Books and articles about Garry Templeton

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During his years with the Cardinals, Garry Templeton seemed ready to join the ranks of baseball's great shortstops. But away from Busch Stadium's Astroturf as a San Diego Padre, his statistics declined. Selected by St. Louis in the first round of the June 1974 draft, Templeton became the youngest shortstop in modern history (since 1900) to reach the 200-hit plateau (1977) and finished second in the NL batting race. In 1979 he became the first switch-hitter ever with 100 hits from each side of the plate in one season. He also achieved a NL first with his third straight triples championship. In May 1981, Templeton asked to be traded, preferably to San Diego. That August, he made a series of obscene gestures at fans who booed him for not running out a ground ball. Templeton was suspended, fined, and he agreed to psychiatric examination. On February 11, 1982 the erratic Templeton was traded to the Padres for defensive wizard Ozzie Smith. Though he set a San Diego record for shortstops with 64 RBI in 1982, earned a Silver Slugger Award in 1984, and was San Diego's Most Valuable Player in 1985 when he tied for the NL lead in intentional walks (from the eighth spot in the batting order), Templeton did not approach his St. Louis achievements. He was hampered by knee and back problems, and by consistently swinging at first pitches and bad pitches. (ME)

FROM THE BASEBALL CHRONOLOGY » September 28, 1979: Switch-hitting Cardinal SS Garry Templeton collects three hits against the Mets and becomes the first player to get 100 hits from each side of the plate. During the last nine games, he batted exclusively righthanded to set the record. » October 4, 1980: In a 17–1 rout of the Twins, Kansas City's Willie Wilson becomes the first ML player ever to be credited with 700 at-bats in one season. Wilson will post 705 at bats, the highest this century. He also sets the AL record for singles in a season with 184, eclipsing the mark Sam Rice set in 1925. Wilson also becomes only the 2nd player in history to collect 100 hits from each side of the plate, matching the feat accomplished by Garry Templeton in 1979. The loss ends Minnesota's club-record 12-game winning streak. » August 26, 1981: Cards SS Garry Templeton is suspended indefinitely and fined $5,000 by manager-GM Whitey Herzog after making obscene gestures to the crowd following his ejection in the 3rd inning of a 9–4 win over the Giants. He will return to the lineup on September 15th. » December 10, 1981: In what would be a blockbuster swap of outstanding young shortstops, the Cardinals trade Garry Templeton and OF Sixto Lezcano to the Padres for Ozzie Smith and P Steve Mura. The deal is put on hold, however, when Smith is unable to work out an acceptable contract with his new club. » February 11, 1982: The Ozzie Smith for Garry Templeton deal finally goes through, more than two months after it was first announced. Smith's new salary with the Cardinals will be determined by an outside arbitrator. » May 25, 1982: Ferguson Jenkins of the Cubs fans Garry Templeton in the 3rd inning of a 2–1 loss to the Padres to become the 7th pitcher in ML history to record 3,000 career strikeouts. » August 9, 1990: San Diego SS Garry Templeton collects his 2,000 ML hit, exactly 14 years after getting his first. The Padres beat the Braves 7–0, with Bruce Hurst winning over Charlie Leibrandt. » May 31, 1991: Mets trade IF Tim Teufel to the Padres for SS Garry Templeton.