Friday, September 5, 2014

#275 Andy Van Slyke

About the Front: Right about now, Andy Van Slyke is regretting his pregame meal of prune salad.

About the Back: What does an unassisted double play by a center fielder look like? Something like this.

Triple Play:

1. His son Scott is an outfielder with the Dodgers. He's having quite a good season so far in 2014 - .268/.377/.508 with 10 homers in 179 at-bats.

2. Andy became famous for his quick wit. During his first two seasons in St. Louis, he played 62 games at third base, and later claimed that he played like Brooks...Mel Brooks.

3. Van Slyke spent four years as the Tigers' first base coach. Currently, he's coaching first base in Seattle on former teammate Lloyd McClendon's staff.

11-Year-Old Kevin Says: I feel like this is a recurring theme with these posts, but man, Andy Van Slyke stunk it up in Baltimore. In 1995, he played a grand total of 17 games in orange and black and batted .159/.221/.317. I have such a sour impression of his brief time here that I'm surprised to see that he played so few games. Of course, he was also injured for a chunk of the season before he was shipped to the Phillies in mid-June.

Bill James Said: "Broke his collarbone crashing into a wall in mid-June, which put him out for eleven weeks." When he was able to play in 1993, Andy batted .310/.357/.449 with eight homers and 50 RBI in 83 games.

On This Date in 1993: September 5. The Mariners purchase 18-year-old pitcher Mac Suzuki from the independent San Bernardino Spirit for $750,000. When he debuted with Seattle in 1996, he became the third Japanese-born player in MLB history.

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