The 1982 San Francisco Giants posted the team’s first winning record since 1978 and only the second since 1973. This was despite 1) having only one hitter (Jack Clark) drive in more than 61 runs and hit more than 20 home runs; and 2) having only two starters win more than 10 games (they were eclipsed by three relievers). As a team, the Giants were actually outscored by 14 runs (687 to 673), which makes their 87-75 record more impressive. They must have won a lot of close late games, which would partly explain all those relief victories.
The team finished squarely in the middle of the pack (and slightly above league average) in runs per game, home runs, and RsBI. They led the NL in walks! So, while they had a substandard batting average, their OBP was above average. They were dead last in hit by pitch and sacrifice hits, for what those are worth.
The team ERA was slightly above league average, and they gave up the third-most hits. They also led the league in balks. So they had that going for them. They were the second-worst team in terms of errors and fielding percentage, which somewhat surprisingly did not affect their runs given up by much: they did allow 95 unearned runs, but that only moved them one spot in terms of total runs allowed.
Anniversaries!
It was a double-anniversary year for the Giants: the team’s 100th season, and its 25th season in San Francisco.
My parents have the seat pads.
In celebration, the Giants knocked the Dodgers out of the playoff chase on the last day of the season.
Totally worth it.
Also, with their second-round pick, the Giants drafted Barry Bonds out of Serra, my rival high school in San Mateo, but he did not sign. If he had, it might have affected the space-time continuum (would the Pirates’ losing-season streak be even longer?). Also drafted that round: David Wells, Bo Jackson, and Barry Larkin.
Something else I just noticed by looking up players drafted from Serra: the Expos drafted Tom Brady as a catcher in 1995. It’s too bad he didn’t go. It would have saved us from his Michigan and New England football careers. Oh well.
Eight players debuted for the Giants in the 1982 season: I have vaguely heard of a few of them, but the most important was Scott Garrelts. His glasses and low ERA would be a staple of Giants’ teams throughout the 1980s. Chili Davis was playing in his first full season after a 1981 cup of coffee. Bob Brenly and Atlee Hammaker were also in their second seasons.
Imagine the Team without Jack Clark
Jack Clark led the offense again, hitting 27 home runs, driving in 103, and scoring 91 times to go with a .274/.372/.481 split. I would LOVE if the Giants had an outfielder with those numbers now (hint, hint, Hunter Pence). Clark finished seventh in the MVP voting (one spot ahead of Greg Minton); this would be the first of Dale Murphy‘s back-to-back MVP seasons (Lonnie Smith finished second!), which form part of a great (although now outdated) baseball trivia: name a player at each position (including pitcher and three OFs) who won back-to-back MVP awards. The trivia worked perfectly pre-1990, but three guys have been added to the list since then (two at first base, and one OF). A pretty knowledgeable Dodgers’ fan friend of mine and I spent eight innings of a Dodgers-Brewers game at Chavez Ravine trying to figure this one out, but we didn’t quite make the cut (missed first base and one of the outfielders). I did, however, correctly identify Dale Murphy.
The list, in case you are wondering:
P: Hal Newhouser (1944 and 1945): pre-Cy Young Award
C: Yogi Berra (1955 and 1956)
1B: Jimmie Foxx (1932 and 1933); later Frank Thomas (1993 and 1994) and Albert Pujols (2008 and 2009)
2B: Joe Morgan (1975 and 1976)
3B: Mike Schmidt (1980 and 1981)
SS: Ernie Banks (1958 and 1959)
OF: Mickey Mantle (1956 and 1957), Roger Maris (1960 and 1961), and Dale Murphy (1982 and 1983); later Barry Bonds
Old Guys
After Clark, the Giants’ offensive stars were all pretty ancient:
- At first base, 37-year-old Reggie Smith, who played pretty well during his only year as a Giant (and last year in baseball). For me, he’s always a Dodger, though he also had some good years in Boston and St. Louis.
- At second base, 38-year-old Joe Morgan, in his second and last year with the Giants. He led the team in batting average and stolen bases. He would play out another two less productive years before retiring. Morgan and Gary Pettis went to the same high school in Oakland. Morgan was born in Texas and drafted by the good old Colt .45s. He was an above-average player with Houston for eight years before they traded him to Cincinnati in an eight-player trade that… went less than well for Houston, although they did get some guy named Jimmy Stewart, plus three pretty good years from Lee May. After the 1982 season, the Giants traded Morgan to the Phillies for Mark Davis and Mike Krukow. A couple of decades later, based largely on his hilariously bad announcing career, Fire Joe Morgan happened.
Thanks, Joe!
- At corner infield, a year away from his best season with the team, 35-year-old Darrell Evans… who would play another seven seasons, to the ripe old age of 42, and win the 1984 World Series with Detroit.
Young Guys
Chili Davis, in his first full season, led the team in at bats, hits, and triples, and tied Morgan with 24 steals. He also hit 19 home runs and drove in 76, finishing fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting behind Steve Sax and Willie McGee (and ahead of Ryne Sandberg and Steve Bedrosian!). There were some good rookies that year. I’ll get to more Chili in later posts.
Jeffrey Leonard was a year away from his first full season with the Giants. With his nine home runs this year, he had a combined twenty for his career, which he would more than double in 1983. As with Chili, more Hackman to follow.
This would be Milt May’s final full-ish season catching for the Giants. He would be traded to the Pirates in 1983, I assume to make room for this guy:
Almost Brenly Time!
Other Guys
Johnnie LeMaster was midway through his unexciting Giants’ career. He had an atrocious .533 OPS that included an awe-inspiringly-bad .267 on-base percentage–which was actually one-thousandth of a point higher than his equally atrocious slugging percentage. In 436 at bats, he managed all of 94 hits (17 for extra bases) and 31 walks. He makes Neifi Perez look like an offensive powerhouse. Then again, LeMaster is the one with the blog named after him.
LeMaster had been the sixth pick in a first round that featured Robin Yount and Dave Winfield at three and four and a whole lot of nothing else.
The Giants paired LeMaster with a slugging-deficient partner at third base: Tom O’Malley, who barely outpaced LeMaster with 18 extra base hits, but in a mere 291 at bats. This was O’Malley’s rookie season, and he can at least lay claim to the highest WAR (1.4) of anyone selected in the 16th round of the 1979 draft. O’Malley’s better career came in Japan, where he starred in the early to mid-1990s, winning the Central League MVP in 1995. During six seasons with the Hanshin Tigers and Yakult Swallows, O’Malley played first and third base and hit .315 with 123 home runs and 488 RBIs.
This marked the last season on the team for Jim Wohlford: he hit 0, 1, or 2 home runs in 14 of his 15 seasons in the league, exploding for 5 home runs in 1984. Over three years with the Giants, he hit 4 home runs in about 550 at bats. But considering he struck around for 15 years, he must have had something going for him besides offense.
First-year Giants included:
- Duane Kuiper did his thing in the background. He arrived before the season in a trade with the Indians for Ed Whitson. His at bats dwindled in each season with the Giants: from 218 this first year down to 5 by the time he finished things up in 1985.
- John Junior “Champ” Summers, who is officially listed as a pinch-hitter. Summers was a Vietnam vet who passed away about six months ago. Summer had two strong years in Detroit in 1979 and 1980 on the heels of a pretty good minor league career. He had arrived just before the start of the 1982 season in a trade for Enos Cabell and would last two seasons with the team. He later went to the Padres and took part in some of the Ed Whitson-sponsored brawls, including the big one with Pascual Perez. Which makes sense, given this description of how he got his nickname: “Baseball’s John (Champ) Summers was so homely as a newborn that his dad thought he had just gone 10 rounds with Joe Louis.”
The bottom of the bench featured:
- Joe Pettini, who was in year three of four as a Giant and major leaguer. He had 190 at bats his rookie year in 1980, followed by 154 at bats the rest of his career. He did have one home run to his credit. Pettini would stick around in the minors for several years with the Cardinals and stay with the organization after he finished playing in 1987. He later became bench coach for Tony LaRussa and was a member of the Cardinals’ 2006 and 2011 World Series champion teams.
- Jeff Ransom was in the middle of his three-year tenure as backup catcher, during which he totaled 79 at bats.
- Jose Barrios in his one and only season in Major League Baseball. He had a stellar minor league career that ended the following season.
- Ron Pruitt was winding down his career with this and one more season in SF. He was a part-timer for several years up until 1980 but totaled only six plate appearances over two years as a Giant.
- John Rabb, who only got two at bats but managed to hit the only triple of his career. He was one of eight players from the 11th round of the 1978 draft to make the Majors.
- Brad Wellman was a rookie who would get some part-time work over the next three seasons. Amazingly, I found this blog post about him and totally remember his baseball card. It’s those eyes. He came over to the Giants in the Atlee Hammaker trade for Vida Blue. He now owns Wellman Sports in San Ramon.
Brad Wellman’s eyes
In terms of pitching, no one wanted to strike anybody out. We’ll get to that next time.
Snow DiMaggio 