Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Remembering Phil Plantier

Different people think of different things when you mention Phil Plantier. Massholes remember him tearing up the American League in 53 games as a rookie in '91 and falling on his face the following season. San Diegans remember him letting loose with 34 home runs in '93 and falling on his face the following season.

I am neither of those but I remember that part of his career as well. After he left the Pads the second time (his initial exodus being, along with Broke, part of the 12-player deal that got us Finley and Cammy), I lost track of him. In fact, until I looked at his Baseball-Reference page, I was unaware that he was part of the exclusive Three-Times Padres Club (Trivia: Who were the others?). He last appeared in the majors at the age of 28, finishing the '97 season with the Cardinals after being jettisoned by the Friars again, this time in a 6-player deal that included Fernando.

Yeah, d
ifferent people think of different things when you mention Phil Plantier, be it any of the above, his sitting-on-an-invisible-chair batting stance or even the houseplant they named after him. But I'm willing to bet that the majority of baseball fans remember him somehow.

7 comments:

  1. Love your blog and its (more frequent) posts. Besides the fact that the posts are pleasant to read they also introduce me to Padres from the past and I love it. I've been a fan since 04 and it's great to read stories about players who played on the team before this. If you keep the posts coming I'll sure as hell read them!

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  2. I remember being really in to Phil cuz he mashed. His swing was a weird thing to watch, it had this upswing to it, but I loved it and emulated it in Little League. This was also the time Father was good friends with Broke, and the trade that sent them away made my brother an Astros fan.

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  3. Thanks, Sixpak!
    and, wow, Ryan, is he still an Astros fan?

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  4. 3-timers:
    Luis Salazar
    Bip Roberts?

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  5. Yeah, he's still an Astros fan. The Padres are his second team.

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  6. One of the 3-timers is still active... relief pitcher...

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  7. Eddie Williams and Rudy Seanez are definitely three-timers. Williams went to my church during his second Padres stint.

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