9/9 104
I’m old enough to remember when hitting 50 homers in a season was a big deal. And I suppose it’s kind of a big deal these days after the steroid era is allegedly over.
So I remember in 1990 when Cecil Fielder came back from Japan and started mashing homers left and right at semi-historic clip and that people took note that hitting 50 homers in a season hadn’t been done in the majors since George Foster did it in 1977 when he hit 52.
When you’re turning nine years old in 1990, 1977 seems like a hell of a long time ago. It’s kind of hard to comprehend that 13 years isn’t a really long time, but when you’re nine, anything that hasn’t happened since before you were born seems like an eternity. That’s why time seems to pass so slowly when you’re young; you’ve only lived nine years, your perception of a year is so long because you’ve only lived nine of them. These days, a year seems like a month, a month seems like a week and a day seems like the blink of an eye. Writing this in 2024, 2011 doesn’t seem all that long ago.
On top of that, it was THE SEVENTIES. I knew enough to know that people dressed really weird back then. I still think that, but I also think that the neon colors I was sporting in 1990 are still somehow cool.
So George Foster was an absolute force for the Reds in the mid to late 70s, leading the league in RBI for three years in a row and leading the league in homers for two years in a row, too. In 1977, he also led the league in slugging and OPS and took home the MVP award after finishing runner up the year prior.
Foster’s career was on a trajectory so fast that Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honing put him in their book entitled “The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time.”
But then the Reds didn’t give into his contract demands and traded him to the Mets just before Spring Training of 1982 and the Mets gave him a 5 year, 10 million contract. The Mets were in a bad spot when they picked up Foster and were hoping that he’d be a key in turning them around.
It backfired, and Foster’s numbers declined while he was in New York and then became overshadowed by new teammates like Keith Hernandez, Darryl Strawberry and Gary Carter. At 37 years old when he started the 1986 season, he was released in August and then picked up by the White Sox. When the Mets won the World Series in ‘86, they included Foster to get a ring, the third of his career.
But 1977 and 52 homers remains what he’s best known for. And oddly enough, he played in 1,977 career games.
Here’s some highlights of Foster in his Reds days:
I first thought of Ozzie Smith for the Padres/Cardinals grid, but then figured a lot of other people would have, too. Then I remembered who he was traded for.
Garry Templeton was a fine player, but he wasn’t Ozzie Smith. And when Garry Templeton had worn out his welcome in St. Louis by the end of 1981 season, they traded him to San Diego straight up for Ozzie Smith.
Templeton was viewed as the better hitter at shortstop, Smith was seen as the better fielder. For 1981 standards, Templeton might have been considered a good hitting shortstop after he lead the league in hits with 211 in 1979. But he hit for very little power and didn’t walk much.
After arriving in San Diego, Templeton’s defense improved while his offensive numbers fell off a bit. He made his third All-Star team in 1985 and still finished his career with over 2,000 hits.
Fernando Vina was a better player than I remembered him being. He made an All-Star team and won two Gold Gloves.
But I think Vina might be most remembered for Albert Belle absolutely drilling him on a double play attempt in 1996: