A history of Toronto’s weird missteps with first basemen

Fred McGriff

Nicknamed the “Crime Dog,” McGriff burst onto the scene in 1987 and put together the best four year stretch of any first baseman in Toronto history up to that point. From 1987-'90, McGriff was good for 19.4 bWAR with 125 home runs with an OPS+ of 154 while slugging .531 and producing an on-base percentage of .390. He earned down-ballot MVP votes in three of those four years and won the Silver Slugger in 1989.

The deal: On Dec. 5, 1990, Toronto traded McGriff and Tony Fernandez to the San Diego Padres for Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter.

Did it work out: Two World Series rings later, yes, it worked out.

Alomar and Carter hit two of the biggest home runs in team history. Fernandez returned to Toronto to help the Blue Jays win the World Series in 1993, and John Olerud, who replaced McGriff at first, turned into one of the best contact hitters in the game. But one has to wonder what the following years would have looked like if Toronto had McGriff’s slugging presence in the lineup for his entire career.

He played 16 more seasons and smashed 368 more home runs while being worth 33.2 bWAR — numbers that were good enough to eventually get him to the Hall of Fame.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Schedule