On the blog today, we add vastly underrated Kansas City Royals outfielder Amos Otis to the "on-card All-Star" thread I've been working on for some time:
Otis,
who really is so overlooked, made his fourth All-Star team in 1973,
finishing third in the American League MVP race after hitting an even
.300 with a career-best 26 home runs while driving in 93.
Two years prior, in 1971, he led the A.L. in stolen bases with 52, while also taking home the first of his three Gold Gloves.
He
was nothing but steady through the entire decade, and was the American
League's top run scorer with 861. driving in 90+ three times while
stealing 30+ bases five times.
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 gets lost among his contemporaries when looking back at that time in Major League baseball.
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 gets lost among his contemporaries when looking back at that time in Major League baseball.