1975 IN-ACTION: AMOS OTIS

Time to go and add that Kansas City Royals spark-plug and grossly overlooked player from the 1970’s, Amos Otis, to my long-running 1975 “In-Action” sub-set:

Otis, who came over to the Royals before the 1970 season in a famously lopsided trade by the New York Mets that netted them Joe Foy, went on to have a wonderful 17-year Major League career, all but three of those seasons in K.C.
All the man did was put in consistent solid seasons year after year, making it to five All-Star games and taking home three Gold Gloves for his defensive work out in centerfield.
He twice led the American League in doubles, while also topping the league in stolen bases once, and even had some “pop” in his bat with six seasons of 15+ homers, with a career high of 26 in 1973.
By the time he retired after the 1984 season after one year with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he ended up with 193 homers, 341 stolen bases, 1092 runs scored and 2020 hits along with a batting average of .277 and 1007 runs batted in.
Considering the “dead ball” era of the early-70’s in the American League, his numbers are up there with the best of them, and it’s sad he get’s lost among his contemporaries when looking back at that time in Major League baseball.