Alvin Davis, Danny Tartabul, WIllie Aikens...

Hoopster

Tartabull had a great nine year run, and his last full season he hit 27 HR and had a 111 OPS+. He was 33. The next season he had seven at bats and retired. Anybody remember the circumstances of his retirment?

Alvin Davis from age 26-29 he had OPS+ of 127, 141, 156, 128. Then at age 30 his OPS+ was 76, and then the next year it was 86 in 104 at bats. Then he was done. Again, he is another guy that I just don't recall what happened to him. Was he hurt at age 30?

Willie Aikens from age 24-28 he had OPS+ of 137, 116, 142,119, and 149. Then age 29 and 30 he had two abysmal part time seasons and was done. I know drugs were a problem, but that is when he was playing. He had an injury as well.

Glen Davis is another guy that basically disappeared in his early 30's.

Von Hayes!


Look what happened to these guys that were pretty darn good for a good period of time(not one year flashes in the pan), and then BAM, they were useless. Anybody else have guys with similar career paths?

drewsef

Don Mattingly





That should get some people stirred up

gosteelers

Glen Davis is another guy that basically disappeared in his early 30's.

I read an article where he was beaned in '93 and was never the same again. He was traded from the Astros to the Orioles for Pete Harnisch, Curt Schilling, AND Steve Finley!

gosteelers

Dennis 'Oil Can' Boyd...

BobaFett72

dennis is STILL pitching though.

Glenn Davis was quite the feared slugger for the stro's in 85'86'87'

TomGshotput

I wonder if we could find 1000 examples:

Jackie Jensen
Jim Gentile
Dave Nilsson
Mack Jones
Ivan Calderon
Kal Daniels
Leon Durham
Hank Leiber
Don Hurst
Zeke Bonura
Curt Blefary
Jeff Burroughs maybe
Greg Luzinski
Randy Milligan

For some reason I would think Mattingly's career arc was a little different than Danny Tartabull's

BobaFett72

luzinski was a hell of a slugger for a good run in the 70's early 80's.

guess he just got worn out, and he got quite fat

TomGshotput

There is the ruin your career by becoming fat: Carlos Baerga

There are the players who were always fat and it quickly caught up with them: Mo Vaughan, Cecil Fielder, Rich Garces

The players who were always fat, but somehow stayed around a while: David Wells

The players who became fat and still did great: Tony Gwynn, Roger Clemes

Kid4hof03

I don't recall the cirumcstances of Alvin Davis but most of the guys mentioned had pretty bad injuries that slowed if not ended their careers.

Lunzinski's knee's were shot from playing all those years at the Vet, he did have more than a couple good seasons, but yes, he also got fat.

Mattingly hurt his back and was never the same player. He couldn't get the torque he once did and lost his power.

Danny Tartabull broke his toe or his foot after those 7 at bats mentioned, his biggest injury was getting traded to the dreadful Phillies, it was easy to hang them up.

Aikens, as mentioned got involved with drugs, I believe he is in jail now from drug charges.

There really are a thousand of those guys: Ron Gant, Mark Fidrych, Dickie Thon, Eric Davis. Then there were guys that had a splash but probably weren't that good afterall: Ron Kittle, Pat Listach, Todd Hollandsworth, Dante Bichette (Rocky Mountain air helped), Tom Browing, Mark Davis, etc.

perkdog

Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden...

perkdog

Kevin Mitchell, Kevin Seitzer....

TomGshotput

A lot of those examples -- Strawberry, Gant, Davis -- played well into their 30s

Kid4hof03

Yes, they played well into their 30's but had very significant drop offs after several years of being very good or better. Most because of injury or off the field issues rather than simply "losing it".

rajah424

Steve Avery

gosteelers

Mike Scott of the 1986 Astros...

Connecticoin

Lyman Bostock -- great hitter -- shot in the head if I recall correctly.

BuffaloBisonsHockey

Joe Charboneau...ROY. Next year fizzle then out of major leagues

dontippet

Eric Davis
Andy Van Slyke
Terry Pendleton
Will Clark

Other than being on this list, what do the four individuals above have in common?

DeutscherGeist

Jim Abbott's career ended too soon and not ideal but he was awesome for a stretch.

Bo Jackson was a great power hitter, but that hip injury was a liability if he continued to play full time.

Marquis Grissom was a great hitter and speedy runner, but he fizzled away.

Steve Avery was a heart breaking loss. So much potential and I still don't know why he failed in his come back attempts.

ernie11

At one time, I was sure that Cecil Cooper was headed for the HOF.

DeutscherGeist

Cecil Cooper had a full career, this thread is about guys who had a few good years and just disappeared. Cooper really had a great career, but I don't think he separated himself from his peers sufficiently enough to garner HOF votes. Mattingly's career was very similar to Cooper's as far as length and career totals. However, Mattingly had much more accolades than Cooper, not to mention that he separated himself from his peers more distinctively than Cooper ever could with his era. Yet, Mattingly has a tough time getting in the HOF and is ahead of Cooper.

kcballboy

Richard Hidalgo

Cincykid8123

Alvin Davis played in Japan for part of one season after retiring from MLB.

Morgoth

Johnny Ray

2dueces

<< <i>Joe Charboneau...ROY. Next year fizzle then out of major leagues >>



Joe's back gave out on him. He never did recover from it.

markj111

Jim Abbott's career ended too soon and not ideal but he was awesome for a stretch.

Come on people-do your homework. Abbot's awesome stretch was from 1991-1991. One year. He walked too many and did not strike out enough. It is amazing that his ERA was as good as it was (essentially league average) considering the number of base runners he allowed.

RedHeart54

Yes, but Jim Abbott was the feel good story of the time. Add the fact that he threw a no hitter and his name will always be remembered.

Of course, some of us just may remember him because we spent twelve bucks on his Upper Deck "triple exposure" rookie card in 1989.

BobaFett72

"Of course, some of us just may remember him because we spent twelve bucks on his Upper Deck "triple exposure" rookie card in 1989. "

I was more than happy to sell em for that and more! cha-ching! $$

yawie99

<< <i>Yes, but Jim Abbott was the feel good story of the time. Add the fact that he threw a no hitter and his name will always be remembered.

Of course, some of us just may remember him because we spent twelve bucks on his Upper Deck "triple exposure" rookie card in 1989. >>



Pfff. You were wasting your money. Savvy collectors (e.g. me) were loading up on Junior Felix rookies.

DeutscherGeist

1991 was an excellent year for Abbott, but his rookie season was great too considering it was his first year without any minor league experience. His 1992 season was very good, but the wins just never came. His ERA was top notch, but the Angels were not scoring enough runs. His pitching was excellent though and one has to give him credit for that. This is why he was considered a good pitcher for some time because of the potential he showed. When he was with the Yankees, his win/loss records were not as bad as the 7-15 he got in 1992. I know he had seasons of going 2-18, but also one going 5-0. A lot of inconsistencies after that 1992 performance where he pitched real well, but did not have the run support. The season where he started on the White Sox and later ended up with the Angels was also a good season (1995).