Dave Kingman question

On Wed, 7 May 2008 21:59:18 -0700 (PDT), "benf802961@aol.com"
<benf802961 DeleteThis @aol.com> wrote:

>In 1987 Dave Kingman signed as a free agent midseason but did not
>play. Why was he signed? I don't remember. Was it just that he could
>retire as a Giant?There was really no place for him on the team.

The New York Times wrote
(http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE2DD1F30F935A35754C0A961948260):

"Dave Kingman, who is 58 home runs shy of the 500 mark, is ready to
join the Class AAA Phoenix Firebirds in hopes of returning to the big
leagues.

"Club officials said today that the 38-year-old Kingman would sign a
contract when he is activated to play.

"Kingman reported to the team Saturday night and said he would work
out twice a day in hopes of being ready to play 'in a matter of days.'
"The Pacific Coast League team is the top affiliate of the San
Francisco Giants. But Kingman said he had no assurances that he would
be called up to the Giants.

"Kingman became a free agent after playing the last three seasons with
the Oakland Athletics."

Not the complete answer, but it's something.

Steven
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benf802961.TakeThisOut@aol.com wrote:
> In 1987 Dave Kingman signed as a free agent midseason but did not
> play. Why was he signed? I don't remember. Was it just that he could
> retire as a Giant?

I recall the signing. Although my memory of this 21-year old event is
less than crystal clear, I don't recall it as a sentimental or
ceremonial move. I vaguely remember reading that the Giants were
thinking that Kingman might be able to help as a pinch hitter/backup 1B.


>There was really no place for him on the team.

There was definitely no place for Kingman as a starter, but I can see
the logic behind thinking that he might be acceptable as a role player.
Kingman didn't exactly fall of a cliff at the end of his career. The
year before (1986)--in what turned out to be his last year in the
majors--he hit 35 homeruns. It's true that he no longer got on base
well enough to be a full time player, but he had the potential to be
useful off the bench.

Looking back at that 1987 team, I see that the Giants gave about 200 ABs
to Joel Youngblood and Harry Spilman, two guys who couldn't really play
the field anymore and who were worse hitters than Kingman was. The
Giants probably thought that there was a shot that Kingman could get
healthy enough to help out.

-Brent
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> benf802961.DeleteThis@aol.com wrote:
> In 1987 Dave Kingman signed as a free agent midseason but did not
> play. Why was he signed? I don't remember. Was it just that he could
> retire as a Giant?There was really no place for him on the team.

I don't recall this at all. I do recall that he hit 100 HRs in his
last 3 yrs with the A's and I thought it odd at the time that nobody
signed him for the next year. I presumed it had something to do with
the rat incident.
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