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Happy ’80s Birthday to Floyd “Sugar Bear” Rayford, who had his best season in 1985 when he hit .306 with 18 homers. He told the Baltimore Sun he had a good year because he was getting divorced.
“I thought, ‘Hell, I’ve got to pay her every month so I better start hitting.’ Alimony can be a tremendous motivator.”
Happy ’80s Birthday to lefty Shane Rawley, who won 111 games over 12 seasons in the big leagues with four teams. He retired after the 1989 season and runs a pizza business in Sarasota.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Brian Kingman, who went 8-20 in 1980 but with an ERA of just 3.83, which was the lowest of his career.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Rich Dauer, who was a stud at USC where he played with Fred Lynn, Steve Kemp, and Roy Smalley. He set single-season records for hits, RBI and total bases.
He spent 10 years in the big leagues with Baltimore and retired after the 1985 season.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Bump Wills, who burst onto the scene in 1977 with much hype and a great bloodline but never became a star. He did put together a decent, albeit short, career amassing a .266 lifetime average over 6 seasons.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Larry Biittner, who spent thirteen years in the big leagues with four teams.
Two Is, Two Ts.
Happy ’80s Birthday to Nelson Santovenia, who made his debut in 1987 and spent parts of seven seasons in the big leagues.
Joe DeSa was born OTD in 1959. He appeared in 35 games at the big league level for the Cardinals and White Sox in 1980 and 1985.
He was killed in a car accident in 1986.
7/27/85
The San Diego Padres signed Miguel Dilone as a free agent. He finishes the year in San Diego and his career is over.
Dude could steal bases.
7/27/88
The Rangers sign Ivan Rodriguez as an amateur free agent. That worked out.
7/27/85
Charlie Kerfeld has a rough big league debut for the Astros.
He allows six runs on five hits and seven walks in 3 1/3 innings against the Phillies.
He’d win 11 games and save seven more in 1986 and battle injuries for the rest of his career.
7/27/87
Tim Crews throws 1 /23 innings in relief of Bob Welch in his big league debut for the Dodgers.
He’d spend seven years in the major leagues before being tragically killed in a boating accident in the spring of 1993.
7/27/88
Rough day for Tommy John, who makes three errors on one play against the Brewers. But all’s well that ends well as the Yankees scored 16 runs to win the game 16-3.
John made 49 errors in his career, three on one play.
Big Days
7/27/82
Bob Boone homers and hoses Rickey twice trying to steal as the Angels beat the A’s 8-7 in 13 innings.
7/27/83
In his first Royals start, Gaylord Perry beats the Indians 5-4 and reaches the 3,500 strikeout mark.
7/27/85
Ray Knight hits a three-run homer and the Mets beat the Astros 16 – 4.
All 16 runs are unearned thanks to 5 Houston errors.
7/27/87
Ivan Calderon
7/27/89
Dale Murphy homers twice in the 6th inning of a 10-1 win over the Giants. He drove in six runs in one inning.
Transactions
7/27/80
The Braves release John D’Acquisto. He signs with the Expos for the stretch run and then pitches two more years before retiring.
He has some great stories in this book.
7/27/84
The Phillies release Jim Kern. He signs with Milwaukee and then pitches two more years before retiring.
7/27/86
The Yankees release Dale Berra. He signs with Houston and plays one more season before retiring.
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