About the Back: Pretty underwhelming numbers for Sabo in 1988, when he won the NL Rookie of the Year Award...save for those 40 doubles and 46 steals. He got four more first place votes than Mark Grace, who batted .296 with a .371 on-base percentage, but had only 23 doubles, seven homers, and three steals.
Triple Play:
1. Chris was red-hot in the 1990 World Series (get it?), batting .563/.611/1.000 in 18 trips to the plate with a double, two home runs, and five RBI.
2. Injuries severely curtailed Sabo's career. He totaled 147 games from 1994 through 1996 with the Orioles, White Sox, Cardinals, and Reds. His short-lived return to Cincinnati included a seven-game suspension for corking his bat; he claimed the bat belonged to a teammate, but would not name the offending player.
3. Chris was a 2010 inductee to the Reds' Hall of Fame. He's kept a low profile since hanging up his spikes, though he did spend the 2005 season coaching with the Reds' single-A Dayton Dragons farm club.
11-Year-Old Kevin Says: Sadly my chief memory of Sabo was his single disappointing year in Baltimore, though in hindsight a .465 slugging percentage in 68 games isn't too shabby. He was pushed off of third base by a resurgent Leo Gomez, though, and griped about being shifted to right field and DH.
Bill James Said: "He has lost his speed after a series of ankle and foot problems."
On This Date in 1993: July 7. Hurricane Calvin makes landfall near Manzanillo in Mexico, claiming 34 lives.
Chris Sabo is one of those players I always wished the Mets had picked up. He seems like the kind of player that would be fun to root for.
ReplyDeleteMax - A lot more fun to root for than Vince Coleman, anyhow...
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