Dave Winfield

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Dave Winfield
Image:DWHOF2001.jpg
Outfielder
Born: October 3 1951 (1951-10-03) (age 57)
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
June 19, 1973
for the San Diego Padres
Final game
October 1, 1995
for the Cleveland Indians
Career statistics
AVG     .283
Hits     3,110
Home runs     465
Teams
Career highlights and awards
Member of the National
Image:Empty Star.svg Baseball Hall of Fame Image:Empty Star.svg
Elected    2001
Vote    84.5% (first ballot)

David Mark Winfield (born October 3, 1951, in St. Paul, Minnesota) is a former Major League Baseball player. He was born on the day Bobby Thomson hit his pennant-winning home run for the New York Giants, known as "the shot heard 'round the world." He played for 22 seasons and is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and the College Baseball Hall of Fame. He played for the San Diego Padres, the New York Yankees, the California Angels, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Minnesota Twins, and the Cleveland Indians.

Contents

[edit] Youth and collegiate career

Winfield grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. His parents divorced when he was three years old, leaving he and his older brother, Stephen, to be raised by their mom, Arline, and a huge extended family of aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins and mentors.[1]

The Winfield brothers honed their athletic skills in St. Paul's Oxford playground, where coach Bill Petersen was one of the first to take the young Winfield under his wing. It wasn't until his senior year in high school that Winfield grew into the formidable 6'6" tower of power he would become.[2]

He earned a full scholarship to the University of Minnesota in 1969, where he starred in basketball and baseball for the Golden Gophers. His college basketball coach was a young Bill Musselman, who went on to serve as a head coach in the American Basketball Association and National Basketball Association and would later refer to Winfield as the best rebounder he ever had. Winfield's 1972 Minnesota team won a Big 10 basketball championship, the school's first in 53 years. During the 1972 season, he also was involved in a brawl when Minnesota played Ohio State. [3]

Winfield also played for the Alaska Goldpanners from for two seasons (1971-72) and was the MVP in 1972.[4]

[edit] San Diego Padres

Winfield chose baseball, and gained another distinction when the Padres promoted him directly to the majors. This is a rare move in modern baseball, making him one of a select few players since the origins of the amateur draft in 1965 to make the leap straight to Major League Baseball without playing in the minor leagues first. [1] He proved up to the task, batting .277 in 56 games.

For the next several years, he was an All-Star player in San Diego, gradually increasing his power and hits totals. He burst into stardom in 1979, when he batted .308 with 34 home runs and 118 RBI, then played one more season with the Padres before becoming a free agent.

[edit] New York Yankees

In 1981, New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner made headlines by signing Winfield to a 10-year, $23 million contract, making him the game's highest-paid player. Winfield was one of the best players in the game throughout the life of the contract, but soon had a falling out with Steinbrenner.

He helped the Yankees to the 1981 American League pennant, but then had a poor World Series, and the Yankees lost in six games to the Los Angeles Dodgers. A bitter Steinbrenner derided Winfield in 1985 by saying "I got rid of Mr. October (Reggie Jackson) and got Mr. May." The Mr. May sobriquet lived with him until the 1992 World Series.

He went on to hit 37 home runs in a spectacular 1982 season and in 1984, he batted .340, second in the league to teammate Don Mattingly by .003 points in a memorable race for the title. He drove in 744 runs between 1982 and 1988, won five (of his seven) Gold Glove Awards for his stellar outfield play and was named to the All-Star Game every season.

On August 4, 1983, Winfield, while warming up before the 5th inning of a game at Toronto's Exhibition Stadium, accidentally killed a seagull with a thrown ball. He doffed his cap in mock sorrow. Fans responded by hurling obscenities and improvised missiles. After the game, he was brought to the Ontario Provincial Police station on charges of cruelty to animals and was forced to post a $500 bond before being released. Quipped Yankees manager Billy Martin, "It's the first time he's hit the cutoff man." The charges were dropped the following day.[5] For years afterward Winfield's appearances in Toronto were greeted with loud choruses of boos, but he later became a fan favorite.

In 1990, Steinbrenner was suspended from running the Yankees for two years because of his connections to Howie Spira, a known gambler with mafia connections [2], whom he'd paid $40,000 for embarrassing information. The year was no better than the year before for Winfield, who had sat out 1989 with a back injury. The next year, he was traded mid-season to the California Angels.

[edit] Later career and retirement

[edit] Toronto Blue Jays

Winfield was still a productive hitter after his 40th birthday. On December 19, 1991, he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays as their designated hitter, and also made "Winfieldian" plays when he periodically took his familiar position in right field. He batted .290 with 26 homers and 108 RBI, during the 1992 season.

Winfield proved to be a lightning rod for the Blue Jays, providing leadership and experience as well as his potent bat. Winfield was a fan favorite, but also demanded fan participation. In August 1992 he made an impassioned plea to the fans during an interview for more crowd noise. The phrase "Winfield Wants Noise" became a popular slogan for the rest of the season, appearing on t-shirts, dolls, buttons, and signs.

The Blue Jays won the pennant, giving Winfield a shot at redemption for his previous late-season and post-season futility. In Game 6 of the World Series, he became "Mr. Jay" as he delivered the game-winning two-run double in the 11th inning off Atlanta's Charlie Leibrandt to win the World Championship for Toronto.

[edit] 1993-95: Winfield for Dinner?

After the 1992 season, Winfield was granted free agency and signed with his hometown Minnesota Twins, where he continued to perform at a high level of play despite advancing age. At age 41, he amassed his 3,000th career hit while batting .271 with 21 home runs, appearing in 143 games for the 1993 Twins, mostly as their designated hitter.

During the 1994 baseball strike, which began on August 12, Winfield was traded to the Cleveland Indians at the trade deadline on July 31 for a "player to be named later." The 1994 season was cancelled two weeks later, so Winfield did not play for the Indians that year and no player was ever named in exchange. To settle the trade, Cleveland and Minnesota executives went to dinner, with the Indians picking up the tab. This makes Winfield the only player in major league history to be traded for a dinner.[6]

Winfield was again granted free agency in October but resigned with the Indians as spring training began in April 1995. As MLB's oldest player in 1995, Winfield played in 46 games and hit .191 for Cleveland's first pennant winner in 41 years, but did not participate in the Indians' postseason.

[edit] Hall of Fame

Winfield retired in 1995 and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001, in his first year of eligibility. He chose to become the first player to choose to go into Cooperstown as a Padre -- a move that reportedly irked Yankees' owner George Steinbrenner. Nonetheless, when he was inducted Winfield sounded a conciliatory note toward Steinbrenner:[7]

“ He’s said he regrets a lot of things that happened. We’re fine now. Things have changed. ”

In 1999, Winfield ranked number 94 on The Sporting News list of Baseball's Greatest Players, and was a nominee for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

On July 4, 2006, Winfield was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in its inaugural class.

He currently serves as a vice president of the Padres.

[edit] The Winfield Foundation

Known as much for his philanthropic work, Winfield began giving back to the communities in which he played from the beginning of his professional athletic career. In 1973, his first year with the Padres, he began buying blocks of tickets to Padres games for families who couldn't afford to go to games, in a program known as "pavilions". Winfield then added health clinics to the equation, by partnering with San Diego's Scripps Clinic who had a mobile clinic which was brought into the stadium parking lot.[8]

In his hometown of St. Paul, he began a scholarship program (which continues to this day). In 1977, he organized his efforts into an official 501(c)(3) charitable organization, known as the David M. Winfield Foundation for Underprivileged Youth, the first active athlete to do so.[9]

As his salary increased and he partnered with more corporations, the programs expanded to include holiday dinner giveaways and national scholarships. In 1978, San Diego hosted the All-Star game, and Winfield bought his usual block of pavilion tickets. Winfield then went on a local radio station and inadvertently invited "all the kids of San Diego" to attend. The huge turnout resulted in the first open-practice of the All-Star game, which has been adopted by Major League Baseball and continues to this day.[10]

When Winfield joined the New York Yankees, he set aside $4 million of his salary for the Winfield Foundation. The Foundation then partnered with Merck Pharmaceuticals and created an internationally acclaimed bilingual substance abuse prevention program called "Turn it Around".[11]

The Foundation also became a bone of contention in Winfield's public feud with George Steinbrenner; Steinbrenner accused the Foundation of mishandling funds and often held back payments which resulted in long, costly court battles. Ironically, Steinbrenner was in fact holding back part of Winfield's salary; he wasn't actually making contributions to the Foundation. Ultimately, the Foundation was paid and the alleged improprieties proved unfounded.

This aspect of Winfield career influenced many of MLB's players as much as his on-field play. Derek Jeter, who grew up idolizing Winfield, credits him for his own philanthropic endeavors. His own Turn2 Foundation has honored Winfield[3], and Winfield continues to help raise funds and awareness for Jeter's Foundation and for many other groups and causes throughout the country.

[edit] Quotes

  • Now it's on to May, and you know about me and May. —after setting an American League record for RBI in April, 1988.
  • I am truly sorry that a fowl of Canada is no longer with us. —to the press after being released following the 1983 bird-killing incident.
  • These days baseball is different. You come to spring training, you get your legs ready, your arms loose, your agents ready, your lawyer lined up.—at spring training, 1988, in response to his on-going feud with Steinbrenner

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Winfield: A Player's Life autobiography
  2. ^ Winfield: A Player's Life autobiography
  3. ^ Brawl of 35 years ago serves as a warning today
  4. ^ http://www.goldpanners.com/
  5. ^ Jane, Gross. "Winfield charges will be dropped", The New York Times, 1983-08-06, p. 1.29. 
  6. ^ Tom, Keegan. "Owners try on global thinking cap", The Baltimore Sun, 1994-09-11, p. 2C. 
  7. ^ http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/media/player/mp_tpl.jsp?w=http%3A//mfile.akamai.com/31386/wmv/mlb.download.akamai.com/31386/open/members/winfield_d/hof_induction_speech_winfield_400.wmv&type=v_free&_mp=1
  8. ^ www.davewinfieldhof.com
  9. ^ www.davewinfieldhof.com
  10. ^ Winfield: A Player's Life autobiography
  11. ^ Winfield Foundation: The First 20 Years publication

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Jack Clark 		National League Player of the Month
June, 1978 		Succeeded by
Pete Rose
Preceded by
George Foster 		National League RBI Champion
1979 		Succeeded by
Mike Schmidt
Preceded by
Bert Blyleven 		AL Comeback Player of the Year
1990 		Succeeded by
José Guzmán
Preceded by
Jack Morris 		Babe Ruth Award
1992 		Succeeded by
Paul Molitor
Preceded by
None 		Branch Rickey Award
1992 		Succeeded by
Kirby Puckett
v • d • e
3000 hit club
P. Rose · T. Cobb · H. Aaron · S. Musial · T. Speaker · C. Yastrzemski · C. Anson · H. Wagner · P. Molitor · E. Collins · W. Mays · E. Murray · N. Lajoie · C. Ripken · G. Brett · P. Waner · R. Yount · T. Gwynn · D. Winfield · R. Henderson · R. Carew · C. Biggio · L. Brock · R. Palmeiro · W. Boggs · A. Kaline · R. Clemente
v • d • e
Toronto Blue Jays 1992 World Series roster
2 Manuel Lee | 4 Alfredo Griffin | 9 John Olerud | 10 Pat Borders | 11 David Cone | 12 Roberto Alomar | 14 Derek Bell | 15 Pat Tabler | 17 Kelly Gruber | 22 Jimmy Key | 23 Candy Maldonado | 25 Devon White | 29 Joe Carter | 30 Todd Stottlemyre | 31 Duane Ward | 32 Dave Winfield | 33 Ed Sprague | 36 David Wells | 40 Mike Timlin | 47 Jack Morris | 48 Mark Eichhorn | 50 Tom Henke | 66 Juan Guzmán
Manager 43 Cito Gaston
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