CLASSIC PODCASTS FROM THE PAST

LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL AND SOFTBALL PRESS CONFERENCE WITH DAVE WINFIELD
Podcast Date: May 27, 2005

David Mark Winfield (born October 3, 1951, in St. Paul, Minnesota) is a former Major League Baseball player. He played for 22 seasons and is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and the College Baseball Hall of Fame. He played for the San Diego Padres, the New York Yankees, the California Angels, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Minnesota Twins, and the Cleveland Indians.

Youth and collegiate career:
Winfield grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota, earning a full scholarship to the University of Minnesota, where he starred in basketball and baseball for the Golden Gophers. His college basketball coach was a young Bill Musselman, who went on to serve as a head coach in the American Basketball Association and National Basketball Association and would later refer to Winfield as the best rebounder he ever had. Winfield's 1972 Minnesota team won a Big 10 basketball championship, the school's first in 53 years. During the 1972 season, he also was involved in a brawl when Minnesota played Ohio State. [1]

After hitting and pitching the Gophers to the College World Series in 1973, where he was named MVP, he was drafted by the San Diego Padres, the Minnesota Vikings as a tight end despite not playing college football, the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA, and the Utah Stars of the ABA. He is one of only two men ever drafted in three different pro sports (the other being Dave Logan) and the only man to be drafted by four leagues. In 1974, as a publicity stunt, the World Hockey Association assigned Winfield's rights to the Minnesota Fighting Saints, based out of St. Paul.

San Diego Padres:
Winfield chose baseball, and gained another distinction when the Padres promoted him directly to the majors. This is a rare move in modern baseball, making him one of a select few players since the origins of the amateur draft in 1965 to make the leap straight to Major League Baseball without playing in the minor leagues first. [2] He proved up to the task, batting .277 in 56 games.

For the next several years, he was an All-Star player in San Diego, gradually increasing his power and hits totals. He burst into stardom in 1979, when he batted .308 with 34 home runs and 118 RBI, then played one more season with the Padres before becoming a free agent.

New York Yankees:
In 1981, New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner made headlines by signing Winfield to a 10-year, $23 million contract, making him the game's highest-paid player. Winfield was one of the best players in the game throughout the life of the contract, but soon had a falling out with Steinbrenner.

He helped the Yankees to the 1981 American League pennant, but then had a poor World Series, and the Yankees lost in six games to the Los Angeles Dodgers. A bitter Steinbrenner derided Winfield in 1985 by saying "I got rid of Mr. October (Reggie Jackson) and got Mr. May." The Mr. May sobriquet lived with him until the 1992 World Series.

He went on to hit 37 home runs in a spectacular 1982 season and in 1984, he batted .340, second in the league to teammate Don Mattingly. He drove in 744 runs between 1982 and 1988, won five Gold Glove Awards for his stellar outfield play and was named to the All-Star Game every season.

On August 4, 1983, Winfield, while warming up before the 5th inning of a game at Toronto's Exhibition Stadium, accidentally killed a seagull with a thrown ball. He doffed his cap in mock sorrow. Fans responded by hurling obscenties and improvised missiles. After the game, he was brought to the Ontario Provincial Police station on charges of cruelty to animals and was forced to post a $500 bond before being released. Quipped Yankees manager Billy Martin, "It's the first time he's hit the cutoff man." The charges were dropped the following day.[1] For years afterward Winfield's appearances in Toronto were greeted with loud choruses of boos, but he later became a fan favorite. (A similar accident involving a bird happened to Randy Johnson during spring training in March 2001.)

In 1990, Steinbrenner was suspended from running the Yankees for two years because of his connections to Howie Spira, a known gambler with mafia connections [3], whom he'd paid $40,000 for embarrassing information. The year was no better than the year before for Winfield, who had sat out 1989 with a back injury. The next year, he was traded mid-season to the California Angels.

Later career and retirement

Toronto Blue Jays:
Winfield was still a productive hitter after his 40th birthday. On December 19, 1991, he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays as their designated hitter, and batted .290 with 26 homers and 108 RBI, during the 1992 season.

Winfield proved to be a lightning rod for the Blue Jays, providing leadership and experience as well as his potent bat. Winfield was a fan favourite, but also demanded fan participation. In August 1992 he made an impassioned plea to the fans during an interview for more crowd noise. The phrase "Winfield Wants Noise" became a popular slogan for the rest of the season, appearing on t-shirts, dolls, and signs.

The Blue Jays won the pennant, giving Winfield a shot at redemption for his previous late-season and post-season futility. In Game 6 of the World Series, he became "Mr. Jay" as he delivered the game-winning two-run double in the 11th inning off Atlanta's Charlie Leibrandt to win the World Championship for Toronto.

1993-95: Winfield for Dinner?
After the 1992 season, Winfield was granted free agency and signed with his hometown Minnesota Twins, where he continued to perform at a high level of play despite advancing age. At age 41, he amassed his 3,000th career hit while batting .271 with 21 home runs, appearing in 143 games for the 1993 Twins, mostly as their designated hitter.

During the 1994 baseball strike, which began on August 12, Winfield was traded to the Cleveland Indians at the trade deadline on August 31 for a "player to be named later." The 1994 season was cancelled two weeks later, so Winfield did not play for the Indians that year and no player was ever named in exchange. To settle the trade, Cleveland and Minnesota executives went to dinner, with the Indians picking up the tab. This makes Winfield the only player in major league history to be traded for a dinner.[2]

Winfield was again granted free agency in October but re-signed with the Indians as spring training began in April 1995. As MLB's oldest player in 1995, Winfield played in 46 games and hit .191 for Cleveland's first pennant winner in 41 years, but did not participate in the Indians' postseason.

Hall of Fame:
Winfield retired in 1995 and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001, in his first year of eligibility. He chose to become the first player to choose to go into Cooperstown as a Padre -- a move that reportedly irked Yankees' owner George Steinbrenner. Nonetheless, when he was inducted Winfield sounded a conciliatory note toward Steinbrenner:

“He’s said he regrets a lot of things that happened. We’re fine now. Things have changed.�

In 1999, Winfield ranked number 94 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was a nominee for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

On July 4, 2006, Winfield was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in its inaugural class.

He currently serves as a vice president of the Padres.

Quotes:

1. Now it's on to May, and you know about me and May. —after setting an American League record for RBI in April, 1988.
2. I am truly sorry that a fowl of Canada is no longer with us. —to the press after being released following the 1983 bird-killing incident.

Ref: Wikipedia

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