Email a copy of 'Jack Of All Trades: Dave Kingman' to a friend
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By Howard Megdal | at
Email a copy of 'Jack Of All Trades: Dave Kingman' to a friend
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www.nybaseballdigest.com
I think the biggest reason for Kingman not finding a job was collusion, which became even easier due to his reputation (sending a rat to a reporter)
the Daily News did a story on him last year – doesn’t seem as bad as the stories told during his playing days
nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2008/09/13/20…
johnsilver
One of my favorite all time players. This guy could have played at Wrigley longer than 3 years, or any other power friendly stadium for RH hitters during his career (plus stay healthy) and he could have easily hit 600HR.Huge, slow and a brutal fielder. He was the Dunn, Canseco of his day.Think he actually had his dog as “bat boy” in ST games one season??
Edit:
He came up as a SP with SF, threw mid 90’s in minors as recall, but -0- control and think his ML experience with pitching was short before they figured out his bat was what would get him to the majors.
Harry
exactly like Canseco minus 115 SB, .050 OPB and about .100 in OPS, etc. Kingman was one of my favorite players growing up, but he wasn’t near the player that Canseco was.
johnsilver
Oh yeah. No doubt Kong was a slug on the basepaths. mentioned that above. WWas mostly comparing the all or nothing swings and atrocious defense of both, though Kong never had a ball bounce off of his head and go over the fence for a HR like Canseco..
Wasn’t it Kingman and Schmidt that did the twist a bat in half before an AS game back in late 70’s/early 80’s one time? One gripped the batt by the handle, other by the barrel.
tunadawg
Kingman’s teenage daughter babysat my best friend’s kid in the Pacific NW recently..
bjsguess
Amazing player. His power was just in a different league.
The other thing that stood out was seeing an OPS of 773 for a corner outfielder as being 12% than league average. I don’t know what it is today but I would guess it’s a full 50 points higher now.
dbreer23
Ah, the glory days of watching King Kong on WGN during the late 70’s.
I recall when McGwire first came up, there were Kingman comparisons all over the place – both slugger/pitchers at USC who stuck with the bat, both larger than life (at least height-wise) and with prodigious power, and then McGwire essentially taking Kingman’s spot on the ’87 A’s.
I still have an autographed ball and picture from Kingman that is one of my most treasured collectibles.
genxhumanist
…and in ’87 McGwire was skinny like Kingman too.
D A
NO ONE AND I MEAN NO ONE HIT LONGER HOM RUNS! He hit a HR off Catfish Hunter in a spring training game that went out of the field next door. He hit one out of Olympic Stadium, I MEAN OVER THE ROOF AND OUT OF STADIUM! There was no line to see so the umps called it foul. They put a line on the roof because of him. He regularly hit the ball on the roof of the building across the street at Wrigley Field. And he broke the window of the team bus in the parking lot at Shea. He hit the speaker in the Kingdome. He hit the roof of the Metrodome and the ball got stuck and never came down. And he did it without taking steroids.
studio179
I saw Kong many times at Wrigley and with Jack and Lou (‘The Good Kid’) calling games on WGN. The days when seats were plentiful and kids, or adults for that matter, moved up to better seating and the ushers did not care. When Kingman came up to bat, we moved up closer. A big, lumbering swing. When connected, some of the most towering moonshots…monster shots…whatever you want to call those home runs, you could imagine. Seriously, his HRs were right there in distance as any Cub or opposing player. In fact, Dave Kingman, Willie Stargell, Roberto Clemente, Sammy Sosa and Glen Allen Hill are the names off the top of my head that I can think of that hit the longest distance homeruns at Wrigley.
David X
And he sent a dead rat to sportswriter Susan Fornoff in Oakland at the tail end of his career. Something like that is not going to endear you to anyone, including front office types. … edit: just saw nybaseballdigest mentioned this, sorry.
baycommuter
I actually know Susan Fornoff, she got out of sportswriting and into food&wine writing. No one deserves that to happen. She paved the way for Susan Slusser, who is widely regarded as the A’s best beat writer and is treated with respect. The Yankees announcer, Suzyn Waldman, had bad things happen too when she got the beat for the Daily News.
dubthebeachcomber
a kingman home run was worth the price of admission. i watched him in oakland where he hit towering, majestic home runs. they went as high or higher than they went in length. he retired to lake tahoe where he played occasionally for the local nine. the stadium there features a center field wall at over 500 feet due to the altitude. there are ponderosa pine trees behind that fence and i have seen kingman clear the trees. simply amazing moonshots like no other player since.
Cyyoung
Hit the best homer I’ve seen hit in person at Fenway, top of light tower in left center field.
giantgary
He is the answer to a great trivia question. What relief pitcher led his team in home runs? Of course, Kong. In his early years with SF, he would be the guy they thru out there during blowouts. Saw a couple of those games, unfortunately.