At the time, Wohlers also had pitched in two games, with a 27.00 ERA.  The change of scenery helped neither pitcher.  Wohlers didn’t pitch a game for the Reds, missing the rest of the season.  For the Braves, Hudek would go 0-1 with a 6.48 ERA and zero saves.  On July 30^th, he was released by the Braves.  The next day, he was signed by the Toronto Blue Jays.  There, he would pitch in just three September games with a 12.27 ERA and zero saves.  Over his three stops in 1999, he went 0-2 with a 8.44 ERA, 20 strikeouts, 15 walks and zero saves.

For his career, Joe Hudek went 10-15 with a 4.43 ERA, 206 strikeouts, 123 walks and 29 saves.  In other words, his career numbers match one season of your standard pitcher in the late 1800’s.  When he was healthy, he showed he could be quite effective.  That could be said about a lot of has beens and never weres.  Just remember though, for one season, he was deemed better than Javy Lopez, Cliff Floyd and Ryan Klesko.  And yet, his Wikipedia page only has one, four-sentence paragraph.

We only have two players left to review –the 1994 Rookies of the Year!  Next week, we take a look back at ROYALS LEGEND* Bob Hamelin!

*May or may not be a Royals legend

Ahead of His Time - The Dave Kingman Story

I'm guessing this is the only
time that Rob Deer and
"amazing" was used
in the same sentence.

As I think back to the infancy of my baseball fanhood, and start to think about guys who hit a lot of home runs, struck out a lot, and hit for a low average, several names start to come to mind.  Probably the first one I noticed as a lad was Mike Schmidt.  Then we start getting into lesser names like Pete Incaviglia, Rob Deer, and I eventually migrate to Mark McGwire, then to Adam Dunn, Carlos Pena and Mark Reynolds.  But Dave Kingman would almost certainly be on that list if I were about five years older.

Kingman might not have been the original “two true outcomes” player, but he probably has more home runs than any of the others.  We’re first going to look back at his career, then at the end, we’ll go over some truly comical stats about him.

Kingman was originally drafted in the second round of the 1967 Major League draft by the California Angels out of Prospect High School in Mount Prospect, IL.  Kingman declined their offer, instead deciding to attend the University of Southern California.  Before even playing a game there, the Baltimore Orioles drafted him in the first round (ninth overall) in the January Secondary draft in 1968.  He again declined, and was eventually drafted with the first pick in the June Secondary draft in 1970 by the San Francisco Giants.

Upon signing with the Giants, they assigned him to AA Amarillo.  In his first taste of professional ball, he hit .295.  He would never hit that high again.  In 60 games, he also added nine doubles, a triple, 15 home runs, 41 RBIs, with 37 walks vs. 64 strikeouts.  In 38 games in the outfield, he had five assists.  That’s good!  He also had nine errors.  That’s not good!  In 21 other games at first base, he didn’t make one error in 164 chances.  The Giants had learned their lesson for the most part, and when he was promoted to AAA Phoenix, he only played three games in the outfield (but still managed an error).  At first base, he only made seven errors all season, good for a .992 fielding percentage.  In 1971 at Phoenix, he hit .278 with 29 doubles, five triples, 26 home runs and 99 RBIs, with 32 walks vs. 105 strikeouts.  While the power was certainly there, his OBP plummeted from .401 the year before to .334.

The 1971 Giants finished first in the NL West, but how they did it is somewhat of a mystery.  Sure, they had Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, and Bobby Bonds, but those three players combined to hit .275 with 69 home runs and 233 RBIs.  Bonds actually led the team in the triple crown categories.  He was the only player with more than 19 home runs, and the only player with more than 72 RBIs.  They didn’t have a single player that hit over .300.  Not even some guy that went 1-2.  Maybe their pitching carried them?  To some extent, yes.  They had Gaylord Perry and Juan Marichal.  And they both combined to go 34-23 (with 32 complete games).  Anyway, the Giants lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates three games to one in the NLCS.  It would be downright negligent of me not to mention that in Game 2 of the series, Pirates first baseman Bob Robertson went 4-5 with THREE home runs and a double with five RBIs.  He very well may have single handedly shifted the momentum after the Giants won Game 1.

Kingman was one of eight Giants to play in all four games in that NLCS, but the only one with fewer than 10 at bats, as he went 1-9 with a walk and three strikeouts.  Overall for the 1971 season, he would finish hitting .278 with 10 doubles, two triples, six home runs and 24 RBIs, with nine walks and 35 strikeouts.  He made his major league debut on July 30^th, going 0-1 as a pinch hitter and defensive replacement.  The next day, he would hit his first career home run/grand slam off of Dave Giusti in a 15-11 win over the Pirates.  He also added a double and had five RBIs that day.  In the second game of a double header the next day, Kingman would add two home runs and four RBIs in an 8-3 victory over the Pirates.

It says first base on the
card, and you don't argue
with baseball cards.

The Giants decided Kingman was done with the minors, so he opened the 1972 season with the big club.  Still trying to find the right defensive position for him, they tried him in left field (.935 fielding percentage), third base (.932 fielding percentage, including one stretch of five errors in seven games), and first base (.988 fielding percentage, and before an error in each of his last two games at first that season, it was .992).  It’s pretty clear where his best fit was, but you don’t just tell Willie McCovey he needs to find a new position, especially when he already had 370 home runs coming into the season, and you have a rookie to take his position.

Overall for the season, Kingman hit .225 with 17 doubles, four triples, 29 home runs and 83 RBIs, with 51 walks and 140 strikeouts, and he added 16 stolen bases.  His on base percentage was .303.  At the age of 23, you already had the definition of a Dave Kingman season for years to come.  In the second game of the year, he hit for the cycle, going 4-5 with three runs scored and six RBIs in a 10-6 victory over the Houston Astros.  He was largely quiet until later in the month, when he had a five game streak where he went 7-18 with five home runs (with two on April 26^th) and 11 RBIs.  He added a two home run/five RBI game on May 22^nd in a 9-8 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.  With two more two home run games on July 3^rd and September 19^th, even with the low average and on base percentage, I’m sure the Giants saw a potential game changer in Kingman.  He actually finished a distant 24^th in the MVP voting that season.

1973 was an even more Dave Kingman season than the year before.  It looks like he may have been battling some injuries in the middle of the season, as he only played in 19 games between June 29^th and August 12^th.  Overall, he hit .203 with 10 doubles, a triple, 24 home runs and 55 RBIs, with 41 walks and 122 strikeouts.  His on base percentage was an even .300.  They knew that he didn’t have any business in the outfield, but they did keep sticking him at third base, where he had a .910 fielding percentage.  He was at .986 at first base.  He was error-free at pitcher though!  That’s right, he pitched in two games that season.  His first outing was in a Cincinnati Reds’ 11-0 blowout on April 15^th, when Kingman threw two innings, allowing two runs on a hit and four walks, with one strikeout.  The second was in a Dodgers’ 15-3 blowout on May 13^th, when he again threw two innings, allowing two runs on two hits and two walks, with three strikeouts.  He also threw two wild pitches.

Kingman was the Opening Day third baseman for the Giants in 1974.  That lasted 13 days.  At that point, his fielding percentage was .816, and with a handful of appearances later in the season, it actually fell to .797.  He again had a decent season at first base with a .983 fielding percentage.  He somehow managed not to make an error in three games in the outfield across 14 1/3 innings.  On the other side of the ball, he hit .223 with 18 doubles, two triples, 18 home runs and 55 RBIs, with 37 walks and 125 strikeouts.  His on base percentage was .302.  He missed a handful of games in the middle of the ’74 season as well, which held down his numbers again.  He had a two home run game on April 25^th in an 8-2 victory over the Montreal Expos, which was only one of two games that season where he had three hits.

Before the 1975 season, Kingman was purchased from the Giants by the New York Mets.  The Mets, like the Giants, shuffled Kingman all around, as he played both corners of the infield and outfield in ’75.  He played 71 games in the outfield (mostly left field) to the tune of a .958 fielding percentage with just six errors.  He continued to prove that he couldn’t play third base and should never be put there, committing three errors in just 12 games with a fielding percentage of .919.  In 58 games at first, he had just five errors and had a fielding percentage of .988.  WHY WON’T THEY PUT ME AT FIRST BASE?  Well, the Mets had franchise player Ed Kranepool there.  While Kranepool only had four home runs and 43 RBIs in 106 games, he did hit .323, which would have been good for seventh in baseball had he had enough plate appearances to qualify.  I’m sure the Mets didn’t see that coming, as the previous season, Kranepool hit an even .300 in 94 games.  That was the first season he ever had hit the .300 mark; his career average entering the 1974 season sat at .251.

Please don't take first base
from me.  It's all I have.

At the plate, Kingman hit .231 in his new surroundings.  Sadly, other than his partial 1971 season, that was a new career high.  THE METS’ STRATEGY WORKED.  In addition to the batting average, he also added 22 doubles, one triple, and new career highs of 36 home runs and 88 RBIs, with 34 walks and 153 strikeouts.  He was NL Player of the Month in June when he hit .322 with 13 home runs and 31 RBIs.  This was the first season of his career where he had more home runs than walks.  There would be more.  He would finish 19^th in the NL MVP voting that season, far away from winner Joe Morgan who hit .327 with 17 home runs and 67 stolen bases that season, with 132 walks and 52 strikeouts.  Morgan was the anti-Kingman.

1976 would be the first full season of his career that Kingman was freed of the scourge of third base.  Kingman played the majority of his time in left field, with an overall outfield fielding percentage of .959 with only nine errors in 111 games.  In 16 more games at first base, he didn’t commit a single error.  His batting average skyrocketed yet again, this time all the way to .238, along with 14 doubles, one triple, 37 home runs and 86 RBIs, with 28 walks and 135 strikeouts.  Again, more home runs than walks.  He had his first career three home run game on June 4^th in an 11-0 victory over the Dodgers, tacking on eight RBIs.  He would make his first All Star appearance, and finish 18^th in the MVP voting, which was again won by Morgan.

New York was nice, but he was starting to miss California.  Wouldn’t it be great if he could go back…  

Well, Dave, I hope you have your frequent flyer punch card handy, because you’re going to need it!

Kingman started 1977 again with the New York Mets.  Through mid-June, the batting average (.209) and strikeouts (66) were there, but the home runs (only nine), were not.  He was hitting .272 with eight home runs on May 13^th, but then over the next month, he only hit .148 with one home run.  The Mets decided a change of scenery may be better for them, so they traded Kingman to the San Diego Padres for Paul Siebert and Bobby Valentine.  As bad as his defense had been in the past, Kingman only made three errors in those last 62 games he had with the Mets across left field, right field, and first base.

On June 17^th, Kingman would make his Padres debut, a pinch hit at bat in the top of the third for starting pitcher Randy Jones.  He popped out to the second baseman in a Padres 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.  John D’Acquisto and Dave Wehrmeister each threw another two innings, and Rollie Fingers earned the three inning save that day.  The Padres then proceeded to go on a 10 game losing streak before Kingman erupted for five RBIs in an 8-7 victory over the Reds on July 3^rd.  On August 5^th, he would hit a grand slam, along with a three-run shot finishing with seven RBIs in an 11-8 victory over the Chicago Cubs.  Less than a month later though, his Padres career would come to an end when he was claimed by the California Angels off of waivers.  In San Diego, he hit .238 with nine doubles, 11 home runs and 39 RBIs, with 12 walks and 48 strikeouts across 56 games.  He also added four errors in the field, including one in just two games at third base.

His time with the Angels would be brief – only 10 games.  Highlights include his two-home run game with four RBIs he had in a 12-7 victory over the Texas Rangers on September 13^th, and the one game he was with the Angels and didn’t have a strikeout on September 9^th.  After hitting .194 with two doubles, two home runs and four RBIs, with one walk and 16 strikeouts, he was traded to the New York Yankees for Randy Stein and cash.  He made two errors in his 10 games with the Angels, both at first base.

Kingman’s stay with the Yankees was even shorter than his Angels career.  He would only play in eight games with the Yankees.  He did hit a home run in his first three games in his return to New York though.  In those eight games, he hit .250 with two doubles, four home runs and seven RBIs, with two walks and 13 strikeouts.  He didn’t have a chance for an error with the Yankees, as they employed him as strictly a designated hitter.  Although arriving in New York so late in the season meant he couldn’t play in the postseason, he still got a World Series ring as the Yankees beat the Dodgers in six games.

Just passin' through friend.

Overall for the 1977 season, across his four stops, Kingman hit .221 with 20 doubles, 26 home runs and 78 RBIs, with 28 walks and 143 strikeouts.  On the other side of the ball, his fielding percentage was .971 as an outfielder (then a career high), .987 as a first baseman, and .833 in those two games as a third baseman in San Diego.  He would never play third base again.  Kingman is the first (and probably last) player to ever hit a home run in every division in the same season – Mets (NL East), Padres (NL West), Angels (AL West), Yankees (AL East).

Technically, Kingman was on FIVE different teams in 1977, as on November 30^th, he was signed by his hometown Cubs.  The Cubs finished right at .500 in ’77, and with Bobby Murcer hitting 27 home runs that year, they probably figured they’d have a pretty good slugging outfield for 1978.  Unfortunately, Murcer would only hit nine in 1978, and only 42 more the rest of his career.

When you’re the type of hitter that Kingman was, I don’t think you ever really have a good start to the season, but his was particularly slow in ’78.  Through May 9^th, he was only hitting .192 with three home runs.  A couple of games with two hits in four at bats then led into May 14^th.  That’s when he went 4-7 with three home runs and eight RBIs, including the game winning three run shot in the top of the 15^th inning in a 10-7 win over the Dodgers.  He would have a stint on the DL that forced him to miss most of July, but he ended the season hitting a respectable .266 with 17 doubles, four triples, 28 home runs and 79 RBIs, with 39 walks and 111 strikeouts.  Playing exactly 100 games in the outfield, he only made two errors, good for the highest outfielding percentage of his career at .978.  He added two more errors in six games at first base.  The Cubs were going to need to get more out of Kingman though; they only hit a total of 72 home runs that year.  And more they would get.

Kingman would have one of his best seasons in 1979.  He had seven home runs at the end of April, when he was batting .274.  His batting average was above .300 as late as August 16^th.  In a two game span in late July, he had five home runs against the Mets.  Overall, he hit .288 with 19 doubles, five triples, a career high 48 home runs and 115 RBIs, with 45 walks and 131 strikeouts.  Despite the 45 walks, he led the league with a career high .956 OPS, buoyed by his career high .613 slugging percent.  He was an All Star, and he finished 11^th in the NL MVP voting.  This would be the second-to-last season he would have with more home runs than strikeouts.  His AB/HR ratio that year was 11.08, which at the time was the 23^rd best single season AB/HR ratio of all time, and currently sits at 55^th all time.

In one of the classic all time Cubs games on May 17^th, he had three home runs and six RBIs in a 23-22 loss to the Phillies.  That game featured starters Randy Lerch and Dennis Lamp combining for 2/3 of an inning pitched with 11 runs allowed.  After the first inning, the score was 7-6 Phillies.  They extended the lead to 17-6 by the middle of the fourth inning, and 21-9 by the middle of the fifth inning, before the Cubs scored ten runs and made it 21-19 after the sixth.  After the Cubs tied it at 22 in the eighth, Mike Schmidt hit a solo home run in the top of the 10^th off of Bruce Sutter, and Bill Buckner, Kingman and Steve Ontiveros couldn’t do anything in the bottom of the frame giving the Phillies the win.  For this game, under “Start Time Weather”, it says “Wind 18mph in unknown direction”.  You can probably take a good guess though.

The 1980 season would be Kingman’s last in Chicago.  At the end of April, he was hitting .364 with six home runs.  This was good enough to earn him NL Player of the Month honors for the second time of his career.  His average was still .293 at the end of June, but after an 0-9 performance in a 5-4 loss to the Pirates on July 6^th, he went on the disabled list.  He would return in mid-August, but he would only start 23 games the rest of the season, although he did hit .304 the rest of the way.  Other than four games where he hit two home runs, he didn’t have many highlights that season.  Overall, he hit .278 with eight doubles, 18 home runs and 57 RBIs, with 21 walks and 44 strikeouts.  Even though it was in a reduced sample size, his career low 15.7% strikeout ratio was far below his career average of 24.4%, and one of only three seasons it was under 20%.  On defense, his .941 fielding percentage in the outfield was the lowest it had been since his rookie season of 1972.  He made seven errors in 61 games in left field.  He would also add an error in two games at first base.  He was voted into the All Star game for the third and final time of his career, but didn’t play due to injury. 

On February 28^th, 1981, Kingman was traded back to the Mets for Steve Henderson and cash.  Back in New York, Kingman was back to his old self.  At the end of April, he was only hitting .229 with four home runs, and his average dipped all the way to .179 on May 16^th.  On May 25^th, he started a streak of four games with a home run.  Other than that though, it was mostly free of anything spectacular.  For the season, he hit .221 with 11 doubles, three triples, 22 home runs and 59 RBIs, with 55 walks and 105 home runs.  The 55 walks were the highest total he had to that point in his career, and it was the first of two times his strikeout to walk ratio dipped below 2:1.  On defense, he split his time between left field and first base.  In 49 games in the outfield, he made seven errors (most in the NL for a left fielder), good for a .927 fielding percentage.  Five of those errors came prior to May 20^th, when he primarily switched to first base.  He only played 16 games in left field the rest of the season.  At first base, in 56 games, his 13 errors totaled a fielding percentage of .974.

In 1982, again with the Mets, Kingman would fare slightly worse than the prior season.  At the end of April, he was hitting .279 with eight home runs, but his average would fall off considerably after that.  He had a five game stretch in April where he hit five home runs, a six game stretch in July where he hit six home runs, and a seven game stretch in September where he would add another five.  However, after that September outburst, he would only have one more home run paired with a .145 average.  Overall, he hit .204 with nine doubles, a triple, a league leading 37 home runs, and 99 RBIs, with 59 walks and a career-high 156 strikeouts.  On defense, the Mets got sensible, and he played the entire season at first base.  There, he made 18 errors all season, good for a fielding percentage of .986.  He was the first Met to lead the league in home runs, despite his batting average being 14 points lower than NL Cy Young Award winner Steve Carlton.

Sorry Dave.

Kingman’s final year in New York in 1983 probably had many questioning whether it may have been the end of the road for him.  After April 26^th, the highest his batting average was all season was .215.  Utilized as mainly a bench player most of the season, he made only six starts after June 14^th.  Those six starts were the only games where he had more than one at bat from there on out.  His last appearance as a Met wasn’t even an appearance at all.  In a 2-1 loss to the Cardinals on September 14^th, he was announced as a pinch hitter for starter Tom Seaver.  The Cardinals made a pitching change, with Jeff Lahti relieving starter Dave Rucker.  The Mets THEN PULLED HIM for pinch hitter Rusty Staub.  Staub flew out to right field, and that was the last time Kingman appeared on the field for the Mets.

Overall in 1983, Kingman hit a career low .198 with seven doubles, 13 home runs and 29 RBIs, with 22 walks and 57 strikeouts.  On defense, other than five error-free games in right field, he was again used at first base.  In 50 games, he made three errors for a fielding percentage of .994.  On November 8^th, he became a free agent.

For the 1984 season, Kingman returned to California, this time with the Oakland A’s.  It didn’t take long for Kingman to make an impact.  On April 16^th, in the A’s 12^th game of the season, Kingman went 3-5 with three home runs (including a grand slam) and eight RBIs in a 9-6 win over the Seattle Mariners.  That helped him to AL Player of the Week honors that week.  He would have two more games with two home runs that month, where he finished hitting .244 with 10 home runs and 26 RBIs.

He slowed down a bit in May, only hitting four home runs, and he had a quick stay on the DL at the end of that month and the beginning of the next.  When he came back in June, in 19 games he hit .318 with six home runs and 17 RBIs.  He kept that going in July, when he hit .303 with eight home runs and 26 RBIs in 28 games.  In August, though he only had four home runs, he hit .286.  Over the final month, he coasted to the finish with a .221 average with three home runs.

Overall, the A’s had to be pleased with what they got out of the 35 year old Kingman.  For the season, he hit .268, which was the third highest mark of his career, with a career high 23 doubles, a triple, 35 home runs and a career high 118 RBIs, with 44 walks and 119 strikeouts.  His 35 home runs ranked second in the AL to Jesse Barfield’s 40, and his RBI count ranked third in the junior circuit.  He only played in nine games at first base, but he didn’t make an error while he was there.  He finished a distant 13^th in the AL MVP voting, and won the AL Comeback Player of the Year award.

In 1985, Kingman was back with the A’s.  At the end of April, he was only hitting .227 with 4 home runs.  At the end of May, his average had jumped to .259, thanks to him hitting .284 in May.  This included seven home runs, and multiple hits in 11 of 25 games that month.  His first real highlight of the season came on June 19^th, when he hit two three-run home runs off of Britt Burns in a 12 inning, 8-7 loss to the Chicago White Sox.  This game also featured two stolen bases by Carlton Fisk, a feat he only accomplished seven times in 2499 career games.

His average would get as high as .265 on June 4^th, but from there, it would steadily decline.  For the season, he hit .238 with 16 doubles, 30 home runs and 91 RBIs, with a career high 62 walks and 114 strikeouts.  He also played in a career high 158 games, no doubt helped by the fact that all but nine of those games were at DH.  In the other nine games at first base, he did not commit an error.

1986 would mark the end of the road for Kingman.  As someone designated to hit, he didn’t do much of it.  At the end of April, he was only hitting .158 with two home runs, both coming on April 19^th in a 7-2 victory over the Mariners.  He hit .238 in May with nine home runs, with two of them coming off of Jimmy Key in a 17-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on May 6^th, and then he hit three in the final four games that month.  He would hit his final career grand slam in the first inning of a 6-4 win over the Tigers on June 3^rd.

Despite Kingman still showing his power was still there (six home runs in his first five games in August), there’s not much use for a designated hitter that only hits .210.  The average DH hit .256 that season.  As a comparison, NL pitchers, as a whole, hit .137 (in his defense, those same pitchers only hit 24 home runs combined).  To go along with his average, he added 19 doubles, 35 home runs and 94 RBIs, with 33 walks and 126 strikeouts.  Awful is too good of a word to describe his .255 on base percentage.  In only three games at first base, he made two errors.  His 35 home runs were the most ever by a player in their final season.

In the middle of the 1987 season, Kingman signed a minor league contract with the Giants.  However, through 20 games at AAA Phoenix, he was only hitting .203 with three doubles, two home runs and 11 RBIs, with 12 walks and 11 strikeouts.  Being that the Giants didn’t have access to the DH position, and they had a kid at first base in the middle of a season where he would finish fifth in the NL MVP voting, those 20 games in Phoenix would be the last professional games he would ever play.

Fun fact!  In 1987, Will Clark stole five bases.  He was caught stealing 17 times.  You have to admire his persistence.  Only Vince Coleman, who stole 109 bases, was caught more times in the NL (22).

Now that we’ve thoroughly rehashed Kingman’s entire career season by season, we can start to have some fun.  Before we begin, let’s go over his career stats.  He hit .236 with 240 doubles, 25 triples, 442 home runs, 1210 RBIs and 85 stolen bases, with 608 walks and 1816 strikeouts.  His career on base percentage was .302.  In 11 seasons across 648 games in the outfield, he had a fielding percentage of .957.  He probably should have been utilized more at first base, where it was .985, but he never should have been used at third base, where it was .906.

The 240 doubles vs. 442 home runs stat stood out to me.  I wondered how often that happens – more home runs than doubles.  The answer is quite a lot, actually.  You have to go all the way down to 12^th place in all time home runs before you find a player who hit more doubles than home runs.  Rafael Palmeiro* hit 585 doubles to go along with his 569 home runs.  Other players in the 500 home run club with more doubles than home runs include Ted Williams, Albert Pujols and Eddie Murray.

I will never pass up the chance
to post a picture of Killebrew.

But what about the sheer difference in home runs?  That seems to be quite high.  All time home run leader Barry Bonds* hit 762 home runs with 601 doubles.  Babe Ruth had a larger difference, with 714 home runs and 506 doubles.  Sammy Sosa* hit 609 home runs vs. 379 doubles, and Mark McGwire* had 583 vs. 252.  The only other player in with more home runs, with more of a difference in doubles than Kingman was Harmon Killebrew with 573 home runs and 290 doubles.

Let’s delve in a little more on that average.  Although in any given year, you could say that the league owned Kingman, there were a few pitchers that he owned.  Of pitchers he had more than 10 plate appearances against, he hit the best off of Matt Young, going 8-12 with a walk, four home runs, and 14 RBIs.  He also hit .500 or better off of Tom Underwood, Fred Scherman and Ray Fontenot.  He had the most plate appearances against Hall of Famers Steve Carlton and Phil Niekro.  He actually didn’t do too bad against them, hitting .258 off of Carlton (with 36 strikeouts) and .276 off of Niekro (with 31 strikeouts).

In looking at his splits, there really isn’t much that stands out.  For the most part, as far as average goes, he was awful.  But he was CONSISTENTLY awful.  He hit .231 against righties, and .247 against lefties.  He hit .237 at home, vs. .234 on the road.  He hit a high of .241 in April and a low of .229 in April.  All other months were in the .230s.  He hit .239 with no outs, .243 with one out, and .226 with two outs.

Let’s take a look at his home runs.  How about September 10^th, 1982.  In what proved to be the game winner, Kingman hit an INSIDE THE PARK HOME RUN in the top of the 8^th in a Mets’ 2-1 victory over the Cardinals.  He hit a total of 16 career grand slams.  That’s good for a tie for 10^th all time with Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth.  He had 43 career multi-home run games, with three home runs in five of those games.

Here’s where things get weird.  Let’s look at ratios, children.  Everyone is pretty familiar with HR/AB.  We’ll get to that in a minute, but let’s take a look at some other interesting ratios from Mr. Kingman.  First of all, let’s look at home run %.  He hit a home run in 6% of his plate appearances.  The league average was 2%.  So he hit a home run three times as often as an average player.  Hank Aaron’s ratio was 5.4%.  Even all time walks leader Barry Bonds’ ratio was 6%.  DAVE KINGMAN WAS AS GOOD AS BARRY BONDS.

The snowman poses with Kingman
after striking him out.

Here’s some other factoids.  Kingman’s strikeout percent was 24.4%, while his walk rate was 8.2%.  The ratios for Bonds were 12.2% for strikeouts and 20.3% for walks.  All time strikeout leader Reggie Jackson sat at 22.7% for strikeouts and 12.0% for walks.  Just for laughs, Ted Williams was at 7.2% and 20.7%, and Stan Musial was at 5.5% and 12.6%.  DAVE KINGMAN WAS NOT AS GOOD AS TED WILLIAMS.

Kingman hit an extra base hit in 9.5% of his plate appearances, and a staggering 45% of his hits were of the extra base variety.

Now, let’s look at the famous AB/HR mark.  He led the league in that category four times, including a career high 11.1 AB/HR in 1979 with the Cubs.  He also finished in the top 10 six other times.  Overall for his career, his ratio is 15.11 AB/HR.  That’s good for 14^th all time, slightly behind Alex Rodriguez, tied with Juan Gonzalez, and a tick above Russell Branyan and Mickey Mantle.  DAVE KINGMAN WAS BETTER THAN RUSSELL BRANYAN AND MICKEY MANTLE.

Perhaps the most tragic thing about Kingman is the fact that he only spent three years with his hometown Cubs.  Wrigley Field, sitting only 20 miles from the high school where he was a three sport star, definitely brought out the best in him.  As a Cub, he hit a combined .278 with 44 doubles, nine triples, 94 home runs and 251 RBIs, with 105 walks and 286 strikeouts.  Take out those three years as a Cub and it’s enough to drop his career batting average to .227.  I ran some numbers to figure out what life would be like if Kingman finished his career in Chicago:

These were pretty conservative numbers, since he averaged 18 games less a season as a Cub.  Even though he only averaged 115 games a season in Chicago, I decided not to plus up the numbers because they probably would have fallen off a little.  Not having the luxury of the DH spot, he would have almost certainly had fewer at bats, even if he was switched to first base.  It’s conceivable though that he could have tacked on a few more home runs, and possibly even played a season or two longer, and got to, or close to, 500 home runs.  Even if he didn’t, his “Cubs” AB/HR rate jumped to 4^th place all time, comfortably between Barry Bonds and Jim Thome.

Finally, let’s take a look at the player that he best lines up with in today’s game.  That would be Adam Dunn.  The similarities are striking:

If you project out Kingman’s stats to the same number of plate appearance Dunn has, you get:

In either scenario, it’s clear that the lack of walks severely hurt Kingman.  It’s not really surprising, but the numbers make it so much clearer.

What if Kingman could have walked twice as much as he did, putting him pretty close to Dunn’s numbers?  His average would have went up to .260.  His on base % would have went up to an absurd .460 (Bonds territory).  And his AB/HR ratio would be first all time at 7.3.  Would that make him a Hall of Famer?  Hard to say.  Actually, he probably would have played three or four more years, hit over 500 home runs, and would have almost certainly been a lock.  Instead, Real Dave Kingman only garnered 0.7% of the vote when he was first eligible in 1992, and fell off the ballot, which isn’t surprising, as he had the second lowest career WAR of the 37 players on the ballot that year (only Pete Vuckovich had less).

The funnier question is – what if Dunn only walked as much as Kingman?  His average would fall to .217, his on base % would fall to .276, and his HR/AB ratio would fall from 14.8 to 16.2, and instead of 10^th place all time, between Ted Williams and Manny Ramirez, he’d be in 33^rd place all time, tied with Lou Gehrig, and between Mike Piazza and Jim Gentile.

Well, that wraps up our look back at Dave Kingman.  Had he debuted 25 years later, he very well could be hacking away today, since hitting for average isn’t as cool as it used to be.  If Jason Giambi, hitting .128 with two home runs, has a job, surely there would be a spot for Kingman in today’s game.  As a matter of fact, there are 22 players who currently qualify for the batting title that are hitting less than .236, Kingman’s career average, including George Springer (19 home runs), Dunn (14 home runs), Ryan Howard (15 home runs), Chris Carter (19 home runs), Mark Reynolds (14 home runs) and Chris Davis (15 home runs).  Davis is last place among qualifiers with a .199 batting average.  I think right now, even a 65 year old Kingman could hit .199.  If the Orioles need some veteran leadership, perhaps they can give him a call.