Garry Templeton
| Garry Templeton | |||
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| Shortstop | |||
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Born: March 24, 1956 Lockney, Texas |
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| MLB debut | |||
| August 9, 1976, for the St. Louis Cardinals | |||
| Last MLB appearance | |||
| October 5, 1991, for the New York Mets | |||
| MLB statistics | |||
| Batting average | .271 | ||
| Hits | 2,096 | ||
| Home runs | 70 | ||
| Runs batted in | 728 | ||
| Teams | |||
| Career highlights and awards | |||
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Garry Lewis Templeton (born March 24, 1956), is an American former professional baseball player and minor league manager. He played as a shortstop in Major League Baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres, and New York Mets from 1976 to 1991. Templeton had good batting numbers in an era when shortstops did not provide much offense.
Born in Lockney, Texas, Templeton was hailed by many as one of the best players in baseball early in his career, which featured All-Star Game selections in 1977 and 1979. In the latter year, Templeton made history as the first switch-hitter to collect 100 hits from each side of the plate, a feat achieved only once more by Willie Wilson. His total of 211 hits led the National League, and with 19 triples, he led the league for a third consecutive season. He led the Cardinals in hits in 1977, 1978, and 1979. He caused some controversy in 1979 when, despite having better numbers than either Dave Concepción or Larry Bowa, two of the National League's premier shortstops at the time, he wasn't selected to start at shortstop for the National League All-Star team. He was named to the team as a reserve, but refused to go.
He continued to hit well in 1980 and 1981; however, he was not popular with Cardinals fans. The situation with Cardinal Nation came to a head when, during an August 26, 1981 home game in St. Louis, Templeton made an obscene gesture to some fans who had allegedly been heckling him after he had failed to run to first on a ground ball; manager Whitey Herzog physically pulled Templeton off the field following the incident. After the end of the season the Cardinals traded him to the Padres for Ozzie Smith. The trade was welcomed by everyone involved: Smith was (then) a light-hitting defensive wizard going to a team which needed to improve its defense (and he was also embroiled in a contract dispute with Padres' management), while Templeton was a better hitter going to a team which needed to improve its offense (and who was, due to his actions, no longer popular with the fans or the team).
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