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Is Winfield Following
Kingman?
Allan Simpson, Sports Writer
June 28, 1972
The story of how Dave Kingman gave up pitching to
become one of baseball's top hitters has now been chronicled. It was the
year 1969, as the story goes, that Kingman, then a sophomore pitcher out
of the University of Southern California, was recruited by the Alaska
Goldpanners lo play ball for the summer in Fairbanks. His reputation as
a pitcher at the time was such that he was considered one of the top
collegiate throwers in the country.
However, that summer the Goldpanners, though still respecting his
ability as a pitcher, also recognized his unlimited potential as a
hitter like no one else had before, and in a bold move they converted
the six foot six inch slugger from a pitcher to an outfielder.
And since that switch, Kingman has quickly risen to prominence, gaining
nationwide acclaim for his slugging exploits with the San Francisco
Giants.
All this because the Goldpanners took it upon themselves to convert the
multi-talented slugger from a pitcher to an everyday ball player.
And now that they've seen what's happened to Kingman, could history
repeat itself? Could the Goldpanners have another Kingman in their
midst? The name this time is Dave Winfield, and the similarities between
his career to date and t h a t of Kingman's at a comparable stage are
actually quite amazing.
Winfield, like Kingman, was originally recruited by the Panners as a
pitcher, but his recent batting exploits have been so awesome of late,
that the natural question to ask is: could he switch positions and
become another Kingman?
Tuesday night at Growden Memorial Park, Winfield, who like Kingman also
towers to a height of 6-6, put on another hitting exhibition which even
Kingman would have been proud of, as he cracked a grand slam home run
and a run-scoring single to power the Goldpanners to a 5-2 victory over
the Grand Junction, Colo., Eagles in the second game of a doubleheader.
Winfield's bases loaded blast, which came with the
Panners trailing 2-1 in the fifth, not only personally won the game for
the Goldpanners, but it also helped them halt Grand Junction's win
streak at 14 games, after the Eagles had taken the opener 7-5 in extra
innings.
The offensive display by Winfield follows one he put on Saturday when he
slammed a double and two home runs—a performance which wasn't even good
enough to win his own game.
So in only 12 official at-bats this season, Winfield is hitting .500 and
has slugged three home runs.
That's ahead of the pace Kingman established in '69 when he clubbed
seven home runs in a total of 64 times at bat.
"We've known all along what Winfield's capable of doing with the bat,"
said manager Jim Dietz "and that's why we've tried to work him into the
lineup occasionally."
"He'll play more and more in the outfield as the season progresses, but
whether he'll ever become a full-time outfielder, it's hard to say at
this time."
Last year in his first season with the Goldpanners, Winfield was the top
winner on the staff as he rung up nine wins, so his effectiveness as a
pitcher cannot be discounted, despite what he has been doing with the
bat.
August 30, 1967 - Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
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