Top Blue Jays Player #32: Dave
Winfield
Position: Designated
Hitter
Seasons With the
Jays: 1 (1992)
MLB Awards: Silver
Slugger (1992)
MLB Hall of Fame: Inducted
2001
Stats: Games Played 156 Batting Average .290
Base Hits 169 Runs
Scored 92
Home Runs 26 RBIs 108
Doubles
33 Triples 3
Stolen Bases 2 Walks 82
While it’s true that Dave
Winfield only played one season with the Blue Jays, the fact that it was such
an outstanding year, for him personally as well as the team, it warrants
placing him at number 32 on the all-time list of the team’s greatest players.
Winfield broke into the big
leagues with the San Diego Padres in 1973. One of his teammates who shared the
outfield with him in 1973 was the Jays’ manager in 1992, Cito Gaston. Winfield
played eight seasons with the Padres, and established himself as a super-star
baseball player after being a three-sport standout in college while playing
with the University of Minnesota (football and basketball were the other
sports.) He was a four-time All-Star while with San Diego.
The next stop was the Bronx,
where he would play nine tumultuous seasons with the Yankees. While he was an
eight-time All-Star in New York, Yankee owner, George Steinbrenner, was always
putting him down, in particular calling him “Mr. May” in reference to his poor
showing in the 1981 World Series.
Two years with the California
Angles preceded his season with the Blue Jays. And in 1992, Winfield would show
that at 40 years old, he was still a force to be reckoned with at the plate. He
batted .290 and slugged 26 home runs. He also became the oldest player in big
league history to record one hundred or more RBIs. He would finish the season
with 108 runs driven in.
But as remarkable as his season
was for a forty-year old player, the postseason would produce even more
greatness. In Game 1 of the ALCS against the Oakland A’s, Winfield’s first
postseason game since 1981 was impressive. He flew out in the first inning, did
the same in the fourth, cranked a solo home run in the sixth and singled and
scored in the eighth. Although Toronto lost 4-3, Winfield’s 2-for-4 performance
at the plate was a sign of things to come.
After going hitless in Game 2,
he singled, walked and scored two runs in the third game, singled and scored in
Game 4, then hit his second home run of the series in Game Five. Despite going
hitless in the sixth and final game of the series, a 9-2 Toronto win that
propelled the Jays to the World Series for the first time, Winfield ended the
series batting .250, with two homers, three RBIs and seven runs scored.
On to the World Series against
the Atlanta Braves where, despite batting .277 for the series, Winfield’s
performance was considered anemic until his final at bat. Up until that point,
he had only one RBI in the series and no extra base hits. But that was about to
change. With the Jays leading the World Series three games to two, the game was
tied at two with two out in the top of the eleventh. With two runners on base
and a three-and-two count, Winfield would become the World Series hero when he
doubled down the left field line, scoring both runners, Devon White and Roberto
Alomar, and giving Toronto a 4-2 lead. There was some drama in the bottom of
the inning as Atlanta scored one run and had the tying run on third base. But
the Jays held on and won the game 4-3 and with it, their first World Series
Championship.
Winfield was not re-signed by
Toronto after the season and signed with the Minnesota Twins. He played two
seasons with the Twins and finished his career in 1995, playing 46 games with
the Cleveland Indians. His career totals of a .283 batting average, 465 home
runs, 1833 RBIs and 223 stolen bases earned him a spot in the Baseball Hall of
Fame in 2001. He entered with a San Diego Padres hat on his plaque but Toronto
Blue Jay fans will always have a place in their hearts for the 1992 World
Series hero.
