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12-28-2018, 05:44 PM | #641 |
All Star Reserve
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 663
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1986 Final - Kingman .221/.312/.454 41 HR, 107 RBI
Kingman had another solid year (his last IRL) coming in 3rd in the AL in homers behind teammate Jose Canseco (51) and Steve Balboni (43). Kong also notched his 600th career homerun.
The A's came in first by 2 games, and played the Red Sox in the ALCS. Kong had a terrible series, going 6 for 47 (.128) with 1 HR and 3 RBI. Despite that, the team beat the Beantowners 4-2 and advanced to the World Series vs the Mets. The Mets made quick work of the A's in the Series, 4 -1, including two shutouts. Kong went 2 for 8 with a homer and 3 RBI. His AB's were limited as the DH. |
12-28-2018, 05:53 PM | #642 |
All Star Reserve
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 663
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Summary
So my thesis for this replay was correct...if Kong had played regularly throughout his career, day in and day out, he would have put up spectacular numbers. Despite his low batting average, 500 career homers and 1500 career RBI would have been tough to keep out of the HOF. As it turned out, he hit 600 HR (4th all time in 1986) with1650 RBI (13th all time in 1986), so no doubt that would have put him in.
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12-28-2018, 06:07 PM | #643 |
All Star Reserve
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 663
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One more year...
In the first post I alluded to Kingman's IRL last season of 1986 being a fluke. At the time, no player had ever "retired" with that many homers in his last season. Although suspected at the time, it eventually came out that the owners colluded against the free agents that year, meaning Kong and his 33 HR/100 RBI average over the 1984-1986 seasons should have found him a spot in 1987 under normal circumstances. Seattle was rumored to have been interested back then.
Big Dave has said in the past that he intended to play at least another year or two, and thought he could reach 500 IRL homers. He did play in the Senior Baseball League in 1987, and had a stint in Triple as well before finally retiring. Also given that fact that the mid-late 80's started the halcyon days of the low average sluggers (Deer, Incaviglia, Kittle, Phelps, Balboni, plus Gorman Thomas, Baylor and Armas finishing up) no doubt someone would have made a spot for my favorite DH. So just for kicks, I'm going to play another season and see what happens. I'll add him to the Mariner's roster, as was runored, essentially replacing Gorman Thomas in the DH role. Maybe Kong has another solid year, or maybe he fizzles out with a sub-Mendoza average and loses his power. |
01-17-2019, 01:07 AM | #644 | |
All Star Starter
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Quote:
I am fascinated by the prospect of strikeout kings bonds and kingman playing together for a few years...but i think you have historical transactions on and they will split up soon |
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01-22-2019, 02:09 PM | #645 |
All Star Reserve
Join Date: Jul 2018
Posts: 663
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Unfortunately no, HR distance is not reportable, as far as I know. Unless you saved all the game logs and used some other tool to query them.
Also HR distance itself is actually determined by the park dimensions as well as park metrics, and batter's power seems to be related to the percentage of homers hit, and not distance. So if you import Ruth into a modern league, he would mostly hit 375 footers, since today's parks are much smaller on average than those older stadiums. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. |
05-21-2019, 05:24 PM | #646 |
Minors (Rookie Ball)
Join Date: May 2019
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 36
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1979 and 1987
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05-28-2019, 01:20 AM | #647 |
Minors (Triple A)
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: South Carolina
Posts: 294
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What I find amazing is that he banged out only two 3 HR games-
And from the eye test, he went oppo many more times than I remember him actually doing. Last point, in 1978 he was the only player to play in all for divisions (to that point in time) and hit a IRL HR for each. Would have been real interesting to see if he was utilized the way you did if his attitude and persona would have been VERY POPULAR vs disliked and prodded by the print media. Great project TDNEU99, and thank you for taking on this task. It was a great read |
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