BILL MADLOCK

By Robert Nishihara

Stats from www.baseball-reference.com

In 1975, the Chicago Cubs finished the season with a 75-87 record, tied for last in the NL East and 17.5 games behind the front-running Pittsburgh Pirates.

In 1976, little changed for the Cubs.  They again finished with a 75-87 record, 26 games off the pace set by the division winning Philadelphia Phillies.

Indeed, the good people on the North Side of Chicago did not have much to cheer about during those two muggy Illinois summers.  Except for one thing.  Everyone who visited the friendly confines over those two seasons got to see the NL batting champ do his thing.  The Cubs had a new third baseman, and he was being asked to carry a considerable amount of weight on his shoulders.

The team had sent future Hall-of-Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins to the Texas Rangers to get him, and traded nine-time All-Star third baseman and local legend, Ron Santo, to their bitter crosstown rivals, the White Sox, make room for him.  The young third baseman had an awful lot to prove and needed to do it quickly.

So, after a respectable debut season with the Cubs in 1974 (in which he hit .313 and slugged .442), Memphis-born Bill Madlock knew the heat was on.  And in 1975, Madlock not only braved that heat but thrived in it.  By season's end, Madlock had won the NL batting title with a .354 average, been selected to the All-Star team, and won the MVP of the Midsummer's Classic.  In 1976, the defending batting champ, well, defended.  Madlock won the crown again with a .339 average and posted career highs in homers (15), RBI (84), and slugging percentage (.500).

And, Madlock's reward for a pair of batting crowns and a .336 average over three seasons in the Windy City?  A trade to a REALLY windy city and the home of the struggling San Francisco Giants (who finished 74-88 in 1976).

(As an aside, the Cubs opened the 1976 season with 26-year-old Andre Thornton at first and 25-year-old Madlock at third.  During that 1976 season, Thornton was sent off to Montreal for Steve Renko and Larry Biitner.  A year after that trade, Thornton would embark on a run of nine seasons with Cleveland that included over 200 homers.  Meanwhile, Madlock would continue his plus-.300 ways and send another 1,500 hits careening around big league ballparks after his exile from the North Side.)

The "Mad Dog's" time in San Francisco included a bizarre stint at second base, a surprising run at the NL West division crown in 1978, and, finally, a ticket to the World Series in 1979.

[Author's note: When the 1977 season began, I was able to travel to LA to watch the Giants open the season against the hated Dodgers.  As part of a fan group, we were able to stay at the same hotel as the players.  As an 11-year-old, I spent a great deal of time combing the hotel lobby for autographs and pictures.  One day, I spotted Madlock heading out to the team bus and tried to stop him for an autograph and picture.

He signed the autograph obligingly, but when my aunt (a huge Giants fan and my guardian for the trip) tried to snap a photo of the two of us in the lobby, Madlock hesitated.  I thought he was going to refuse the photo, but instead he did something so cool that I remember it to this day.  He motioned for me and my aunt to walk outside. So, me, my aunt, and two-time NL batting champ Bill Madlock walked outside the hotel and about a half-block up the street.  When he surmised that the lighting was decent, he stopped.  "That picture wouldn't be any good with that crummy lighting in the lobby.  The picture should be ok, here."

So, my aunt snapped a picture of me and the Giants' newest star player.  And I was bewildered that a big league player would give a rip about whether or not a little kid's picture would turn out ok.  With that, two-time batting champ Bill Madlock shook my hand and hopped on the team bus.

Flash to a year later at a FanFest-type event at Candlestick Park, I brought the Madlock photo for him to sign.  When I got up to the table, he looked at the photo, smiled, and said, " LA, right?  See I told you that picture would turn out better outside."

Thanks, Mad Dog, for showing an 11-year-old kid that some childhood heroes can actually live up to the title.]

Of course, the World Series ticket did not come courtesy of the Giants but rather through a trade from San Francisco to the Willie Stargell, "We are Family", Pirates of 1979.  And Madlock earned his keep for the eventual World Champs by hitting .328 and stealing 21 bases in a little over half-a-season.  In the Pirates' shocking comeback from being down 3-games-to-1 to win the Series, Madlock batted .375 with an OBP of .483.

His six-plus season run in Pittsburgh netted Madlock another pair of NL batting titles (1981 and 1983) and another pair of All-Star appearances.

In 1985, Madlock was traded again, this time to the pennant-contending Los Angeles Dodgers.  In 34 games down the stretch, Madlock hit a blistering .360, with 7 steals and a .422 OBP.  In the NLCS that season, Madlock continued his torrid hitting with a .333 average and 3 homers in the Dodgers' six-game series loss to the Cardinals.  (I wonder if Ozzie Smith hadn't hit that dramatic Game 5 homer if we would be still be talking about Bill Madlock's post-season heroics that season - by the way, it was Madlock's two-run shot in the 4th inning of that game that tied things at 2-2 for the Dodgers).

Madlock's last MLB hurrah was in 1987 with the Detroit Tigers.  As a 36-year-old DH, Madlock cracked 14 homers in 87 games, and the Tigers took the AL East division title that season. 

In its totality, his was a career that included four batting titles, a World Series victory, over 2,000 hits, and a .305 lifetime average.

And, one grateful lifelong baseball fan with one helluva keepsake thanks him for being good guy to boot.

Bill Madlock at the 2002 All Star Game