King of the road

Dave Kingman is a well-traveled, bat-for-hire during his career, playing for seven teams in his 16 seasons in the major leagues.

Kingman, though, is never busier than he is during the 1977 season, when he becomes the first player to spend time with teams in each of the majors’ four divisions.

Kingman starts the 1977 season with the New York Mets, who on June 15 trade him to the San Diego Padres, who soon place Kingman on waivers and 47 years ago today see him being picked up from the California Angels, who keep Kingman for all of nine days before selling him to the New York Yankees.

Dave Kingman with the Padres in 1977

Kingman eventually finishes the 1977 season with 26 homers – nine for the Mets, 11 for the Padres, two for the Angels and four for the Yankees.

Three of those 26 homers come off Chicago Cubs right-hander Mike Krukow – two during Kingman’s time with the Mets, the other with the Padres.

The two then become teammates, playing together with the Cubs for the next three years before Kingman rejoins the Mets in 1981.

As with the Cubs, Kingman gets to unpack for a bit, spending the next three seasons back in New York with the Mets before moving to Oakland for his final three seasons and playing his final game in the majors in 1986.

He retires with 442 career homers, 1,210 RBIs in 1,941 games and a countless number of frequent flyer miles.