Forgotten Baseball Players From Your Youth?

[gunboat82]

Timothy James Salmon and Albert JoJuan Belle.

[mogwai316]

I wouldn't say they are "forgotten" but I don't think most people remember just how good Will Clark and Eric Davis were. If you told 10year old me in 1990 that neither of them would be in the hall of fame, I would've thought you were kidding.

Clark had the sweetest swing we had ever seen, if you were playing little league in the late 80's he was the guy that you watched and tried to copy his swing. He had something crazy like 20/12 vision and always seemed to know what pitch was coming. I don't remember ever hearing anything bad about him, seemed like a genuinely nice guy. Absolutely one of the best hitters in all of baseball at his peak. Injuries just piled up and he could never make it through a full season though. I just checked his bbref and the second half of his career was actually much better than I thought! He just kind of got overshadowed and forgotten about as baseball went into the steroid era with people putting up ridiculous numbers.

Davis was like a version of Rickey with just a little less speed / baserunning ability but a little more power. He was a genuine "5 tool player" ahead of his time. Definitely was considered one of the best all-around players in baseball in the late 80's but even at his peak he was never healthy for a full year (career high 135 G) and the injuries quickly got to be more severe. But the man had a 27 HR 80 SB season and followed it up next year with 37 HR and 50 SB, just an absurd combination of speed and power. Sadly diagnosed with colon cancer, but not only survived it but came back and played at a very high level after that but again just couldn't stay on the field due to more injuries. Feels like he is hardly remembered these days though.

[clydepepper]

David Clyde:

'Clydepepper' was the moniker my teammates laid on me as I was a lefty with some promise at the time...of course our league wasn't anywhere close to the majors.


Though I don't know for sure, the movie 'Talent for the Game' seemed to be based on David Clyde's rush to the majors...of course, they had to provide a happier ending.


In 1981, Clyde was 6-0 with a 0.76 ERA pitching for the AA Columbus (GA) Astros.

Columbus is my hometown and I kick myself all the time because I missed seeing him pitch. I was probably working in retail management then, so I didn't get much free time.



I did get to see Floyd Bannister pitch one of his only three games here in 1976. He was in his first year out of Arizona State...and man, was his windup and delivery smooth!

I also got to chat with Joe Sambito one night when he was charting pitches...and got to meet and shake hands with Russell Branyan the year he led the minors in homers with 40- That was 1996, the regular park was being used for Olympic Softball- and the Columbus Indians played on the same field on which I played in College (before flunking out- the first time).

Our last pro team left after the 2006 season...not enough support. Sad!

[YazFenway08]

additional votes for Oliver and Madlock. literally every time i saw them play on TV it was three hits and 2 RBI.

[cgjackson222]

Originally Posted by mogwai316

I wouldn't say they are "forgotten" but I don't think most people remember just how good Will Clark and Eric Davis were. If you told 10year old me in 1990 that neither of them would be in the hall of fame, I would've thought you were kidding.

Clark had the sweetest swing we had ever seen, if you were playing little league in the late 80's he was the guy that you watched and tried to copy his swing. He had something crazy like 20/12 vision and always seemed to know what pitch was coming. I don't remember ever hearing anything bad about him, seemed like a genuinely nice guy. Absolutely one of the best hitters in all of baseball at his peak. Injuries just piled up and he could never make it through a full season though. I just checked his bbref and the second half of his career was actually much better than I thought! He just kind of got overshadowed and forgotten about as baseball went into the steroid era with people putting up ridiculous numbers.

Davis was like a version of Rickey with just a little less speed / baserunning ability but a little more power. He was a genuine "5 tool player" ahead of his time. Definitely was considered one of the best all-around players in baseball in the late 80's but even at his peak he was never healthy for a full year (career high 135 G) and the injuries quickly got to be more severe. But the man had a 27 HR 80 SB season and followed it up next year with 37 HR and 50 SB, just an absurd combination of speed and power. Sadly diagnosed with colon cancer, but not only survived it but came back and played at a very high level after that but again just couldn't stay on the field due to more injuries. Feels like he is hardly remembered these days though.

+1 for Eric the Red and Will The Thrill. Really fun players to watch, and I don't think many people under 30-35 know who they are.

[Writehooks]

I'm dating myself, but three guys I loved to watch work were Catfish Hunter, Fergie Jenkins and Dave "King Kong" Kingman ...

[Smarti5051]

Just to represent for the West Coast, I would say top 3 great (but largely forgotten) Dodgers from the 80s: (1) Pedro Guerrero; (2) Fernando Valenzuela (arguably as hot as Shohei Ohtani for a couple of seasons); and (3) Orel Hershiser.

[Farmerbret]

How about a couple of guys from the 83 "Go Go" Sox? Ron Kittle and Greg Luzinski! The Bull also had some great years in Philly!

[cubman1941]

Speak of dating oneself - Hank Sauer (also had the pleasure of meeting him once and talking baseball for over 2 hours) and Dwight Evans.