"He's been the lost man since starting 155 games at shortstop in 1985, but based on his performance last year Bobby Meacham earned a strong look in 1988.
Meacham started 1987 in Columbus where he learned to play second base, and then spent the first half of July on the DL with a sprained right ankle. From that point on, Meacham went on a tear. After changing from a switch-hitter to a strict right-hander, he finished the year with an impressive .271 average and showed new found power with a career high five homers. Even more importantly, Meacham committed only 10 miscues in 77 games with New York, where he played both short and second. If he continues at that rate, Bobby Meacham will be a force to be reckoned with in 1988.
'I'm a better player now than I ever was,' Meacham says, 'and I just want to continue to reach my potential.'"
-The New York Yankees Official 1988 Yearbook
"Meacham began the 1987 season with the Columbus Clippers and had his contract purchased on May 28. At that point, in 40 games with the Clippers, he was hitting .273 with three homers and 22 RBIs and was 10-for-17 in stolen base attempts. Bobby committed just four errors in those 40 games. A switch-hitter in 1986, he batted only right-handed with the Yankees in 1987.
He hurt his right ankle on July 1 at Toronto attempting to retreat to first base, and as a result was placed on the 15-day disabled list on July 2 with a sprained right ankle; in 12 games with the Yankees he was hitting .238 (5-for-21). He was activated from DL on July 17, and from that point until the end of the season batted .275 (50-for-182) in 65 games. Bobby had gone 1,096 at-bats with just three career home runs before hitting his first of 1987 on August 1 against Detroit off Mark Thurmond, the first of five homers he would hit over his last 157 at-bats. He hit a leadoff home run on August 18 at Seattle off Dennis Powell.
Beginning on September 12 Meacham started the Yankees' last 22 games at shortstop, and in those contests batted .338 (23-for-68) with seven doubles, a home run and 10 RBIs while raising his average from .237 to .271. He committed just three errors in that span and had 15 consecutive errorless games from September 14 through September 29.
Bobby had a six-game hitting streak from September 15-20, his longest of the season, hitting .444 (8-for-18) with a double, a home run and three RBIs. He had two doubles on September 28 against Boston and had two stolen bases on October 1 against Boston.
He finished the season with a .271 batting average (55-for-203), his best average as a Yankee, along with a career high five home runs as well as 21 RBIs, and committed just 10 errors in 77 games. Bobby had two game-winning RBIs, on May 31 against Oakland and on September 13 at Toronto, and had 11 multi-hit games, including two three-hit games. He was successful on 10 of 13 stolen base attempts.
Meacham played 56 games at shortstop and had fielding percentage of .961 (eight errors in 205 chances). He played 25 games at second base and had a fielding percentage of .908 (two errors in 99 chances). Overall at both positions had a fielding percentage of .967 (10 errors in 304 chances).
He was the top draft pick of St. Louis Cardinals in 1981, playing two seasons at Class A before his trade to the Yankees. Meacham was named South Atlantic League All-Star shortstop in 1981 and Florida State League All-Star shortstop in 1982.
Bobby began the 1983 season at Columbus and was brought up to the Yankees on June 29 when Willie Randolph was disabled. He played shortstop as a defensive replacement on June 30 at Yankee Stadium against Baltimore in his major league debut. He was sent back to Columbus on July 12 and recalled to the Yankees on July 16, but returned to Columbus later the same day when the Yankees purchased Larry Milbourne from Philadelphia. Bobby was recalled from Columbus on August 19 when Andre Robertson was disabled and returned to Columbus on August 20 when Bert Campaneris was activated off the disabled list. He was recalled to the Yankees on September 2, had his first major league at-bat on September 3 at Seattle and had his first major league hit and RBI at Cleveland on September 18.
In 1984 he appeared in 96 games at shortstop after being called up from Columbus on June 15 and hit .253 with two home runs and 25 RBIs. Bobby began the season with the Yankees but was optioned to Nashville on April 7, and on April 17 was moved up to Columbus before his subsequent promotion to the Yankees. He began playing shortstop regularly on June 16 and had a four-hit game on July 7 at Minnesota. His batting average peaked at .288 on August 4, coinciding with the completion of a seven-game hitting streak, his career high.
Bobby played 155 games at shortstop in 1985, most by a Yankee since Bucky Dent played 157 in 1977. His .963 fielding percentage was seventh best among AL shortstops with at least 100 games, and he was fourth among shortstops in games and double plays (103). He set new career highs for hits (105), RBIs (47) and stolen bases (25).
He had two career high three-RBI games, May 26 at Oakland and August 21 at California, and went 4-for-4 on April 13 at Cleveland and on May 26 at Oakland. He was hitting .273 through May 29 when he suffered a slight hamstring pull, missed the next three games and went 2-for-44 from June 2-16, dropping his average to .222. He suffered a dislocated tendon in his left hand on July 28 at Texas, a condition corrected with postseason surgery. The injury hampered his left-handed swing, forcing him to bat right-handed against righty pitchers on occasion.
Meacham's only home run came on August 23- a solo shot off California's Ron Romanick. He hit a would-be homer on April 29 at Texas off Frank Tanana, but passed Willie Randolph near first base and was called out, yet both Randolph and Butch Wynegar scored.
1986 was a disappointing year for Meacham. He began the season as the club's starting shortstop and hit .133 (2-for-15) in the season's first six games. He followed that with a five-game hitting streak from April 15-20, his longest of the season, batting .368 (7-for-19) in that span. Meacham had three RBIs (including his only game winning RBI of the season) on April 25 against Cleveland, tying his single game career high in RBIs. He finished April hitting .286 (18-for-63) with just three errors in 20 games.
Bobby went 20 games (from April 20 through May 12) without committing an error and matched his season high with another five-game hitting streak from May 14-18, hitting .412 (7-for-17) in those games. He batted .193 (16-for-83) for the month of May and was 2-for-22 (.091) over 10 games from May 28 through June 11 with five errors.
He was optioned to Columbus on June 14. At the time of his option he was hitting .222 (35-for-158) with 10 RBIs and 12 errors in 53 games. Bobby had started 49 of the team's 60 games before being optioned. He played 46 games at Columbus and hit .140 (21-for-150) with 11 RBIs and 12 errors.
Bobby was recalled by New York on September 1 and made three appearances after that, including a start at shortstop in the season finale on October 5 at Boston. He finished the season hitting .224 (36-for-161) and a .948 fielding percentage (12 errors in 231 total chances).
He had eight multiple hit games, including two three-hit games- April 19 at Milwaukee and May 18 at Seattle- and had a triple on May 25 at home off California's Kirk McCaskill. He batted .160 (8-for-50) with runners in scoring position. He batted .250 (29-for-116) against righties and .156 (7-for-45) against lefties, and batted .247 (21-for-85) with seven RBIs at home and .197 (15-for-76) with three RBIs on the road.
Meacham graduated from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, CA in 1978. He was All-Orange County and All-State in baseball and All-League in basketball and football. Bobby attended San Diego State for three years, majoring in business finance, and was named an All-American in baseball. He was signed to his first pro contract by Marty Keough (Cardinals).
His hobbies include reading the Bible, music, golf and his family, and his favorite spectator sport is basketball. His favorite team growing up was the Los Angeles Dodgers, his player was Maury Wills and his favorite ballpark is Comiskey Park. His favorite entertainers are Stevie Wonder and Steve Oederkerk."
-1988 New York Yankees Information Guide
No comments:
Post a Comment