BOISE, Idaho — THIS DAY IN SPORTS…September 16, 1993:
Dave Winfield of the Minnesota Twins gets the 3,000th hit of his career off a fellow future Hall of Famer, Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley. Winfield accomplished the feat in the Metrodome, making him the first player to collect his 3,000th hit indoors. It was only fitting that the milestone came in Minneapolis—Winfield was born in Saint Paul and was a two-sport star (baseball and basketball) at the University of Minnesota.
In fact, Winfield was a key piece of the Gophers’ basketball team that won its first Big Ten championship in 53 years in 1971-72. And in baseball, he was a pitcher, and as such was named MVP of the 1973 College World Series. The San Diego Padres selected Winfield as a pitcher with the fourth overall pick in the MLB Draft in 1973. And it was that year that he became the first player ever to be drafted by an NBA, NFL, and MLB team. The Atlanta Hawks took Winfield in the fifth round, and—even though he didn’t play college football—the hometown Minnesota Vikings picked him in the 17th round.
The Padres immediately recognized that Winfield’s value was at the plate and assigned him directly to the majors, making a spot for him in rightfield. After eight productive seasons in San Diego, he was signed as a big-money free agent by New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner in 1980. Winfield and Steinbrenner feuded during much of their time together in New York.
Steinbrenner questioned details of Winfield’s contract, criticized him for a sub-par performance in the 1981 World Series, and zinged him with this in 1985: "Where is Reggie Jackson? We need a Mr. October or a Mr. September. Winfield is Mr. May." Then, two years after leaving the Yankees, Winfield delivered the winning two-run double to give the Toronto Blue Jays the title in Game 6 of the 1992 World Series.
After two seasons in Minnesota, Winfield spent the last season of his career with the Cleveland Indians in 1995 at the age of 43. Cleveland won the American League pennant that season for the first time in 41 years, but Winfield appeared in only 41 games due to a rotator cuff injury and did not play in the postseason. He finished his career with 3,110 hits and 465 home runs and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001 in his first year of eligibility.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
