What a card: Brian Downing enjoyed one of his most power-packed seasons in 1984, hitting 23 home runs and driving in what was then a career-high 91 runs. It marked the first of five straight seasons in which he'd hit at least 20 home runs.
My observation on the front: Downing's on-deck shot is a little unusual, but seems to go with his muscle-man image. As I mentioned on another blog, he was the first player I ever heard of using weights to train.
More opinion from me: To me, Downing will always be the guy cut down at the plate by Dave Parker's throw from right field in the 1979 All-Star Game.
Something you might know: Downing's career took a dramatic change when he was traded from the White Sox to the Angels in late 1977. He hit .326 in 1979 and is considered among the most underrated hitters in baseball.
Something you might not know: Downing appeared in an episode of The Jeffersons in 1985. Both Downing and Reggie Jackson appear shirtless in the Angels' locker room and have extensive speaking parts with "Weezy," who smuggles herself into the locker room in a load of laundry.
My observation on the back: High school references bore me.
The blog wants to speak now: The Music category is updated.
3 comments:
There's a photo of Downing with Arnold Schwarzenegger in Angels uniforms. Yeah, I'm pretty sure they exchanged training techniques and "supplements".
Until Tim Salmon and Garrett Anderson came along, Downing was the Angels career leader in most categories.
I was always surprised that people didn't try and associate him with PED's more often. It's not often that a player morphs from a singles hitter into power hitter at 31 and then continues to crush the ball for another decade.
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