| Dave Kingman | |
|---|---|
 Kingman with the New York Mets,c. 1981 | |
| Left fielder /First baseman /Designated hitter | |
| Born: (1948-12-21)December 21, 1948 (age 77) Pendleton, Oregon, U.S. | |
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |
| MLB debut | |
| July 30, 1971, for the San Francisco Giants | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| October 5, 1986, for the Oakland Athletics | |
| MLB statistics | |
| Batting average | .236 |
| Home runs | 442 |
| Runs batted in | 1,210 |
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
David Arthur Kingman (born December 21, 1948), nicknamed "Kong", "King Kong", and "Sky King", is an American formerMajor League Baseballleft fielder,first baseman,third baseman, anddesignated hitter who was a three-time MLB All-Star with 442 careerhome runs and 1,210 runs batted in (RBI) in 16 seasons. In his career, Kingman averaged a home run every 15.11 at bats, tied for 19th best all-time.
The 6' 6" Kingman was a power hitter, who twice led the National League in home runs. Known for his long home runs, Kingman hit one measured at over 530 feet. Kingmanstruck out frequently, and posted a lowbatting average andon-base percentage. His 1,816 strikeouts was the fourth-highest total in MLB history at the time of his retirement.[1] Kingman finished in the top 25 voting for National League Most Valuable Player four times (1972, 1975, 1976, and 1979) and American League Most Valuable Player once (1984).[2]Upon retiring, only eighteen other players had more home runs than Kingman for a career and he was tied for 4th on the all-time grand slam list with 16 (tied withHank Aaron andBabe Ruth).[3]
Kingman was born inPendleton, Oregon, in 1948, and moved with his family toDenver, Colorado, in 1951, then toLos Angeles, California, in 1954, and finally toMount Prospect, Illinois. Kingman's father worked forUnited Airlines and moved the family as needed for his career. Kingman attendedProspect High School, where he was a center and a forward on the basketball team, being named All-Area; a wide receiver and safety on the football team; and a star pitcher on the baseball team.[4] Kingman threw a no-hitter againstNiles North High School on April 6, 1967. In his final high school game, he hit four home runs and pitched a two-hit shutout.[5]
Kingman was drafted by theCalifornia Angels out of high school in the second round of the1967 Major League Baseball draft. Instead of signing with them he chose to attendHarper Junior College inPalatine, Illinois. After a year he moved on to theUniversity of Southern California (USC) to playcollege baseball for theTrojans under coachRod Dedeaux, and was selected by theBaltimore Orioles in the first round of the1968 draft.
He began as apitcher at USC before being converted to anoutfielder.[6][7][8][9]
In 1969, Kingman had a 11–4win–loss record with a 1.38earned run average (ERA) andbatted .250 with four home runs and 16runs batted in (RBIs) as a part-time hitter for USC. Inthe 1970 USC NCAA Championship Season, Kingman hit .355 with nine home runs and 25 RBIs, exclusively as a hitter, despite missing time mid-season due to injury.[10]
In1970, Kingman was named anAll-America and led theTrojans to theCollege World Series championship, along with teammates, pitchersSteve Busby,Jim Barr andBrent Strom. Kingman was then selected by theSan Francisco Giants with the first pick of the1970secondary phase draft.[11][12]
After signing with the Giants, Kingman played for the Class AAAmarillo Giants in 1970 after the College World Series victory. He hit .295 with 15 home runs and 45 RBIs in 60 games. Moving to the Class AAAPhoenix Giants in 1971, he hit .278 with 26 home runs and 99 RBIs in 105 games before being called up by the San Francisco Giants.[13]
Kingman came up as an outfielder andfirst baseman with the San Francisco Giants. He made his major league debut on July 30,1971,pinch running forWillie McCovey, and finishing the game at first base. He hit a home run in his next game, a grand slam,[14] and hit two more a day later.[15] He finished his rookie season with a .278 batting average, along with 6 home runs and 24 RBI, in 41 games.[16] Kingman appeared in the postseason when the Giants won theNational League West and advanced to theNational League Championship Series. Kingman went 1-for-10 with three strikeouts as the Giants lost in four games. It would be his only career postseason appearance.[17]
On April 16,1972, the second day of the season, Kingmanhit for the cycle in the Giants' 10–6 victory over theHouston Astros. A day earlier, he made his debut at third base, a position he would play off and on for the remainder of his Giants career. Kingman also made his major league debut on the mound with the Giants, pitching two innings of "mop up duty" in an 11–0 loss to theCincinnati Reds on April 15,1973.[18] He pitched again in the mop up role on May 13 in a 15–3 loss to theLos Angeles Dodgers.[19] Each time he pitched the final two innings, and each time gave up twoearned runs.
In1974, he committed twelveerrors in 59 chances at third, and lost his starting job toSteve Ontiveros. Unhappy about becoming a part-time player, Kingman requested a trade.[20]Following the season, the Giants sold his contract to theNew York Mets.[16]
In four seasons and 409 games with the Giants, Kingman hit .224 with 77 home runs and 217 RBI.[16]
Kingman's contract was purchased by theNew York Mets from the Giants for $150,000 on February 28, 1975. Mets' managerYogi Berra compared his incoming slugger to baseball immortalMickey Mantle.[21]
Kingman played twelve games at third with the Mets; however, the Mets eventually abandoned the idea of Kingman as a third baseman and kept him primarily in the outfield. He emerged as a slugger upon his arrival inNew York City, setting a club record with 36 home runs in1975. Kingman also scored 65runs, the highest percentage of runs scored on homers for any player who hit more than 30 in a season. A year later, he broke his own record with 37 homers, and was elected to start in right field for the1976 National League All-Star team. Kingman's single season home run record for the Mets stood until 1987, when it was broken byDarryl Strawberry.
Kingman was batting .209 with nine home runs when he became one of the three players traded in the"Midnight Massacre" by the New York Mets. On June 15,1977, the Mets traded Kingman to theSan Diego Padres for minor league pitcherPaul Siebert andBobby Valentine;Tom Seaver was traded to the Cincinnati Reds forPat Zachry,Doug Flynn,Steve Henderson andDan Norman; andMike Phillips was traded to theSt. Louis Cardinals forJoel Youngblood.[22]
Kingman was waived by the Padres and claimed by theCalifornia Angels on September 6, 1977.[23] On September 15, Kingman became one of only a handful of players to play for four major league teams in the same season (and the only one to play in each division in baseball in a single yearsince the establishment of divisional play in 1969) when he was traded by the Angels to the New York Yankees, forRandy Stein and cash. Although Kingman's four home runs and seven RBI in eight games helped propel the Yankees into the post-season over the second placeBoston Red Sox andBaltimore Orioles, he could not participate in the team's push to aWorld Series crown as he was added to the roster after the August 31cutoff date for postseason eligibility.[24]
Overall, Kingman hit .221 with 26 home runs and 78 RBI in 132 games for the four teams in 1977.[16]
Kingman signed as a free agent with theChicago Cubs on November 30, 1977.[25] He wanted to stay with the Yankees, who denied his request for ano-trade clause and offered him $1,250,000 with the expectation that no other team would pay him more money. Kingman's five-year $1,375,000 contract included a $225,000 annual salary, a $250,000 bonus and an additional $50,000 in any year that the Cubs reached the 1.6 million mark in home attendance.[26]
In 1978, Kingman hit .266 with 28 home runs and 78 RBI in 119 games with the Cubs.[16]
Kingman had an excellent performance in Los Angeles on May 14,1978, when he hit three home runs against the Dodgers, including a three-run shot in the top of the 15th inning that gave the Cubs a 10–7 victory. Eight of the Cubs' ten runs were driven in by Kingman.[27] Following the game, radio reporterPaul Olden asked Dodgers' managerTommy Lasorda his opinion of Kingman's performance that day, inspiring an oft-replayed (and censored) obscenity-laced tirade.[28][29]
In1979, Kingman batted .288 with a National League-leading 48 homers, as well as 115runs batted in (second to San Diego'sDave Winfield's 118) and 97 runs scored. He hit three home runs in a game twice that season, both coming in Cubs losses. The first was a slugging duel withMike Schmidt on May 17 atWrigley Field; Kingman hit three home runs and drove in six while Schmidt hit two in the game, with Schmidt delivering his second in the top of the tenth inning to give the Phillies a 23–22 victory. Kingman's third home run during this game is likely the longest home run of his career, and believed to be the longest in the history of Wrigley Field. There is a street called Kenmore Avenue that T's into Waveland Avenue behind left-center field. Kenmore is lined with houses, and the ball Kingman launched landed on the third porch roof on the east side of Kenmore, a shot estimated at 550 feet.[30]
The second three-homer game for Kingman that year came against his former team on July 28 atShea Stadium in a 6–4 loss to the Mets.[31]
His .613slugging percentage in 1979 was almost 50 points higher than that of his next closest National League competitor, Schmidt. Kingman finished eleventh in NL MVP balloting that year and led the league in strikeouts for the first time in his career (131).
In1980, Kingman (whose personality former Mets teammateJohn Stearns had once compared to a tree trunk)[32] dumped a bucket of ice water onDaily Herald reporter Don Friske's head late inspring training.[33] Kingman regularly insisted he was misquoted, and he began appearing regularly in theChicago Tribune, as the nominal author of a columnghostwritten byChicago Park District employee Gerald Pfeiffer.[34]Mike Royko, then writing for the rivalChicago Sun-Times, parodied Kingman's column with a series using the byline "Dave Dingdong."[35]
The Cubs held a Dave Kingman T-shirt Day promotion in conjunction with its game with thePittsburgh Pirates on August 7, but Kingman instead spent the afternoon atNavy Pier promotingKawasakiJet Skis atChicagoFest.[36]
Kingman was injured in 1980, playing in 81 games, hitting .278 with 18 home runs and 57 RBI.[16]
Overall, in his three seasons with the Cubs, Kingman hit .278 with 94 home runs and 251 RBI and a .907 OPS in 345 games.[16]
In January 1980, thePayson heirs sold the Mets franchise to theDoubleday publishing company for $21.1 million.Nelson Doubleday, Jr. was named chairman of the board, while minority shareholderFred Wilpon took the role of club president. Kingman was reacquired by the Mets from the Cubs for Steve Henderson and cash on February 28,1981.[37] In separate deals, the new organization also reacquiredRusty Staub, and two seasons later,Tom Seaver.
Kingman primarily played first base upon his return to the Mets in 1981, and exclusively there in his second season back in New York. In1982, he tied his own Mets' single-season home run record while hitting .204, the lowest batting average for a first baseman with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title. It was also the first time that the Cy Young award winner (Steve Carlton) had a higher batting average than the home run champion did. Leading the league in home runs that year, it is also the lowest batting average for any season's home run leader. In spite of this, he still drove in 99 runs.[38]
Kingman led the NL in strikeouts each of his first two seasons after his return to the Mets (105 in an abbreviated 1981, and 156 in 1982). On June 15,1983, the sixth anniversary of the Midnight Massacre, the Mets acquired first basemanKeith Hernandez from the St. Louis Cardinals for pitchersNeil Allen andRick Ownbey. Kingman remained with the team for the remainder of the season in a limited role. He was released at the end of the season, and signed as a free agent with theOakland Athletics.
In six total seasons with the Mets, Kingman hit .219 with 154 home runs and 389 RBI in 664 games.[16]
On April 16, 1984, Kingman collected his fifth and final three-homer game, in a 9–6 win over theSeattle Mariners.[39] He made just nine appearances at first base in1984, and was the A's regulardesignated hitter in the other games he started. For the 1984 season, he hit .268 with 35 home runs and 118 RBI. He was named theAmerican League'sComeback Player of the Year, and finished 13th in MVP balloting.
After hitting 30 home runs in 1985, Kingman's 35 homers in 1986 were a record for a player in his final season, which held until surpassed byDavid Ortiz in 2016.[40]
In three seasons as a DH in Oakland, he collected at least 30 home runs and 90 RBIs in each. He also had two at-bats which did not result in home runs, but nonetheless were noteworthy: in theMetrodome against theMinnesota Twins, on May 4, 1984, he hit a pop-up that flew into a hole in the roof and got stuck for aground rule double. In a game inSeattle on April 11,1985, he hit a hard drive toleft field which struck a speaker hanging from the roof of theKingdome, bounced back and was caught for an out.[41]
During his final year in Oakland in 1986, Kingman sent a pink gift box to Sue Fornoff, a sportswriter forThe Sacramento Bee. Inside there was a live rat, with a tag attached to it that read, "My name is Sue."[42] Fornoff claimed that Kingman had told her that women do not belong in the clubhouse, and that he harassed her several times since she began covering the team the year before. Kingman himself said it was intended as a harmless practical joke.[43] The A's fined Kingman $3,500 and warned that he would be released if a similar incident occurred again.
Kingman's reputation throughout his major league career was as someone disliked by most reporters and numerous teammates.[44][45]
When Kingman's contract expired after the 1986 season, Oakland did not renew his contract and he became a free agent.[46] Oakland signed former Athletic and futureHall of FamerReggie Jackson for his final year as the team's designated hitter for the 1987 season to play alongside the new blood in home run hitting inJose Canseco and rookieMark McGwire.[47]
In three seasons with Oakland, under managersSteve Boros,Jackie Moore, andTony LaRussa, Kingman hit .238 with 100 home runs and 303 RBI.[48]
For his major league career, Kingman batted .236 with 442 home runs and 1210 RBI. He had a .302 OBP, and a .780 OPS, to go with 608 walks and 1816 strikeouts, over 1941 career games. Kingman averaged a home run every 15.11 at bats, tied withJuan González for 19th best all-time.[as of?][48][49]
In 1995, Kingman was awarded over $829,000 in damages for collusion by MLB owners against him (and other MLB players who were free agents), specifically for 1987.[50]
On July 11, 1987, Kingman signed a minor league deal with the San Francisco Giants during the1987 season.[2] After twenty games at AAA Phoenix in which he batted .203 with two home runs and 11 RBI, he retired from baseball.[13]
In 1989, Kingman played for theWest Palm Beach Tropics of theSenior Professional Baseball Association, alongside other former major league players. He hit .271 with 8 HR and 40 RBI, as the Tropics had the best record in the Senior League. The league folded in 1990.[citation needed]
In1992, his first year of eligibility for theBaseball Hall of Fame, he appeared on just three ballots, excluding him from futureBaseball Writers' Association of America voting. He was the first player to hit 400 or more home runs without being eventually inducted into the Hall of Fame.[51]
Kingman lives in theLake Tahoe area. He has three children, Adam, Abby and Anna, and operates a local tennis club.[52] His son Adam won season 3 ofMaking It and was crowned Master Maker.[53]
