Top Blue Jays Player #29: Willie
Upshaw
Position: First
Base
Seasons With the
Jays: 9 (1978, 1980-1987)
Stats: Games Played 1115 Batting
Average .265
Base Hits 982 Runs
Scored 538
Home Runs 112 RBIs 478
Doubles
177 Triples 42
Stolen Bases 76
Walks 390
Willie
Upshaw was one of those players with the Blue Jays who was never an All-Star,
never won any individual awards, but was always dependable, whether it was with
a clutch base hit or making a tough defensive play look easy. Although he never
won a Gold Glove, his career .990 fielding percentage (only 103 errors in 9939
chances) is all you need to know about how solid he was at first base.
He was drafted by the New York
Yankees in the fifth round of the 1975 Amateur Draft but never played for New
York. He was picked up in the 1977 rule 5 draft (click here for an explanation
on the rule 5 draft) and debuted in the Big Leagues for Toronto in 1978. He
played 95 games that season—most of them in left field—and batted only .237
with one home run and 17 RBIs.
After spending all of 1979 in
the minors, Upshaw returned to Toronto for portions of the 1980 and 1981
seasons, playing 34 and 61 games respectively. Again, low batting averages
limited his playing time and he only hit five home runs and 15 RBIs combined
over the two campaigns.
In 1982 he finally became the
every day first baseman for the Blue Jays. And he responded in a big way,
batting .267, hitting 21 home runs and adding 75 RBIs. But it wasn’t until 1983
that his bat really exploded. Playing in 160 of the team’s 162 games, he lifted
his average to .306 (the only year of his career he would exceed .300) slugged
27 home runs (the highest total in his career) and drove in 104 runs (the only
time he would get more than 100 RBIs.)
His production dropped off a bit
in 1984 (.278, 18, 84) and even more so in 1985 (.275, 15, 65) although his
solid defensive play (.992 fielding percentage) in 1985 helped the Blue Jays to
the first division title and postseason appearance in the team’s history.
Upshaw’s numbers dropped
considerably in 1986 as the team underachieved and finished in fourth place
behind the division winners, the Boston Red Sox. His nine home runs were the
lowest since he became starting first baseman, and his .251 average and 60 RBIs
weren’t very impressive.
Although he raised his home run
total to 15 in 1987, it was obvious his tenure in Toronto was winding down. The
Jays had a rookie named Fred McGriff, who was slugging his way into the
starting lineup. While Upshaw played 146 games at first, McGriff was getting a
lot of playing time as the DH and would replace Upshaw for 1988.
Willie moved to the Cleveland
Indians for his final season in the Majors. He would bat .245, hit 11 home runs
and add 50 RBIs with the tribe, but he was released at the conclusion of the
year and was not signed by another team, his career over at the age of 31.
Upshaw’s late brother, Gene,
played in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders and served as the head of the NFL
Players’ Union for many years.
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