I have friend, his name is Dan…A great golfer but he was also a decent high school pitcher in the Chicagoland area circa 1968….in his high school career faced several eventual big leaguers but said the longest home run he ever gave up was a moon shot by Greg Luzinski…..Dan thinks the ball still traveling to this day…..in high school word of his exploits must have reached the Philly brass….selected in 1st round in 1968 draft…tore up minors….. repertoire strength; clouted 307 ding dongs starting 1971 to 1984….balanced out his power by hitting over .300 three times….never led a circuit in homers but five times in the top five….. Part of a Phillie youth movement that imported new blood either through trades or draft prospects…..the hits were Luzinski, Bowa, Schmidt, Carlton…..misses were Joe Lis, Roger Freed, Mike Anderson, Pete Koegel, Denny Doyle…swung the bat like a toothpick….Groomed as the 1st baseman of the future but with Deron Johnson being withdrawn from 3rd to 1st it was felt Luzinski could handle left field….was not known for his outfield fielding (well not in a positive way at least)…. played only a handful of times at first for the rest of his career but Phillies did change from pretenders to contenders in the later 70’s….his prime years were 1975 to 1978 adorned all star laurels in each passing year….he averaged 109 RBI per season in that time….however after two seasons of diminishing returns, Luzinski and Philly part ways after the 1980 season…..Purchased by the hometown Chicago White Sox, looking for a tailor made DH….The native delivered over the next three years, the pinnacle being an AL playoff berth in 1983…..a reprise of previous year’s achievement did not materialize in 1984 for neither the Chisox nor Greg…..Numbers dwindling as it was his last season….. Considered other offers for 1985 but all indicators led to believe his future would be relegated to pinch hitting roles only….Uncompromising retired to coaching and investments…. In 1989 was inducted into the Polish American Sport Hall of Fame.
I didn't remember that he hit over .300!
ReplyDeleteNowadays (at least pre-pandemic) Luzinski runs the "Bull's BBQ" stand at Phillies' home games (a la Boog Powell).
Three years running and in two of those years finished second in MVP voting. Fell short to Reds Morgan and Foster. Nice that you have that food option, we need something in Milwaukee to make us forget that this team is currently hitting .212 as a unit right now.
ReplyDeleteOne other thought about Luzinski, I'd like to know more about why he was diverted from 1st base to the outfield. He spent nearly all of his minor league development at 1st. (Understood he was a poor fielder was tried at 3rd for 5 games, 18 chances and 6 errors, lol).
ReplyDeleteMaterial I saw said that Deron Johnson being at first was the reason for the return to the outfield. In 1972 it was quickly apparent that Deron was not the same player he was before. I think a better reason was that the Phillie wanted to give Tom Hutton a try. He was OK but more of a platoon player.
Deron Johnson's presence was the reason for Luzinski's switch.
ReplyDeleteIn hindsight it is easy to look at Johnson's 1972 season and call it a bad one. But he hit 34 homers in 1971 so they were not going to replace him with Luzinski.
Johnson began the '72 season as the regular 1st baseman. I think it was injuries that slowed him down, and the Phillies backfilled with Hutton. By the end of the season they moved Willie Montanez in to 1st base. (THAT made no sense. If you had to choose between Montanez and Luzinski to patrol the outfield, well...)