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.

1994 Rookie of the Year Countdown – Manny Ramirez

Continuing our Tuesday look at the countdown to the Rookies of the Year in 1994, today we examine

former Indians/Red Sox/Dodgers/White Sox(?) and Rays (?) outfielder Manny Ramirez.

Ramirez was drafted in the first round – 13^th overall – of the 1991 Major League draft by the Cleveland Indians out of George Washington High School in New York, NY.  The Trojans have produced a total of 10 major leaguers, including Hall of Famer Rod Carew, Ramirez, and eight others with little significance in baseball history.

Upon signing with the Indians, the 19-year old Ramirez was assigned to rookie ball Burlington.  There, in 59 games, he hit .326 with 11 doubles, four triples, 19 home runs and 63 RBIs, with 34 walks and 41 strikeouts.  He led the team in almost every offensive category, including 146 total bases, which was 79 more than second place Pat Maxwell, who’s claim to fame is he was teammates with Manny Ramirez at rookie ball Burlington in 1991.

Ramirez’ excellent debut earned him a promotion to A+ ball Kinston for 1992.  There, at two years younger than league average, in 81 games, he hit .278 with 18 doubles, four triples, 13 home runs and 63 RBIs, with 45 walks and 74 strikeouts.  Despite his numbers taking a slight dip, he moved up to the 13^th ranked prospect in all of baseball, up from 37^th the previous season.

In 1993, Ramirez kept moving up the chain, this time being promoted to AA Canton-Akron.  There, in 89 games, his numbers jumped back up, hitting .340 with 32 doubles, 17 home runs and 79 RBIs, with 45 walks and 68 strikeouts.  These numbers earned him another promotion to AAA Charlotte.  There, at five years younger than league average, in 40 games he hit .317 with 12 doubles, 14 home runs and 36 RBIs, with 27 walks and 35 strikeouts.

His minor league numbers in 1993 earned Ramirez a late season callup to the Indians.  He would make his major league debut on September 2^nd, in a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Twins.  As a DH, he went 0-4 in that game, as Wayne Kirby, Carlos Baerga and Jim Thome did the damage for the Indians, and Jerry Dipoto survived a ninth inning leadoff walk to Chuck Knoblauch and RBI double by Dave Winfield to pick up the save.

The world wouldn’t have to wait long to see Ramirez’ potential, as the next day, he went 3-4 with a double and two home runs in a 7-3 victory over the New York Yankees.  

Unfortunately, in 45 more at bats that month, he only had six hits and two RBIs.  He finished his first partial season hitting .170 with a double, two home runs and five RBIs.

Despite his struggles at the end of the ’93 season, Ramirez opened the 1994 campaign in Cleveland.  On Opening Day, he went 1-3 with a game tying two-run double off of Randy Johnson in the bottom of the eighth, a game that Cleveland would eventually win 4-3 in 11 innings over the Seattle Mariners.  In the fifth game of the season, he was 3-3 with two home runs and five RBIs.  The Indians defeated the California Angels that day 9-6, but the Angels scored five runs in the bottom of the ninth before Bo Jackson struck out with two on to end the game.  Ramirez came flying out of the gate, hitting .313 with five doubles, six home runs and 21 RBIs, with nine walks and 15 strikeouts.

In May, Ramirez came back to earth.  In 21 games, he only had a hit in seven of them, hitting .132 with three doubles, two home runs and seven RBIs, with six walks and 16 strikeouts.  He was still hitting .280 on May 14^th, but finished the rest of the month 3-39, which equaled a .077 batting average.

Ramirez righted the ship in June.  In 23 games, he only failed to get a hit in seven of them.  For the month, he hit .319 with seven doubles, five home runs and 15 RBIs, with 18 walks and 18 strikeouts.  For the week of June 12^th, he hit .579 with two home runs and six RBIs, earning him AL Player of the Week honors.

Ramirez’ average continued to climb steadily in July.  For the month, he hit an even .300 with three doubles, one home run and nine RBIs, with six walks and 15 strikeouts.  He had four straight multi-hit games between July 26^th – July 30^th, but despite the power outage (his slugging percentage dropped 20 points on the season that month), he continued to hit.

Ramirez continued to show that May was a fluke month as he entered the last days of the season.  In 10 games in August, he hit .306 with four doubles, three home runs and eight RBIs, with four walks and eight strikeouts.

On his way to the second place finish in the AL Rookie of the Year voting, overall, Ramirez hit .269 with 22 doubles, 17 home runs and 60 RBIs, with 42 walks and 72 strikeouts.  In 84 games in right field, he only made one error in 160 chances, good for a fielding percentage of .994, one tick behind AL leaders Paul O’Neill and Darrin Jackson.  He also added eight outfield assists, good for fourth in the AL behind Kirby Puckett, Jay Buhner and Tim Salmon.

How did this team NOT win
a World Series?!

In 1995, Ramirez would become a star.  He hit 11 home runs in the month of May alone, and he finished the month hitting .394, earning AL Player of the Month honors.  On August 4^th, he hit his first career grand slam off of Jason Bere in a 13-3 win over the Chicago White Sox.  Though he only hit .247 with one home run over the final month of the season, he still finished the year hitting .308 with 26 doubles, a triple, 31 home runs and 107 RBIs, with 75 walks and 112 strikeouts.  He made the All Star team, finished 12^th in the AL MVP race and won a Silver Slugger award.  The Indians made their first of five straight post season appearances, making it all the way to the World Series.  Ramirez only hit .189 for the post season, and the Indians fell to the Braves in six games.

Ramirez put up decent number the next two seasons in Cleveland, but he was not deemed worthy of an All Star selection.  For the ’96 and ’97 seasons, he combined to hit .319 with 85 doubles, three triples, 59 home runs and 200 RBIs, with 164 walks and 219 strikeouts.  The Indians made it all the way to the World Series in 1997, but lost in seven games to the Florida Marlins.

Double X.

Ramirez’ final three years in Cleveland were the first three seasons of 11 consecutive All Star appearances.  For the ’98 - ’00 seasons, he hit a combined .324 with 103 doubles, seven triples, 127 home runs and 432 RBIs, with 258 walks and 369 strikeouts.  In 1998, he finished sixth in the AL MVP voting.  In 1999, he led the league in RBIs (165), slugging percentage (.663) and OPS (1.105), finished third in the AL MVP voting, and won a Silver Slugger award, and the AL Hank Aaron Award.  He was the AL Player of the Month in May ’99, when he hit .337 with seven home runs and 30 RBIs.  His 165 RBIs in 1999 tied for the 14^th most in major league history, and were the most since Jimmie Foxx had 175 in 1938.  In 2000, he finished sixth in the AL MVP voting, and won another Silver Slugger award.  The Indians couldn’t advance any further than the ALDS in 1998 (losing to the Yankees in six games), and ALCS in 1999 (losing to the Boston Red Sox in five games).  They missed the playoffs altogether in 2000.

Nice.

In 2001, Ramirez took his talents east to Boston, signing an eight year, $160 million contract.  He quickly paid dividends to the Red Sox, earning AL Player of the Month honors for April ’01, when he hit .408 with nine home runs and 31 RBIs.  He would earn the honor again in September ’02, when he hit .396 with nine home runs and 30 RBIs.  Overall, in his first four years in Boston, he made the All Star team each year, and also won a Silver Slugger award.  Combined, he hit .321 with 144 doubles, three triples, 154 home runs and 466 RBIs, with 333 walks and 450 strikeouts.  He led the AL in batting average in 2002 at .349, and led the AL in home runs (43), slugging percent (.613) and OPS (1.009) in 2004.  He again won the AL Hank Aaron Award in 2004, along with the 2004 World Series MVP award, as the Red Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals.  He finished in the top 10 in AL MVP voting all four seasons.

In his final three full seasons in Boston, Ramirez hit .302 with 90 doubles, three triples, 100 home runs and 334 RBIs, with 251 walks and 313 strikeouts.  He was again a World Series champion in 2007, as the Red Sox swept the Colorado Rockies.  He made the All Star team each year, and won Silver Slugger awards in 2005 and 2006, finishing fourth in the AL MVP voting in 2005, and 18^th in 2006.

In 2008, at age 36, Ramirez was in the midst of his final season in Boston.  Through the first 100 games of the season, he was hitting .299 with 22 doubles, a triple, 20 home runs and 68 RBIs, with 52 walks and 86 strikeouts.  At the trade deadline on July 31^st, he was sent to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who sent Andy LaRoche and Bryan Morris to the Pittsburgh Pirates, who in turn sent Jason Bay to the Red Sox, who in turn sent Craig Hansen and Brandon Moss to the Pirates.  Got it?  Ramirez feasted on NL pitching for the rest of the season, hitting .396 with 14 doubles, 17 home runs and 53 RBIs, with 35 walks and 38 strikeouts, earning NL Player of the Month honors for August.  The Dodgers would advance to the NLCS, where they would lose to the Philadelphia Phillies in five games, but in eight post season games, Ramirez hit .520 with four home runs and 10 RBIs, with 11 walks vs. four strikeouts.

Ramirez would turn those magical two months in Los Angeles to a new two year, $45 million contract with the Dodgers.  Suspended for 50 games in 2009 for testing positive for a banned substance, he still had decent numbers, although not to the levels he had previously posted.  He hit .290 with 24 doubles, two triples, 19 home runs and 63 RBIs, with 71 walks and 81 strikeouts.  In 27 games before the suspension, he hit .348 with six home runs and 20 RBIs.  In the 77 games after the suspension, he hit .269 with 13 home runs and 43 RBIs.

In 2010, Ramirez wouldn’t even last the entire final season in Los Angeles.  Through the end of August, he was hitting .311 with 15 doubles, eight home runs and 40 RBIs, with 32 walks and 38 strikeouts.  He only appeared in 66 games with the Dodgers due to three stints on the DL.  On August 30^th, he was claimed off of waivers by the Chicago White Sox.  Over the final month of the season in Chicago, he hit .261 with one double, one home run and two RBIs, with 14 walks and 23 strikeouts.  His lone home run on September 17^th came off of Max Scherzer, and proved to be the final of his career.

Damon and Ramirez, still
waiting for Damon's throw
to reach the infield.

In 2011, Ramirez signed a one year, $2 million contract with the Tampa Bay Rays.  Through five games, he was only 1-17 (.059) and abruptly retired after being informed that he again tested positive for a banned substance in spring training.  Rather than face a 100 game suspension, he called it quits.

The following season, he unretired, signing a contract with the Oakland A’s.  His 100 game suspension was reduced to 50 games, and after the first 50 games of the season, he reported to AAA Sacremento, where in 17 games, he hit .302 with three doubles and 14 RBIs.  Still, with no home runs in the minor leagues after 63 at bats, the A’s decided to move on, releasing him on June 15^th.

THAT’S WHEN THINGS GOT WEIRD.  Just kidding, they were already weird.  But in between the 2012 and 2013 seasons, Ramirez played in the Dominican League, then he signed with a team in Taiwan for 2013.  In 49 games with the EDA Rhinos (no I do not know what EDA stands for), he hit .352 with eight home runs and 43 RBIs.  The logical thing to do at that point was to quit and return to the US.  On July 3^rd, he signed with the Texas Rangers, who assigned him to AAA Round Rock.  In 30 games, he hit .259 with three doubles, three home runs and 13 RBIs, with 10 walks and 14 strikeouts.  He was released on August 13^th.

Not knowing when to quit, Ramirez found a perfect match for the 2014 season, reuniting with Theo Epstein to be a player-coach for the Chicago Cubs AAA team in Iowa.  So far this year, he is hitting .222 with a home run and four RBIs.

Hello?  Give me
the president!

Assuming Ramirez doesn’t get back to the majors, he finishes his career hitting .312 with 547 doubles, 20 triples, 555 home runs and 1831 RBIs, with 1329 walks and 1813 strikeouts.  He has a career .411 on base percentage, and his career slugging percentage of .585 and OPS of .996 both rank ninth all time.  He only made 75 errors in 1939 games in the outfield, good for a .978 fielding percentage.  His home run count ranks 14^th all time, and his RBI count ranks 18^th all time.  His 216 intentional walks and HR/AB rate of 14.9 both rank 11^th all time.

Will Ramirez make the Hall of Fame?  His numbers certainly support election. 

I might be in the minority here, but
I really liked Albert Belle.

That being said, he was caught cheating at least twice (rumor was he also tested positive in 2003).  He was/is also crazy as hell.  He was routinely benched for his bizarre behavior.  Who is he without the juice?  Reggie Sanders?  Maybe without the stolen bases.  1996 teammate Kevin Mitchell?  Probably a little better than him.  1997-1999 fellow teammate David Justice?  That’s probably the best comp that I could find.  Either that or fellow malcontent/teammate Albert Belle.  Pretty good, but not hall-worthy.

The countdown to the Rookie of the Year continues next week with the anti-Manny Ramirez…John Hudek.  Who-dek?

1994 Rookie of the Year Countdown – Ryan Klesko

Continuing our Tuesday look at the countdown to the Rookies of the Year in 1994, today we examine former Braves and Padres first baseman/outfielder Ryan Klesko.

Klesko was drafted in the fifth round of the 1989 Major League draft by the Atlanta Braves out of Westminster High School in Westminster, CA.  He is the only Lion to ever make it to the majors.  A handful of fellow fifth rounders made the majors, including J.T. Snow, Alan Embree and Dave Staton.

Upon signing with the Braves, they assigned Klesko to rookie ball GCL Braves.  In just 17 games, he hit .404 with five doubles, four triples, a home run, 16 RBIs and four stolen bases, with six walks and six strikeouts.  That earned him a promotion to A ball Sumter, where he would finish out the season.  In 25 games, he hit .289 with six doubles, a home run, 12 RBIs and a stolen base, with 11 walks and 14 strikeouts.

In 1990, Klesko would return to Sumter to open the season.  Still over two years younger than the average player for the league, he hit .368 with 15 doubles, a triple, 10 home runs, 38 RBIs and 13 stolen bases, with 31 walks and 30 strikeouts.  As the year before, OPSing over 1.000 will earn you a promotion, so he was called up to A+ Durham.  As he finished out the season, he hit .274 with 16 doubles, a triple, seven home runs, 47 RBIs and 10 stolen bases, with 32 walks and 53 strikeouts.

For the 1991 season, Klesko would be promoted to AA Greenville ranked the number three prospect in all of baseball.  There, he would hit .291 with 22 doubles, three triples, 14 home runs, 67 RBIs, and 14 stolen bases (with 17 caught stealing), with 75 walks and 60 strikeouts.

1992 saw another promotion for Klesko, still ranked the eighth best prospect in baseball, as he started the season at AAA Richmond.  A full five years younger than league average, his numbers took a dip.  On the season, he hit .251 with 22 doubles, two triples, 17 home runs, 59 RBIs and three stolen bases, with 41 walks and 72 strikeouts.  Even though his numbers didn’t stack up to where they had been in the past, the Braves wanted to see what he could do in the big show.  He was called up on September 12^th.  In his first game, he struck out as a pinch hitter against Doug Jones in the eighth inning of a 9-3 win over the Houston Astros.  Other than his first career RBI on October 1^st, which was an RBI groundout, there was nothing to highlight in his first 13 games in the majors.  He would go 0-14 with an RBI and five strikeouts.

After the poor showing at the end of the previous season in the majors, Klesko returned to Richmond for 1993.  With a little more experience under his belt, his numbers improved.  He hit .274 with 14 doubles, two triples, 22 home runs, 74 RBIs and four stolen bases, with 47 walks and 69 strikeouts.  Up until this season, he had always been a first baseman in the minors.  While he still played there the majority of the season, he did play 18 games in the outfield, committing three errors in 24 chances for a .875 fielding percentage.  But along with those three errors came three assists.  Why would the Braves convert their stud first base prospect to the outfield?  In 1992, the Braves primarily relied on Sid Bream at first base.  He hit .261 with 10 home runs.  They also had Bream at first to start 1993, where he hit .260 with nine home runs.  But the Braves didn’t shift Klesko to the outfield because of Bream’s consistency, they did it because on July 18^th, THE CRIME DOG showed up in Atlanta.  The Braves quickly went into “Plan B” mode, gave Klesko 18 games in the outfield, and said “good enough!”.

Actually, now that I dug into it a little further, Klesko actually started the 1993 season in Atlanta.  He was there all the way through May 15^th, when he was sent back down.  At that point, he was hitting .273 with a home run, an RBI, two walks and three strikeouts.  In those 14 games, he only had 13 plate appearances.  His first career hit was off of Bryan Harvey as a pinch hitter in a 4-3 loss to the Florida Marlins on April 22^nd.  His first career home run was off Tim Wakefield, as he tied the game at two leading off the bottom of the ninth, but the Pittsburgh Pirates scored four unearned runs in the top of the 11^th to win 6-2 on April 27^th.

Rookie, yes.
Prospect, no.

When Klesko returned to Atlanta on September 11^th, he would hit .500 with a double, a home run, four RBIs, a walk and a strikeout in his final eight games.  His second career home run on September 15^th would also be memorable, as he cut the lead to 6-4 with a pinch hit, two run shot off of Johnny Ruffin, knocking him out of the game.  After Jeff Reardon allowed a double by Otis Nixon and single by Jeff Blauser, Rob Dibble came in and promptly served up a game winning three run home run to Ron Gant, as the Braves won 7-6 against the Cincinnati Reds.  Between the parts of two seasons, Klesko hit .353 with a double, two home runs and five RBIs, with three walks and four strikeouts.

Klesko returned to the Braves for good for the 1994 season.  He opened the month of April on an absolute tear, going 9-16 in his first four games, good for a .563 average.  He also hit a home run in each of his first two games.  Overall for the month, he hit .345 with two doubles, a triple, six home runs and 15 RBIs, with eight walks and 13 strikeouts.  Highlights of the month include a 4-4 effort on April 6^th, and a 3-4 effort with a double, home run, and four runs scored in a 19-5 win over the Cubs on April 15^th.

Klesko would cool off a bit in May.  He only had three multi-hit games on his way to hitting .227 with four doubles, a triple, a home run and three RBIs, with three walks and 15 strikeouts.  The only real highlight that month was his lone home run, a solo shot in a 11-4 loss to the New York Mets on May 14^th.

June would be a much better month for Klesko.  He started out with a five game hit streak to open the month.  He would only go hitless in five games in the month, and only three of those games were starts.  For the month, he hit .421 with five doubles, a triple, eight home runs and 17 RBIs, with four walks and five strikeouts.  There were several high points for the month, including four home runs in the final four games of the month, including his first two home run game in a 9-8 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on June 26^th.

As good as June was, July was plain awful for Klesko.  Overall, he hit .132 with two doubles, two home runs, 11 RBIs and his first career stolen base, with six walks and 11 strikeouts.  He only had two hits in his last 26 at bats for the month after July 20^th.  Though his season average was still .306 at that point in time, the slump took it all the way down to .281.

As the season drew to a close, things didn’t get much better for Klesko.  In the final eight games, he hit .214 with one RBI, five walks and four strikeouts.

On his way to the third place finish in the 1994 NL Rookie of the Year voting, Klesko hit .278 with 13 doubles, three triples, 17 home runs, 47 RBIs and a stolen base, with 26 walks and 48 strikeouts.  In his new home in left field, he committed six errors (the most in the NL) in 74 games, which equaled a .921 fielding percentage.

Klesko emerges from the bottom
of the pile, finally able to breathe again.

Klesko would take another step forward in 1995.  He wasn’t quite right to start the season, only hitting .091 on five games into the season on May 2^nd.  When he came back from the DL on May 18^th, he steadily improved his numbers.  This included a 4-5 effort with two home runs, including his first career grand slam, with six RBIs in a 17-3 win over the Chicago Cubs on June 6^th.  In 22 games in June, he only went hitless in six games, and had multiple hits in 10 of them, hitting .435 for the month with seven home runs and 22 RBIs.  His average would get as high as .359 on July 21^st, before hitting .266 the rest of the way.  For the season, he set career highs in average (.310), slugging (.608) and OPS (1.004).  To go along with those stats, he added 25 doubles, two triples, 23 home runs, 70 RBIs and five stolen bases, with 47 walks and 72 strikeouts.  On defense, he again led the league in errors in left field, this time with seven, equaling a fielding percentage of .942.  He would get his first taste of post season play, along with his only World Series ring that fall.  He went 7-15 (.467) against the Rockies, 0-7 against the Reds, and 5-16 (.313) with three home runs in the World Series against the Indians.

In 1996, Klesko solidified himself as an offensive force in a dangerous Braves lineup that featured five players with 20 or more home runs – Klesko, McGriff, Javy Lopez, Chipper Jones, and Marquis Grissom.  Klesko would be named NL Player of the Week for the first week of the season, when he hit .526 with three home runs and six RBIs.  He hit two home runs on July 14^th and August 28^th, and he hit grand slams on May 27^th and July 27^th.  Overall, he hit .282 with 21 doubles, four triples, a career high 34 home runs, 93 RBIs and six stolen bases, with 68 walks and 129 strikeouts.  His defense continued to improve, this time only committing five errors in 144 games, good for a .975 fielding percentage.  The Braves would again make it to the World Series, but for the postseason, Klesko would only hit .176.

Klesko would spend three more seasons in Atlanta, where he hit a combined .277 with 80 doubles, nine triples, 63 home runs, 234 RBIs and 14 stolen bases, with 157 walks and 265 strikeouts.  He would again lead the league in errors in left field with six in 1997, but in 1998, he only committed one, and added nine assists, on his way to a .994 fielding percentage.  The Braves made the playoffs each year, with another World Series appearance in 1999.  This would be where Klesko would have his last at bat as a Brave, a popout to second base in the top of the ninth off of Mariano Rivera.  One batter later, Keith Lockhart would fly out to left field, and the Yankees would win their third World Series in four years.  On December 22^nd, the Braves traded Klesko, Bret Boone and Jason Shiell to the San Diego Padres for Wally Joyner, Reggie Sanders and Quilvio Veras.

Y2KLESKO!!!

I’m pretty sure if I was in marketing for the Padres, I would have termed the year 2000 as Y2KLESKO.  Y2K wasn’t anything extreme, and neither was Klesko, so it would have made sense.  Overall, he hit .283 with 33 doubles, two triples, 26 home runs, 92 RBIs and 23 stolen bases (he only had 26 in the previous eight seasons).  For the first time in his career, he had more walks than strikeouts – 91 vs. 81.  He was NL Player of the Week for the week of July 23^rd, when he hit .419 with two home runs and 11 RBIs.  Playing almost exclusively at first base, he only made nine errors all season, good for a .992 fielding percentage.  The Padres did not make the playoffs, finishing 76-86, the only team with a losing record in a very good NL West.

While Klesko had many solid seasons in his career, one could argue that 2001 was his best.  It was the only season where he made the All Star team.  For the season, he hit .286 with 34 doubles, six triples, 30 home runs, a career high 113 RBIs and 23 stolen bases, with 88 walks and 89 strikeouts.  For the third and last time in his career, he was named NL player of the week, this time for the week of September 2^nd when he hit .517 with five home runs and 11 RBIs.  Spending all of his time at first base, he made 11 errors, which was still good for a .991 fielding percentage.

Over the next five years, all with the Padres, Klesko hit a combined .275 with 109 doubles, four triples, 77 home runs, 288 RBIs and 14 stolen bases, with 291 walks and 316 strikeouts.  He had shoulder surgery before the 2006 season, which caused him to miss all but six games that season, his last in San Diego.

Granted free agency after the 2006 season, he signed with the San Francisco Giants for 2007.  For the season, he hit .260 with 27 doubles, three triples, six home runs, 44 RBIs and five stolen bases, with 46 walks and 68 strikeouts.  He only committed three errors in 100 games at first base, equaling a .996 fielding percentage.  His last career home run occurred on August 13^th, a grand slam off of Shane Youman in a 10-3 win over the Pirates.  His last game was on September 27^th, when he went 0-3 with three strikeouts in a 6-4 loss to the Padres.

For his career, Klesko hit .279 with 343 doubles, 33 triples, 278 home runs, 987 RBIs and 91 stolen bases, with 817 walks and 1077 RBIs.  He added a .236 average and 10 home runs in the post season.  Splitting time between first base and the outfield, his career fielding percentage was .989.  Although he never really led the league in anything, he’s still listed on career leader lists, although very far down – 99^th in career slugging at .500, 165^th in career home runs, 167^th in career intentional walks with 84, etc.

While Klesko certainly wasn’t a Hall of Fame player (and writers agreed as he failed to garner a single vote in his first time on the ballot in 2013), he was certainly an integral part of the powerhouse Braves in the 1990s.

We’re getting close to the top folks!  Next week, we look back at all around crazy dude Manny Ramirez.

1994 Rookie of the Year Countdown – Rusty Greer

Continuing our Tuesday look at the countdown to the Rookies of the Year in 1994, today we examine former Rangers outfielder, and one of my personal favorite players, Rusty Greer.

Thurman Clyde Greer was drafted in the 10^th round of the 1990 Major League draft by the Texas Rangers out of the University of Montevallo, in Montevallo, AL.  He’s the only Falcon to ever make it to the majors, but they have had a total of 26 players drafted.  Only five players from the 10^th round ever played in the majors, and Greer was by far the best.

Upon signing with the Rangers, Greer was assigned to Rookie ball Butte.  There, in 62 games, he did was he was born to do – hit the baseball.  He hit .345 with 12 doubles, six triples, 10 home runs, 50 RBIs and nine stolen bases, with 41 walks vs. 23 strikeouts.  His on base percentage was .444, and his OPS was 1.029.  All of these numbers are pretty good.  Unfortunately, in 60 games in the outfield, he made eight errors, which equaled a .918 fielding percentage.  Fortunately, it would never be that low again for the rest of his career.

1991 found Greer promoted to A+ Port Charlotte.  While his numbers weren’t as glitzy there, he still held his own.  He hit .294 with 15 doubles, a triple, five home runs, 48 RBIs and 12 stolen bases, with 66 walks vs. 48 strikeouts.  His OBP dipped just below 40%, coming in at .395.  On defense, he made two fewer errors in 36 more games in the outfield, and added just one in eight games at first base.  This was good for a fielding percentage of .970 overall.  This earned him a late season callup to AA Tulsa, where in 20 games, he hit .297 with three doubles, two triples, three home runs, 12 RBIs and two stolen bases, with 17 walks vs. just six strikeouts.  His OBP jumped to .451.  He also didn’t commit an error in those 20 games in the outfield.

Other than the eight games the prior year, Greer had little experience at first base, but in 1992, again in Tulsa, that was where he mainly played.  His numbers did take a dip while he adjusted to the new position, but that is somewhat understandable.  The good news is that it was his worst professional season, numbers-wise anyway.  He hit .267 with 22 doubles, four triples, five home runs, 37 RBIs and two stolen bases, with 60 walks and 63 strikeouts.  Still, with the lower average, he had a .376 on base percentage.  He adjusted pretty well to the new position, only committing 11 errors in 98 games at first base, good for a .987 fielding percentage, and was again error-free in six games in the outfield.

Greer again found himself in Tulsa to start the 1993 season.  With a mostly full season of first base under his belt, his numbers rebounded.  For the season, he hit .291 with 25 doubles, six triples, 15 home runs, 59 RBIs and 10 stolen bases, with 53 walks and 79 strikeouts.  While his on base percentage fell to .365, his slugging percentage jumped to .464, both numbers higher than any season since his days in Butte.  Playing all 129 games at first base, he only made eight errors, good for a .993 fielding percentage.  He earned a late season callup to AAA Oklahoma City…where he didn’t do very well.  In only eight games, he hit .222 with two doubles, a home run and four RBIs, with six walks and seven strikeouts.  Back in the outfield, he once again played eight error-free games.

Greer would open the 1994 season again at AAA Oklahoma City, but he wouldn’t be there long.  In 31 games, he was back to his old self, hitting .315 with 12 doubles, a triple, three home runs, 13 RBIs and a stolen base, with 18 walks and 24 strikeouts.  Back in the outfield, in 29 games he made two errors, and he added one in his only game at first base, which equaled a combined .948 fielding percentage.  The Rangers deemed him ready, and called him up in mid-May.

On May 16^th, 1994, Greer would make his Major League debut in a 10-inning,

11-7 win over the Oakland Athletics.  In the first inning, the Rangers teed off against former Cy Young Award winner Bob Welch to the tune of six runs in 2/3 of an inning.  This featured a two run triple by Will Clark, a two run double by Ivan Rodriguez, and a two run single by Manny Lee.  Greer, batting second, flew out to right against Welch, but leading off the second, he hit a home run for his first major league hit off of Carlos Reyes.  He would line out in the fourth, single in the seventh, and fly out in the ninth, before finishing the day in grand fashion by hitting a two run single in the top of the tenth in between RBI singles from David Hulse and Jose Canseco.

Greer certainly did make a splash in his first half-month in the majors.  At the end of May, through 15 games, he was hitting .382 with five doubles, a triple, a home run and 12 RBIs.  The plate discipline that he showed throughout the minors dropped off a bit, with only four walks vs. 10 strikeouts, but you couldn’t argue with the results.  His on base percentage sat at .424 at the end of the month.  He was only hitless in three games, and had seven multi-hit games.  He switched back and forth between left field and right field, and played first base in one game, entering in the fourth inning of a 19-2 loss to the Mariners on May 20^th (they would also lose to the Mariners the next day 13-2).  In those two losses, Greer did his part, going 3-6 and knocking in two of the four runs.

As the league developed a book on him, Greer didn’t fare quite as well in his first full month in June.  He only hit .263 with five doubles, four home runs and 13 RBIs.  Good hitters make adjustments though, and while his average did fall, he increased his walk/strikeout ratio to exactly one, with 15 walks vs. 15 strikeouts.  In fact, there was one five game span where he had seven walks vs. just one strikeout. This helped maintain his .372 on base percentage that month.  He had arguably his best game of the season on June 4^th, when he went 4-6 with two doubles and a home run in a 10-4 win over the Boston Red Sox.  Along with five games at first base, he would play all three outfield positions in June.

Greer would continue to adjust in July, once again getting his average on the right side of .300.  For the month, he hit .327 with four doubles, four home runs and 17 RBIs, to go along with 20 walks vs. just 15 strikeouts.  His on base percentage for the month was .433.  In a double header sweep against the Detroit Tigers on July 1^st, he was a combined 4-8 with a home run and four RBIs.  He had his first multi-home run game on July 21^st, with two solo shots against Pat Hentgen in a 9-3 loss to the Blue Jays.  He played three games at first base, with the rest across all three outfield positions.  Perhaps the greatest moment of that July came on the 28^th, when he made a spectacular diving catch to keep Kenny Rogers’ perfect game in tact.

As the season wound down, Greer kept it steady.  Over his last nine games in August, he hit .310 with two doubles, one home run and four RBIs, with seven walks and six strikeouts.  He was only hitless in two of those games.  He played mostly center field, but also had a couple games in right field.  In his last game that season, he had your typical Greer game, with a ground out, single, walk, and intentional walk.

Overall, on his way to the third place finish in the 1994 AL Rookie of the Year voting, Greer hit .314 with 16 doubles, one triple, 10 home runs and 46 RBIs, with 46 walks and 46 strikeouts.  His on base percentage was .410.  In 73 games in the outfield, he only made four errors, and he added two more in nine games at first base.  This was good for a combined .973 fielding percentage.  Only three players between both leagues received first place votes for Rookie of the Year that season – the two winners, and Greer.

1995 was Greer’s worst full season of his major league career.  He started the season with a five game hit streak, but by mid-May, his average had dipped all the way to .197.  A month later, he had it all the way up to .310.  At the end of July, it was back down to .243.  Finally, by the time the season ended, he had it up to .271.  To go along with that average, he had 21 doubles, two triples, 13 home runs, 61 RBIs and his first three stolen bases, to go along with 55 walks and 66 strikeouts.  His .780 OPS was exactly league average.  Across 125 games at all three outfield positions, he only made four errors, but he added two more in just three games at first base.  This added up to a .976 fielding percentage.  His seven assists from left field were good for fifth in the league, behind 11 that leaders Marty Cordova and Mike Greenwell had.  He hit his first grand slam of his career on May 18^th as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning in a 6-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.

In 1996, Greer would help lead the Rangers to their first ever playoff appearance.  For the season, he hit a career high .332, good for fifth highest in the AL, with 41 doubles, six triples, 18 home runs, 100 RBIs and nine stolen bases, with 62 walks and 86 strikeouts.  His on base percentage jumped back up to .397.  He added two more grand slams during the season.  Playing all of his games in the outfield, he only made five errors, good for a .984 fielding percentage, which was second best among AL left fielders.

The Rangers didn’t make the playoffs in 1997, but Greer had arguably the best season of his career.  He hit .321 with 42 doubles, three triples, 26 home runs, 87 RBIs and nine stolen bases, with 83 walks and 87 strikeouts.  His on base percentage went north of 40% at .405, helping him set a career high in OPS at .936.  He also set a career high with 112 runs scored.  He played all of his games in the outfield again, and his 12 errors in 154 games equaled a .965 fielding percentage.  He was AL player of the week for the week of June 15^th, when he batted .600 with four doubles, three home runs, five RBIs, two stolen bases, five walks and two strikeouts.  I’m not sure who had a better week than he did the week of August 24^th though.  He hit .444 with two doubles, four home runs, 14 RBIs, four walks and six strikeouts.  This included back to back games with two home runs and six RBIs against the Chicago White Sox on August 22^nd and 23^rd.  He finished 22^nd in the AL MVP voting, far down the list from unanimous winner Ken Griffey Jr.

The Rangers would return to the playoffs in 1998, and Greer kept producing.  His average dipped a bit, as he hit .306 with 31 doubles, five triples, 16 home runs, 108 RBIs and two stolen bases, with 80 walks and 93 strikeouts.  His on base percentage dipped back to .386.  Defensively, he had his finest season, where in 154 games in the outfield, he only made three errors, good for a league leading .990 fielding percentage in left field.

In 1999, the Rangers would return to the playoffs for the third time in four years.  This would be the last season where Greer would hit .300.  His average sat at .326 at the end of April, but it fell all the way to .268 by mid-July.  From there on out, he hit .343, to finish the season right at .300.  To go along with that average, he had 41 doubles, three triples, 20 home runs, 101 RBIs and two stolen bases, with an excellent 96 walks vs. 67 strikeouts.  His on base percentage went back up to .405.  In 145 games in the outfield, he made five errors, good for a .983 fielding percentage.

In 2000, at the age of 31, Greer would have his last season playing in more than 100 games.  He hit .297 with 34 doubles, three triples, eight home runs, 65 RBIs and four stolen bases, with 51 walks and 61 strikeouts.  He only had three errors in 97 games in the outfield, for a .985 fielding percentage.  He missed most of April and May on the disabled list, and as of June 16^th, his average sat at an even .200.  Then, he went on a streak of nine multi-hit games, had one game where he went 0-5, then had another four multi-hit games.  Over that 14 game streak, he hit .411, raising his average to .294.

Greer would only play in parts of two more seasons.  Across the 2001 and 2002 seasons, he hit a combined .284 with 32 doubles, two triples, eight home runs, 46 RBIs and two stolen bases, with 46 walks vs. 49 strikeouts.  In 86 games in the outfield, he had a .955 fielding percentage.

The reason why Greer is one of my all time favorites is because of his style of play.  It basically disabled him, and was the reason why his career was so short.  I remember countless plays where he was diving or crashing into walls.  After he played the last game of his career on July 11^th, 2002, he had a surgery to fuse two vertebrae in his neck.  During the offseason that year, he had rotator cuff surgery.  Expected to miss the entire 2003 season, he then underwent Tommy John surgery.  During the next offseason, he had additional surgeries to remove scar tissue from his shoulder and elbow.  He attempted a comeback in 2004, but then had to have another surgery, this time to remove scar tissue from his forearm.  The Rangers then bought out the final year of his contract and released him.  He was invited to Spring Training in 2005 as a non-roster invitee for the Rangers and Minnesota Twins, but instead, he retired on February 20^th, officially ending his career.

Overall in his career, he hit .305 with 258 doubles, 25 triples, 119 home runs, 614 RBIs and 31 stolen bases, with 519 walks and 555 strikeouts.  Across 970 career games in the outfield, he had a .979 fielding percentage.  On August 11^th, 2007, he was elected to the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame.

Greer may have taken a back seat to the larger stars of the Rangers, including Juan Gonzalez, Ivan Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, Will Clark, and later, Alex Rodriguez, but for those who appreciate hard-nosed, all-out play, I’m sure there are a few videos out there in internet land of some of Greer’s best plays.  I think I know what I’m doing the rest of the evening!