Unexpected home run
champ of the AL 1971.....relatively a newbie to the home run crown and departure
from the perennial incumbents like Yaz, Killebrew, Frank Howard of the decade before....his 33 homers represented the lowest top mark since 1964 but it was the first time White Sox
took the honors....Melton’s debut took place in 1968, started slow and returned
to the minors...September call up accounted for himself very well raising his
BA by 62 points....took over Sox third base for good in 1969....relocated 23
baseball over the fence and in play....exceeds his encore by hitting 33 dingers
in 1970....a positive on a truly bad 106 loss team....Melton was the backbone of the 1971 that made great strides towards respectability.... higher hopes with the addition of
Dick Allen for 1972 were dashed by Melton’s
back injury....ChiSox run production suffered and fell short to the A’s....Melton
comes back in with full seasons 1973-75 but has lost some his previous punch from get
go....facing declining output traded to California and then Cleveland for 1976
and 1977 respectively...did not help and relegated mostly the bench....done
thereafter.....sometimes a defensive liability; in 1970 split equal time at
both third base and right field....move made after a disproportionally high number
of errors... despite this only DHed 88
times over five campaigns.
My favorite ChiSox player.Terrific player for just a short time, but he was part of my youth as a fan,and that stuff always stays with you.
ReplyDeleteGood job!
Thank you for writing. I always liked Melton and pretty much the White Sox in general. There turn around in 1971, although well short of the pennant, was amazing. A testimony for good management and coaching.
ReplyDeleteIs Beltin' Bill Melton the gent who injured his back falling off a roof to prevent his son from being hurt?
ReplyDelete