Dave Kingman Charity Autograph page

Note: A letter has been sent on April 25, 2008 to this athlete to provide their contact and charity information. Once we receive their response, their information will be entered below. This has been done to ensure that the information is correct and to protect the athlete's privacy in case they do not want their information to be posted on the Internet.

Contact Information (where autograph requests should be mailed to):

Contact Person and/or Name of Organization _____________________________________________

Address: __________________________________________________________________________

Charity Information:

Name of charity or charities the donations go to __________________________________________

Signing Habits:

1) If you sign items for free, what are the maximum number of items you will sign for free? ___________

4) What can fans do to make it easier for you to sign their items? __________________________________________________________________

Donation Charges:

Item	Price	Item	Price
Cards		Flats up to 8x10
Flats up to 16x20		Baseballs/small footballs
Magazines		Flats larger than 16x20
Mini Helmets		Football/Basketball
Large Helmet		Bats
Jerseys		Inscriptions
Other _________		Other _________

Who should the check/money order be made out to: __________________________________________

Dave Kingman's Message to the Fans

Biography

David Arthur Kingman (born December 21, 1948, in Pendleton, Oregon), nicknamed "Kong" and "Sky King", is a former Major League Baseball slugger who played for the San Francisco Giants (1971-1974), New York Mets (1975-1977, 1981-1983), San Diego Padres (1977), California Angels (1977), New York Yankees (1977), Chicago Cubs (1978-1980) and Oakland Athletics (1984-1986).

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Outfield/First base

Born: December 21, 1948 (1948-12-21) (age 59)
Batted: Right Threw: Right
MLB debut
July 30, 1971
for the San Francisco Giants
Final game
October 5, 1986
for the Oakland Athletics
Career statistics
Slugging average .478
Home runs 442
RBI 1210
Teams
San Francisco Giants (1971-1974)
New York Mets (1975-1977), (1981-1983)
San Diego Padres (1977)
California Angels (1977)
New York Yankees (1977)
Chicago Cubs (1978-1980)
Oakland Athletics (1984-1986)

Career highlights and awards
All-Star in 1976, 1979, and 1980
Led NL in Slugging Percentage (.613) and OPS (.956) in 1979
Led NL in Home Runs in 1979 with 48 and 1982 with 37
New York Mets All-Time At Bats per Home Run Leader (15.1)
34th on MLB All-Time Home Run List with 442

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College career
A standout player at the University of Southern California, Kingman began as a pitcher before being converted to an outfielder. In 1970, he was named an All-American and led the Trojans to the College World Series championship. He was selected by the San Francisco Giants with the first pick of the 1970 secondary phase draft.

Professional career
The towering 6'6" Kingman became one of the most feared sluggers of the 1970s and 1980s. His height and long-armed, sweeping swing were sufficient to propel a baseball a very long distance when he connected solidly. It was said of him that he was one of those players that when he came to bat, everyone in the park stopped whatever they were doing to watch him. He hit plenty of home runs, and he could hit them farther than many had ever seen, once over 530 feet; on five separate occasions he hit three home runs in a game. He made his mark as a slugger early on. His major league debut was on July 30, 1971,[1] pinch running for Willie McCovey and then finishing the game at first base. In just his second major league game, the next day, he hit a home run[2], and he slugged two more a day later[3]. Early the next year, he hit for the cycle, on April 16, 1972.

His free-swinging, however, cut both ways, as he was also apt to strike out regularly, and usually posted a low batting average. While impressively belting out more than 400 home runs in his career, he was never a serious candidate for the Baseball Hall of Fame. In his first year of eligibility, 1992, he appeared on just 3 ballots [4], disqualifying him from future BBWAA voting.

Kingman came up with the San Francisco Giants and played in outfield, at first base, third base, and sometimes as a pitcher. After a difficult season in 1974 when he had 12 errors in 59 chances, the Giants not only stopped playing him at third base, they sold him to the New York Mets. Thereafter, he played only 14 games at third, and never pitched again.

He spent his career with seven teams in both leagues, and was known as a difficult teammate wherever he played. One Mets teammate stated publicly that Kingman had "the personality of a tree stump"[citation needed]; Chicago columnist Mike Royko referred to him as "Dave Ding-Dong".[5] But Kingman never liked the spotlight, and just wanted to play the game and be left alone off the field. His unpredictable and often antisocial behavior (he once sent a dead rat to a reporter), and largely one-dimensional game, led to his being regularly traded. In one three-month stretch in 1977, he was traded, waived, and had his contract sold, becoming the first player to play in four divisions in one year; he was also released after the season.

Kingman had his best year in 1979, when he played his first full season for the Cubs, hitting an impressive .288 with a National League-leading 48 homers, as well as 115 runs batted in and 97 runs scored. His .613 slugging percentage was almost 50 points higher than that of the closest National League player, Mike Schmidt. That was the year he showed the most self-discipline at the plate, and it paid off. But it did not last, and his popularity with Cubs fans soon faded. Traded to the Mets before the 1981 season, he again led the NL in home runs in 1982.

Always an awkward defensive player while primarily playing the outfield and first base, he played his last three seasons as a designated hitter in Oakland, collecting at least 30 home runs and 90 RBIs in each of those years. He also had two remarkable at-bats in this period which didn't result in home runs, but nonetheless added to his legend: in a 1984 game in Minnesota, he hit a pop-up which went all the way to the roof of the Metrodome, but stuck there (for a ground rule double). In a 1985 game in Seattle, he hit a tremendous drive to left field which struck a speaker hanging from the roof of the Kingdome, bounced back and was caught.

In his 16-season career, Dave Kingman batted .236, with 442 home runs, 1210 runs batted in, 901 runs scored, 1575 hits, 240 doubles, 25 triples and 85 stolen bases in 1941 games played. He also struck out 1,816 times, then the 4th-highest total in history. He was named to the National League All-Star team three times (1976-1979-1980).

Quotes
"Everybody's always talking about my strikeouts. If I played everyday, I could strike out maybe 400 times. I have no idea how many home runs I could hit if I played every day. I've never played every day." - Dave Kingman, 1975.[citation needed]
"A sullen, abrasive personality, his defensive shortcomings and his high strikeout ratio are reasons "Kong" has played for seven major-league teams... Nobody hits 'em farther - or higher." - Zander Hollander, The Complete Handbook of Baseball, 1985.[citation needed]
"What I saw of him at third, I didn't like. But he gives us a pretty good guy on the bench and he's insurance in the outfield if Cleon Jones can't do the job." - Yogi Berra, Mets manager, 1975.[citation needed]
"I told Yogi that if he plays Dave in 150 games, he'll hit 30 homers for them, maybe 40. And after he's playing regularly for a couple of years, he'll be the next man to hit 60 homers." - Bobby Bonds, 1975.[citation needed]
"That one's in Milwaukee!" - Chicago radio broadcaster Lou Boudreau, describing a very long Kingman home run at Wrigley Field. (From the VHS tape, Chicago and the Cubs: A Lifelong Love Affair, narrated by Mike Royko, MLB Productions, 1987).
"What's my opinion of Kingman's performance!? What the fuck do you think is my opinion of it? I think it was fucking horseshit! Put that in, I don't fucking care. Opinion of his performance!? Jesus Christ, he beat us with three fucking home runs! What the fuck do you mean, 'What is my opinion of his performance?' How could you ask me a question like that, 'What is my opinion of his performance?' Jesus Christ, he hit three home runs! Jesus Christ! I'm fucking pissed off to lose the fucking game. And you ask me my opinion of his performance! Jesus Christ. That's a tough question to ask me, isn't it? 'What is my opinion of his performance?'" - Tommy Lasorda, in response to a question from reporter Paul Olden about Kingman's hitting three home runs during a May 14, 1978 10-7 victory by the Cubs over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The "censored" version of this diatribe, with the many "beeps" adding to its humorous effect, can be heard on one of the Baseball's Greatest Hits CDs.[6]

Lowlights
In 1977, he became the first player to play in four different divisions in the same year - New York Mets (National League East), San Diego Padres (National League West), California Angels (American League West) and New York Yankees (American League East)
Led the National League in strikeouts 3 times (131, [1979]; 105, [1981]; 156, [1982])
In 1982 he hit 37 home runs, a new Mets' single-season record, which stood until Darryl Strawberry hit 39 in 1987. But he also batted just .204[7], the lowest batting average ever recorded for a first baseman with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title. Leading the league in home runs that year, it is also the lowest batting average for anyone during the season they led in home runs.[citation needed] Additionally, he accomplished the dubious feat of leading the league in home runs while having a lower batting average than the Cy Young Award winner, (Steve Carlton, .218).[8]
Lifetime walks-to-strikeout ratio: 0.258 (608-1816)

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Source: Wikipedia.org at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Kingman

Dave Kingman

Contact Information (where autograph requests should be mailed to):

Charity Information:

Signing Habits:

Donation Charges:

Dave Kingman's Message to the Fans

Biography

Send mail to thedigitalauthor@aol.com with questions or comments about this web site. Last modified: 05/09/08

Send mail to thedigitalauthor@aol.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: 05/09/08