Another player who doesn’t get mentioned enough as a great hitter. He wasn’t blessed with speed but could hit 300 from his bed yet never got the recognition that he fully deserved. A lifetime 305 hitter Madlock was a right-handed hitter who won four National League batting titles. His record of four batting titles as a third baseman would be eclipsed in 1988 by Wade Boggs.
Madlock won two more batting titles, in 1981 and 1983, making him the first player to win multiple batting titles with two different teams. He also finished second in the National League in batting in 1982, his .319 average bettered only by Al Oliver‘s .331. Afterwards, however, his play mirrored the decline of the team. In August 1985 the Pirates traded him to Los Angeles which, like Pittsburgh in 1979, was contending for a division title. The Dodgers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS but Madlock hit three home runs in the loss. In 1987 the Dodgers traded Madlock to Detroit, where he again earned a trip to the postseason. Madlock became a free agent at the end of the 1987 season and played for the Lotte Orions in Japan in 1988.
Madlock is the only major league baseball player to have won four batting titles who is not enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
Smallthoughts: Old School Tuesday spotlights …Bill “MadDog” Madlock
| MLB statistics | |
|---|---|
| Batting average | .305 |
| Home runs | 163 |
| Runs batted in | 860 |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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