One of baseball’s fastest runners, Dave Collins was a fans favorite wherever he played. He broke into MLB at age 22 with the California Angels in 1975 and hit .266 with a very solid .340 on-base-percentage and stole 24 bases in 319 at bats. In 1976 he stole 35 bases with the Halos then was traded to Seattle and then was sent to Cincinnati where he became a red-hot commodity for his aggressive defensive outfield play, robust batting and speed on the base paths. In 1979 when Reds starting outfielders George Foster and Ken Griffey Sr went down on injuries at All-Star time, new manager John McNamara penciled in Dave Collins into the starting lineup. The 26-year old Collins responded with some 3-for-5 and 4-for-5 days and was chosen the NL Player of the Week for the last week in August 1979. He continued pounding NL hurlers and finished the year with a .313 batting average which helped Cincinnati win the 1979 NL West Title. In 1980 Dave Collins, who once ran the 100-yard dash in 9.6 seconds, stole a career-high 79 bases, second highest in the NL, and batted .303 with a .366 on-base-pct and scored 96 runs. In 1982 he was traded to the Mets, played one year, then moved to Toronto, 1983-1984, where he hit .308 and stole 60 bases. From then on he played for 3 different teams plus returned to Cincinnati for 3 seasons. Baseball Historian |