Who am I? April 2 edition (solved)

[dukecrunchybagel]

When the modern era of free agency was born in 1976, the Reds did not initially sign free agents -- refusing to participate in the reentry draft which assigned teams the opportunity to sign free agents.

The Reds aversion to free agency did not last forever, and when they finally broke down, they signed me to be largely a left-handed bat on the bench and fourth outfielder and surrendered their first-round Rule IV draft pick. I played for the Reds for two years and put up a respectable .286/.342/.380.

I played for the Washington Senators once upon a time.

Who am I?

[rufralf]

Larry Biittner?

[dukecrunchybagel]

Yes indeed, a gold star for your!

Left-handed outfielder Biitner was the first modern free agent signing prior to the 1981 season designed to give the aging outfield of Dave Collins, Ken Griffey, & George Foster a little depth and a bench bat (Harry Spilman was almost ready for the Show!) from the first base side.

Biitner had a disappointing 1981 in the strike-shortened season, but had a very productive year in 1982 spelling Paul Householder (with Eddie MIlner then shifting over to RF) and giving Dan Dreissen the occasional day off. In fact, Dreissen and he were the only two bright spots on that horrible squad.

Following the 1982 season, he played a final season for the Rangers.

Biitner first came up with Nats, and then later played for the Expos and Cubs. His best season was in 1975 for the Expos and 1977 as the Cubs everyday right-fielder.

[psuhistory]

I had at least 100 baseball cards of Biitner with the Expos. I'll never believe there was only one of him...

[rufralf]

A pretty unknown player overall considering that nobody can remember how to spell his name. It's Biittner. LOL

[psuhistory]

I had enough of these to girdle the globe...