Rusty Staub
Rusty Staub is yet another example of a player who played at a high level for a long time but never quite achieved superstar status. He played 23 seasons in the Major Leagues for 5 different teams, and was remarkably consistent from 1966 to 1978, recording between 145 and 186 each season in which he was healthy.
His career began slowly following his call up to the Major Leagues just after his 19th birthday, with a few disappointing seasons that made people question the relatively large salary he was earning. He finally started to fulfill his promise in season 4, and by season 5 had become an All-Star, leading the league with 44 doubles while batting .333 for the season.
After a couple of good seasons, he still wasn't gaining popularity in Houston, but his big break came with a trade to expansion Montreal before the 1969 season. He was instantly popular in Montreal, and he helped out by taking French lessons in his spare time, as well as performing well on the field, hitting 29 and 30 homers in his first two seasons in Canada.
After three seasons up north, the Mets put together a trade for the star player, hoping to get to the playoffs. He broke his hand and missed half of his first season in New York, but the following season they were able to make a huge late-season push to reach the postseason, where Staub played some of the best baseball of his career.
He hit three home runs in the ALCS against Cincinnati before separating his shoulder making a catch against the wall in the 11th inning of game 4, which caused him to miss the final game of the series, which his team still won, earning a trip to the World Series. Despite being unable to throw overhand during the Series, Staub batted .423 with 11 hits and 6 RBI, but the Mets lost to Oakland in 7 games. It would be his one and only career trip to the playoffs.
He remained a solid player for several more seasons, even after yet another trade, this time to Detroit, before finally making his way back to New York to finish out his career. After hitting one home run in his final season, he became one of 4 players in history to hit a home run in both his teens and his 40's, and the other 3 players are all ahead of him on this list.
Perhaps the best part of Staub's game was his patience at the plate. He was among the top 10 in times reaching base 8 different times, and walks and on-base percentage 6 times, with a total of over 4000 times reaching base in his career, which is #44 all-time. He never received even 8% of the vote on the Hall of Fame ballot and is no longer eligible, but even though he was never a dominant player, he was very good for a very long time, and deserves to be remembered among the best players of all time.
No comments:
Post a Comment