RIP Dwight Smith.

[Little Slide Rooter]

https://wikiwikipedia.org/en/dwight-smith-dead-age-58-chicago-cubs-atlanta-braves-baseball-star-passes-away-with-tributes-to-world-series-champ/

[Thusly Boned]

https://wikiwikipedia.org/en/dwight-smith-dead-age-58-chicago-cubs-atlanta-braves-baseball-star-passes-away-with-tributes-to-world-series-champ/

 

Too young. That said, the fact that he was 58 makes me feel old as hell.

 

Also, his walkoff single to complete the comeback from 0-9 to beat the Astros in 1989 is one of my favorite childhood Cubs memories.

[Irrelevant Dude]

https://wikiwikipedia.org/en/dwight-smith-dead-age-58-chicago-cubs-atlanta-braves-baseball-star-passes-away-with-tributes-to-world-series-champ/

 

Too young. That said, the fact that he was 58 makes me feel old as hell.

That surprised me as well. And then I thought, "maybe he was a really old rookie in 1989." But nope, he debuted at 25. We're just getting old.

 

What an amazing rookie season he had. He was never quite able to reproduce those results, although he did have a bit of a renaissance in 93-94.

 

Thinking of Dwight Smith made me pull up Jerome Walton's stats for reference and I was amazed by his stat lines from 94-98. It was a very limited sample size over those years, but he was consistently hitting around .300 with OPS in the 750-900 range. Why didn't he get more at bats during that timeframe? Does anyone know why he retired at 32?

[NOLA]

https://wikiwikipedia.org/en/dwight-smith-dead-age-58-chicago-cubs-atlanta-braves-baseball-star-passes-away-with-tributes-to-world-series-champ/

 

Too young. That said, the fact that he was 58 makes me feel old as hell.

That surprised me as well. And then I thought, "maybe he was a really old rookie in 1989." But nope, he debuted at 25. We're just getting old.

 

What an amazing rookie season he had. He was never quite able to reproduce those results, although he did have a bit of a renaissance in 93-94.

 

Thinking of Dwight Smith made me pull up Jerome Walton's stats for reference and I was amazed by his stat lines from 94-98. It was a very limited sample size over those years, but he was consistently hitting around .300 with OPS in the 750-900 range. Why didn't he get more at bats during that timeframe? Does anyone know why he retired at 32?

Don’t know, but the fact that Maddux, Walton, Dwight Smith, Grace, Mitch Williams and Dunston transitioned into one of the worst teams of the 90’s is pretty sad.

 

Edit: and even Sandberg into the mid 90’s had he not quit for awhile.

[champaignchris]

 

Too young. That said, the fact that he was 58 makes me feel old as hell.

That surprised me as well. And then I thought, "maybe he was a really old rookie in 1989." But nope, he debuted at 25. We're just getting old.

 

What an amazing rookie season he had. He was never quite able to reproduce those results, although he did have a bit of a renaissance in 93-94.

 

Thinking of Dwight Smith made me pull up Jerome Walton's stats for reference and I was amazed by his stat lines from 94-98. It was a very limited sample size over those years, but he was consistently hitting around .300 with OPS in the 750-900 range. Why didn't he get more at bats during that timeframe? Does anyone know why he retired at 32?

Don’t know, but the fact that Maddux, Walton, Dwight Smith, Grace, Mitch Williams and Dunston transitioned into one of the worst teams of the 90’s is pretty sad.

 

Edit: and even Sandberg into the mid 90’s had he not quit for awhile.

 

There were some pretty astoundingly bad trades in there to help make that happen. The Cubs turned Lee Smith, Dennis Eckersly, Rafael Palmeiro, and Jamie Moyer into one decent year of Mitch Williams. Add the failure to resign Greg Maddux to that and you have a recipe for a lot of years of suck.

[cl smooth]

That surprised me as well. And then I thought, "maybe he was a really old rookie in 1989." But nope, he debuted at 25. We're just getting old.

 

What an amazing rookie season he had. He was never quite able to reproduce those results, although he did have a bit of a renaissance in 93-94.

 

Thinking of Dwight Smith made me pull up Jerome Walton's stats for reference and I was amazed by his stat lines from 94-98. It was a very limited sample size over those years, but he was consistently hitting around .300 with OPS in the 750-900 range. Why didn't he get more at bats during that timeframe? Does anyone know why he retired at 32?

Don’t know, but the fact that Maddux, Walton, Dwight Smith, Grace, Mitch Williams and Dunston transitioned into one of the worst teams of the 90’s is pretty sad.

 

Edit: and even Sandberg into the mid 90’s had he not quit for awhile.

 

There were some pretty astoundingly bad trades in there to help make that happen. The Cubs turned Lee Smith, Dennis Eckersly, Rafael Palmeiro, and Jamie Moyer into one decent year of Mitch Williams. Add the failure to resign Greg Maddux to that and you have a recipe for a lot of years of suck.

 

paul kilgus was the first cub as a kid who i thought "this guy sucks."

[NOLA]

Don’t know, but the fact that Maddux, Walton, Dwight Smith, Grace, Mitch Williams and Dunston transitioned into one of the worst teams of the 90’s is pretty sad.

 

Edit: and even Sandberg into the mid 90’s had he not quit for awhile.

 

There were some pretty astoundingly bad trades in there to help make that happen. The Cubs turned Lee Smith, Dennis Eckersly, Rafael Palmeiro, and Jamie Moyer into one decent year of Mitch Williams. Add the failure to resign Greg Maddux to that and you have a recipe for a lot of years of suck.

 

paul kilgus was the first cub as a kid who i thought "this guy sucks."

Doug Dascenzo, and Harry horsefeathering loved that dude.

[Bull]

 

There were some pretty astoundingly bad trades in there to help make that happen. The Cubs turned Lee Smith, Dennis Eckersly, Rafael Palmeiro, and Jamie Moyer into one decent year of Mitch Williams. Add the failure to resign Greg Maddux to that and you have a recipe for a lot of years of suck.

 

paul kilgus was the first cub as a kid who i thought "this guy sucks."

Doug Dascenzo, and Harry horsefeathering loved that dude.

“Ya know, Steve, if you spelled Da-sinzo backwards it would be, Oz-nik-zode”

[champaignchris]

 

paul kilgus was the first cub as a kid who i thought "this guy sucks."

Doug Dascenzo, and Harry horsefeathering loved that dude.

“Ya know, Steve, if you spelled Da-sinzo backwards it would be, Oz-nik-zode”

 

My two favorites were Paw Paw, Michigan backwards is “wap-wap” and of course, Shawon Dunston backwards is “not-snud.”

[Irrelevant Dude]

 

There were some pretty astoundingly bad trades in there to help make that happen. The Cubs turned Lee Smith, Dennis Eckersly, Rafael Palmeiro, and Jamie Moyer into one decent year of Mitch Williams. Add the failure to resign Greg Maddux to that and you have a recipe for a lot of years of suck.

 

paul kilgus was the first cub as a kid who i thought "this guy sucks."

Doug Dascenzo, and Harry horsefeathering loved that dude.

I rode in an elevator with Dascenzo at Cubs Convention and remember being completely unimpressed. At that time, the idea of having a close interaction with a Cubs player was mind-blowing, but something about a scruffy 5'7" guy with a toothpick in his mouth just didn't fit the bill.

[cl smooth]

 

paul kilgus was the first cub as a kid who i thought "this guy sucks."

Doug Dascenzo, and Harry horsefeathering loved that dude.

I rode in an elevator with Dascenzo at Cubs Convention and remember being completely unimpressed. At that time, the idea of having a close interaction with a Cubs player was mind-blowing, but something about a scruffy 5'7" guy with a toothpick in his mouth just didn't fit the bill.

 

today i learned doug dascenzo is a coach for the tennessee smokies.

[David]

 

Too young. That said, the fact that he was 58 makes me feel old as hell.

That surprised me as well. And then I thought, "maybe he was a really old rookie in 1989." But nope, he debuted at 25. We're just getting old.

 

What an amazing rookie season he had. He was never quite able to reproduce those results, although he did have a bit of a renaissance in 93-94.

 

Thinking of Dwight Smith made me pull up Jerome Walton's stats for reference and I was amazed by his stat lines from 94-98. It was a very limited sample size over those years, but he was consistently hitting around .300 with OPS in the 750-900 range. Why didn't he get more at bats during that timeframe? Does anyone know why he retired at 32?

Don’t know, but the fact that Maddux, Walton, Dwight Smith, Grace, Mitch Williams and Dunston transitioned into one of the worst teams of the 90’s is pretty sad.

 

Edit: and even Sandberg into the mid 90’s had he not quit for awhile.

 

well, (aside from all of the bad moves those FOs made) part of that was that shawon dunston actually really sucked (i did not realize this at the time lol). like REALLY sucked.

[Cubfanintheknow]

While dating the woman who would eventually become my wife, we took in several Chief’s games in her hometown of Peoria. I watched Dwight Smith play there, as well as Mark Grace, Mike Harkey, and a skinny kid who looked like he should have been a bat boy instead of a pitcher. He topped them all, and then some.

[champaignchris]

That surprised me as well. And then I thought, "maybe he was a really old rookie in 1989." But nope, he debuted at 25. We're just getting old.

 

What an amazing rookie season he had. He was never quite able to reproduce those results, although he did have a bit of a renaissance in 93-94.

 

Thinking of Dwight Smith made me pull up Jerome Walton's stats for reference and I was amazed by his stat lines from 94-98. It was a very limited sample size over those years, but he was consistently hitting around .300 with OPS in the 750-900 range. Why didn't he get more at bats during that timeframe? Does anyone know why he retired at 32?

Don’t know, but the fact that Maddux, Walton, Dwight Smith, Grace, Mitch Williams and Dunston transitioned into one of the worst teams of the 90’s is pretty sad.

 

Edit: and even Sandberg into the mid 90’s had he not quit for awhile.

 

well, (aside from all of the bad moves those FOs made) part of that was that shawon dunston actually really sucked (i did not realize this at the time lol). like REALLY sucked.

 

He was becoming a pretty consistent player until injuries eliminated what should have been his most productive years. He basically missed all of 92 and 93 and half of 94.

[David]

Don’t know, but the fact that Maddux, Walton, Dwight Smith, Grace, Mitch Williams and Dunston transitioned into one of the worst teams of the 90’s is pretty sad.

 

Edit: and even Sandberg into the mid 90’s had he not quit for awhile.

 

well, (aside from all of the bad moves those FOs made) part of that was that shawon dunston actually really sucked (i did not realize this at the time lol). like REALLY sucked.

 

He was becoming a pretty consistent player until injuries eliminated what should have been his most productive years. He basically missed all of 92 and 93 and half of 94.

 

consistently bad

 

his two highest fWAR seasons were 1.5 and 1.8 (i doubt his bwar is much better). granted, the defensive value numbers on stuff from that long ago can be called into question.

[cl smooth]

 

well, (aside from all of the bad moves those FOs made) part of that was that shawon dunston actually really sucked (i did not realize this at the time lol). like REALLY sucked.

 

He was becoming a pretty consistent player until injuries eliminated what should have been his most productive years. He basically missed all of 92 and 93 and half of 94.

 

consistently bad

 

his two highest fWAR seasons were 1.5 and 1.8 (i doubt his bwar is much better). granted, the defensive value numbers on stuff from that long ago can be called into question.

 

8 walks in 511 plate appearances in 1997. there's free-swinging and then there's whatever the horsefeathers dunston was taught.