Odd Thoughts

Farewell Robin Ventura

With the end of the Dodgers NLDS loss to St. Louis, Robin Ventura announced that he had played his last game. Aside from Edgar Martinez, and potentially John Olerud, Ventura is the most accomplished player leaving the game in 2004. Ventura was a college superstar at Oklahoma State where he set an NCAA record with a 58-game hitting streak.

He was drafted in the first round (10th overall) by the White Sox in 1988, the same year he played third base for Team USA in the Seoul Olympics. Of his 16 seasons, he spent ten with Chicago, three with the Mets, and a season and a half each with the Yankees and Dodgers. He was an every day player from 1990 through 2003.

Ventura made two All-Star teams ten years apart (1992, 2002), though his best years came in 1996 and 1999. In 1996, he hit .287 with 34 home runs and 105 RBI’s. In 1999, he hit .301, with 32 homers and 120 RBI’s. In that year he finished 6th in NL MVP voting, and came up big with the walk-off non-Grand Slam against the Braves in the marathon game 5 of the NLCS. Speaking of Grand Slams, Ventura hit 18 of them in his career – tied for third all-time with Willie McCovey, and trailing only Eddie Murray (19) and Lou Gerhig (23).

Ventura won 6 gold gloves in his career. He hit 20+ homers in 9 seasons (career high, 34), and 90+ RBI’s in 8 seasons (career high, 120). He leaves the game with a .267 batting average, with 1,885 hits, 294 home runs, 1,182 RBI’s, and 1,006 runs scored.