Dave Winfield

At 72 years old, Dave Winfield has this physical status:

He earned a full baseball scholarship to the University of Minnesota in 1969, where he starred in baseball and basketball for the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Winfield's 1972 Minnesota team won a Big Ten Conference basketball championship, the school's first sole outright championship in 53 years. During the 1972 season, he also was involved in a brawl when Minnesota played Ohio State.

Winfield also played college summer baseball for the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks for two seasons (1971–72) and was the MVP in 1972. In 1973, he was named All-American and voted MVP of the College World Series—as a pitcher. Following college, Winfield was drafted by four teams in three different sports. The San Diego Padres selected him as a pitcher with the fourth overall pick in the MLB draft. Winfield was also drafted by the Atlanta Hawks (NBA) in the 5th round of the 1973 NBA Draft and by the Utah Stars (ABA) in the 6th round of the 1973 ABA Draft. Though he never played college football, the Minnesota Vikings selected Winfield in the 17th round of the 1973 NFL Draft. He is one of six players ever to be drafted by three professional sports (the others being George Carter, Jo Jo White, Noel Jenke, Mickey McCarty and Dave Logan) and one of three athletes along with Carter and McCarty to be drafted by four leagues.

Professional career

Winfield chose baseball; the San Diego Padres selected him in the first round, with the fourth overall selection, of the 1973 MLB draft. Winfield signed with the Padres, who promoted him directly to the major leagues. Although he was a pitcher, the Padres wanted his powerful bat in the lineup and put him in right field, where he could still use his "rifle arm." He batted .277 in 56 games his first season.

Over the next several years, he developed into an All-Star player in San Diego, gradually increasing his power and hits totals. In 1977, he appeared in his first All-Star game at Yankee Stadium. In 1978, he was named Padres team captain and in 1979, he batted .308 with 34 home runs and 118 RBI. He played one more season with the Padres before becoming a free agent.

In December 1980, New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner made Winfield the game's highest-paid player by signing him to a ten-year, $23 million contract (equivalent to $75.6 million in 2021). Steinbrenner mistakenly thought he was signing Winfield for $16 million, unaware of the meaning of a cost-of-living clause in the contract a misunderstanding that led to an infamous public feud. The $2.5 million annual average value of the contract set a record. He more than doubled the previous record set when Nolan Ryan signed with the Houston Astros in 1979.

Winfield was among the highest-rated players in the game throughout his Yankee contract. He was a key factor in leading the Yankees to the 1981 American League pennant. In the exciting 1981 American League Division Series, Winfield batted .350 with two doubles and a triple and made some important defensive plays helping the Yankees to victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. Unfortunately, Winfield had a sub-par World Series, which the Yankees lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games. After getting his only series hit, Winfield jokingly asked for the ball. Steinbrenner did not find this humorous, and criticized Winfield at the end of the series. Many commentators have since noted that Winfield's post-season doldrums were somewhat overstated when compared to those of his teammates. Four of his seven hits came in games won by the Yankees. The team's offense for the most part was inconsistent, and they were also set back by key injuries to Reggie Jackson and Graig Nettles, who each only played three games with one combined RBI (the same as Winfield).

Winfield did not let Steinbrenner's antics affect his play. He hit 37 home runs in a spectacular 1982 season.

On August 4, 1983, Winfield killed a seagull by throwing a ball while warming up before the fifth inning of a game at Toronto's Exhibition Stadium. Fans responded by hurling obscenities and improvised missiles. After the game, he was brought to a nearby Metropolitan Toronto Police station and charged with cruelty to animals. He was released after posting a $500 bond. Yankee manager Billy Martin quipped, "It's the first time he's hit the cutoff man all season." Charges were dropped the following day. As Winfield missed the Yankees team bus to Hamilton that night to catch their flight home, he was driven to Hamilton personally by Blue Jays general manager Pat Gillick. In the offseason, Winfield returned to Toronto and donated two paintings for an Easter Seals auction, which raised over $60,000. For years afterward, Winfield's appearances in Toronto were greeted by fans standing and flapping their arms—until the 1992 season when being signed by Gillick for the Blue Jays where Winfield became a fan favorite.

From 1981 through 1984, Winfield was the most effective run producer in MLB. In 1984, he and teammate Don Mattingly were in a memorable race for the batting title in which Mattingly won out by .003 points on the last day of the season; Winfield finished with a .340 average. In the last few weeks of the race, it became obvious to most observers that the fans were partial to Mattingly. Winfield took this in stride noting that a similar thing happened in 1961 when Mantle and Maris competed for the single season home run record.

In 1985, Steinbrenner derided Winfield by saying to The New York Times writer Murray Chass, "Where is Reggie Jackson? We need a Mr. October or a Mr. September. Winfield is Mr. May." This criticism has become somewhat of an anachronism as many cite the statement to Steinbrenner after the 1981 World Series. Winfield was struggling while the Yankees eventually lost the division title to Toronto on the second to last day of the season. The "Mr. May" sobriquet lived with Winfield until he won the 1992 World Series with Toronto.

Throughout the late 1980s, Steinbrenner regularly leaked derogatory and fictitious stories about Winfield to the press. He also forced Yankee managers to move him down in the batting order and bench him. Steinbrenner frequently tried to trade him, but Winfield's status as a 10-and-5 player (10 years in the majors, 5 years with a single team) meant he could not be traded without his consent. Winfield continued to put up excellent numbers with the Yankees, driving in 744 runs between 1982 and 1988, and was selected to play in the All-Star Game every season. Winfield won five (of his seven) Gold Glove Awards for his stellar outfield play as a Yankee.

In 1989, Winfield missed the entire season due to a back injury. 1990 was the last year of his contract with the Yankees, but the troubles with Steinbrenner in his feud with Winfield continued to escalate. He had a rusty spring training before being relegated from the field to being the designated hitter. Further troubles led to being just the DH for left-handed pitchers. On May 11, manager Bucky Dent and general manager Pete Peterson met in a room with the intent of stating a trade of Winfield for Mike Witt of the California Angels. Winfield stepped in the room and stated his refusal to be traded; the argument over whether his 10-and-5 rights overrode his list of having the Angels on his trade list failed to meet at an impasse when Angels owner Gene Autry came in with a three-year extension. He proceeded to hit 19 home runs in 112 games for the Angels in the remainder of the 1990 season. As for Steinbrenner, he attempted to curry favor by stating to Winfield that he would welcome back Winfield openly if he had won the arbitration case; by this point in the month of May, he was already under investigation by commissioner Fay Vincent for his apparent connections to Howard Spira, a known gambler with supposed Mafia connections, whom he had paid $40,000 for embarrassing information on Winfield. A month later, the team received a fine that required them to pay money to the league and the Angels for tampering and Steinbrenner soon received a life-time ban. However, the suspension lasted only two years.

Winfield was traded for Mike Witt during the 1990 season and won the Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year Award. He hit for the cycle in June 1991 against the Kansas City Royals, hitting 5 for 5 in the game. He also recorded his 400th home run against the Twins in his hometown.

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 also made "Winfieldian" plays when he periodically took his familiar position in right field. He batted .290 with 26 home runs 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 favorite and also demanded fan participation. In August 1992, he made an impassioned plea to the reserved 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, buttons, and signs.

The Blue Jays won the pennant, giving Winfield a chance at redemption for his previous 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 Series Championship for Toronto. At 41 years of age, Winfield became the third-oldest player to hit an extra base hit in the World Series, trailing only Pete Rose and Enos Slaughter.

After the 1992 season, Winfield was granted free agency and signed with his hometown Minnesota Twins. In 1993, he batted .271 with 21 home runs, appearing in 143 games for the 1993 Twins, mostly as their designated hitter. On September 16, 1993, at age 41, he collected his 3,000th career hit with a single off Oakland Athletics closer Dennis Eckersley.

During the 1994 baseball strike, which began on August 12, Winfield was traded to the Cleveland Indians at the trade waiver deadline on August 31 for a player to be named later. The 1994 season had been halted two weeks earlier (it was eventually canceled a month later on September 14), so Winfield did not get to 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 (though official sources list the transaction as Winfield having been sold by the Minnesota Twins to the Cleveland Indians).

Winfield, who was now the oldest MLB player, was again granted free agency in October but re-signed with the Indians as spring training began in April 1995. A rotator cuff injury kept him on the disabled list for most of the season; thus he played in only 46 games and hit .191 for Cleveland's first pennant winner in 41 years. He did not participate in the Indians' postseason.

Winfield retired in 1996 and, in his first year of eligibility, was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001 as a San Diego Padre, the first Padre to be so honored. The move reportedly irked Yankees' owner George Steinbrenner, however Winfield sounded a conciliatory note toward him, saying, "He's said he regrets a lot of things that happened. We're fine now. Things have changed."

In 1998, Winfield was inducted by the San Diego Hall of Champions into the Breitbard Hall of Fame, honoring San Diego's finest athletes both on and off the playing surface.

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

He was inducted into the San Diego Padres Hall of Fame in 2000. The Padres retired Winfield's No. 31 on April 14, 2001.

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

In 2010, Winfield was selected as one of 28 members of the NCAA Men's College World Series Legends Team.

The Big Ten Network named Winfield its #15 ranked Big Ten Conference "Icon" in 2010.

The 2016 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, played at Petco Park in San Diego, was dedicated to Winfield. He had represented the Padres at the first All-Star Game to be played in San Diego.

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