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Post by dukecrunchybagel on Dec 1, 2016 14:54:07 GMT -5
I graduated from Taft HS in Cincinnati and was signed as a bonus baby by the Reds.
I never played for the big league club as I was drafted in the rule V draft and eventually became a feared power-hitter and all star for my new team. On that time, I was a friend and cohort of a future Red HOFer.
After eleven years on that team, I finally played in the WS after being traded for an ex-Red. I had prodigious year but lost out on the MVP voting to one my new teammates. I would be traded from that team for a future Red manager.
Who am I?
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Post by schellis on Dec 1, 2016 16:23:44 GMT -5
Jimmy Wynn
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Post by dukecrunchybagel on Dec 1, 2016 18:53:12 GMT -5
Well that was easy.
The Toy Cannon was inked by the Reds but lost to the First-Year Bonus part of the Rule V draft following the 1962 season to the Houston Colt .45s.
He was up for the tail end of the 1963 season and became a fixture CF beginning in the 1965 season where he began a friendship and played regularly with Joe Morgan. He made his first all-star appearance in 1967 when he hit 37 dingers with a .249/.331/.826, a year in which he also led the major in strikeouts.
He lessened his free swinging ways the next year and saw his average inch up. For the most of the rest of his career, he often walked as much as he struck out. He probably enjoyed his best year in 1969 with .69/.436/.507 slash line with 33 dingers.
Following the 1973 season, the Astros traded Wynn to the Dodgers in a very one-sided deal for Claude Osteen, where he produced a .271/.387/.497 slash line with 32 dingers in helping the Dodger win the pennant in 1974 and earning his second all-start birth. Teammate Steve Garvey topped teammates Mike Marshall (the reliever not the outfielder) and Wynn along with Lou Brock and Johnny Bench.
Wynn's performance tailed off following his third all-start birth in 1975, and the Dodgers dealt Wynn along with outfielders Tom Paciorek, superutility man Lee Lacy, and infielder Jerry Royster to the Braves for future skipper Dusty Baker, and infielder Ed Goodson, which was another pretty clear win for the Dodgers (even though Paciorek would later be a very good power hitter for the White Sox & Mariners).
You know it's pretty amazing how much good talent the Reds were able to develop in the early sixties. In additional to the nucleus of the BRM -- Tony Perez, Johnny Bench, Davey Concepcion, Lee May, Tommy Helms, Gary Nolan, they also let a whole lot of good players get away -- Wynn, Claude Osteen, Cesar Tovar, and a little earlier Mike Cuellar and Curt Flood.
Yet another gold star for you, Schellis!
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