#206 Dal Maxvill

Before Mario Mendoza and his mythical line 15 years into the future, the 1960’s boasted Dal and Ray Oyler as the worst hitting shortstops....like his peers mentioned his defensive skills were the compensation....a long career of 14 years, starting and mostly with the St. Louis Cardinals.....grew up across the river from Busch Stadium in Granite City, Ill....debuted in mid season 1962 after hitting an uncharacteristic .345 in AA.....shared SS duties and hit .222....shifted between minors and Cardinals bench until 1966....with veteran Dick Groat traded, Dal took over the top spot for several years....hitting varied from a high of .253 to dismal .175 the mode hovering around .220’s....last portion of 1972 was acquired by Oakland mostly in 2^nd baseman by committee situation.....it also started his role as a veteran bench presence....was pressed into full time service in the wake of the Bert Campaneris bat throwing incident during the ALCS against Tiger....did not make the roster of WS team....travel about for the next 3 years with Pittsburgh calling on him for remnants of work. ....Slightly built hit on 6 home runs in over 1400 games, but was the first player in hit a grand slam in Canada....hit .217 for his career.