By Brendon Rosenau
Here at The Love of Sports, we’ve prided ourselves on focusing on the positive. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to ignore or condone bad behavior.
It’s with that in mind we bring you today’s installment of OLD SCHOOL LOVE, which is dedicated to one of the most volatile men in MLB history. His off-field exploits were the stuff of paparazzi wet-dreams, and simply put, if he were playing in today’s media infested world, he’d pretty much be right up there with the likes of pre-Cowboys Pacman Jones.
Come on people, you know who I’m talking about. Need another hint? He was the F’N Man back in 1989! That’s right, we’re giving up some love for Kevin Mitchell, old school style.
Start with the highlight we’ve all seen hundreds of times. It’s the one where the left fielder in a gray Giants uniform seemingly overruns a flyball, only to reach back at the last instant with a bare hand to snag a spot in baseball’s highlight immortality. It happened in the spring of 1989 and pretty much set the stage for what would be a tremendous season.
Mitchell’s 47 home runs and 125 RBI were tops in major league baseball for that season, not to mention the fact he maintained a .291 average, scored 100 runs and had 34 doubles with six triples.
Extra-base hits accounted for more than half of his hits during that memorable season. Mitchell had the pleasure of being a prominent cleanup hitter that year, as he cozily sat between Will Clark, who finished second in MVP balloting that season, and future home run champ Matt Williams.
The Giants had practically locked up the N.L. West by June, and eventually reached the NLCS for the second time in three years. Only this time they came equipped with Clark, who’d been tearing the cover off the ball, and Mitchell simply continued to dominate at the plate. They disposed of the Cubs in five games, and I’d be remiss to leave out the tidbit about Mitchell hitting .353 during those games, not to mention his two home runs and seven RBI.
Thanks in part to Mitchell’s phenomenal season, San Francisco was heading to the World Series for the first time in 27 years. And while a letdown would be somewhat anticipated, Mitchell’s pace never slowed down. The man was still on fire and had five hits, including a home run. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Oakland A’s.
The year 1990 saw Mitchell hit .290, with 35 home runs and 93 RBI. The stats were good enough to earn him a second straight starting slot at the All-Star Game. After a stop in Seattle, Mitchell came back to the N.L., this time as a member of the Cincinnati Reds. He hit a respectable 19 home runs in 1993, but 1994 saw the return of the old slugging Mitchell, as he powered up and belted 30 home runs in 95 games. Sadly, the stroke prematurely ended that season, which happened to be the last good year for Mitchell, as his stats steadily declined from that point on forward. He attempted to play in Japan, which didn’t work out. His tenures with Boston, Cleveland and Oakland were also failed attempts at finding old glory.
Despite all that, Kevin Mitchell will always hold a place in MLB lore, because he was without a doubt the best power hitter in baseball during the 1989 season, and anyone who can make that kind of claim definitely deserves some OLD SCHOOL LOVE.
