My First Cards

When you start the season batting .150 as the Yankees first baseman, you will not get any sympathy from Steinbrenner. That’s exactly what happened to Dave Revering in ’82, and he was pomptly shipped to Toronto after just 14 games. No patience. You win or you die in New York.

How’d he get to this point?

Revering started his career as a Cincinnati Reds prospect in the mid-70′s. In ’76 & ’77, he began putting up some impressive numbers in AAA. Numbers like 29 HR’s, 110 RBI’s, and a .399 OBP. That grabbed the attention of the Oakland A’s, who tried to trade Vida Blue to the Reds for Dave Revering but the trade was vetoed by the commisioner. Eventually the A’s and Reds worked out a different trade that brought Dave to Oakland just around the start of spring training in ’78.

But he was junk that first year, but impoved a little in ’78 and a little more in ’79 and a little more in ’80. He was actually pretty good that season, hitting .290 and getting on base at a .344 clip, and his slugging percentage rose to .492.

Then teams began running out of patience for his potential to flourish. 31 games into 1981, he was hitting .230 and slugging a pithetic .333, so somehow Oakland tricked the Yankees into trading for him. Personally I can’t help but wonder if he was injured. He was steadily improving each year before this, and suddenly at age 28 he falls off a cliff.

Anyway, he split time with Bob Watson at first base for the Yankees the rest of the year, but he never came close to success, having only a single 3 hit game.

By the time the playoffs came, the Yanks knew he wasn’t helping the team so they limited his playing time. He only got 2 plate appearances in the ALCS and then didn’t bat in the World Series at all.

That brings us to 1982 when he started the year hittin’ .150 and gettin’ shipped off to Toronto on May 5 in a trade bringing John Mayberry to the Bronx. Truthfully, I imagine Dave was happy to get away from all that Steinbrenner stuff. I can’t imagine George wasn’t breathing down the team’s neck about how poorly the first baseman was hitting.

So, new life in Toronto, right? Uhhh…no. In 55 games he couldn’t slug better than .370 and his batting average was just .215.

So the Blue Jays outright released him on August 2. Now, you’d think it would all end there, but no. The Mariners picked him up 4 days later. Which meant that he quietly accomplished a rare feat, playing for 4 teams in less than 16 months. Even Seattle didn’t find him worth keepin’ around, and they released him after the season.

One thing he can be proud of though. He played in the major leagues, which is something most of us can’t claim.