George Arthur Foster (born December 1, 1948 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama) is a former left fielder and right-handed batter in Major League Baseball who played for the San Francisco Giants, Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets and Chicago White Sox from 1969-1986. Austin Kearns, an outfielder, catches a fly ball. ... is the 335th day of the year (336th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Tuscaloosa is a city in west central Alabama in the southern United States. ... is the 253rd day of the year (254th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... The following are the baseball events of the year 1969 throughout the world. ... Major league affiliations National League (1883–present) West Division (1969–present) Current uniform Retired Numbers NY, NY, 3, 4, 11, 24, 27, 30, 36, 42, 44 Name San Francisco Giants (1958–present) New York Giants (1885–1957) New York Gothams (1883–85) Other nicknames The Jints, The Gigantes, The G... is the 249th day of the year (250th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is currently under construction // This year in baseball Events January 8 - Willie McCovey is the only player elected this year to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America, and becomes the 16th player elected in his first year of eligibility. ... Major league affiliations American League (1901–present) Central Division (1994–present) Current uniform Retired Numbers 2, 3, 4, 9, 11, 16, 19, 42, 72 Name Chicago White Sox (1904–present) (Chicago) White Stockings (1901-1903 *From 1900 to 1903, the official name did not contain the city name of Chicago... Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball measuring the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters, respectively. ... In baseball, a home run is a base hit in which the batter is able to circle all the bases, ending at home plate and scoring a run, with no errors on the play that result in the batter achieving extra bases. ... “RBI” redirects here. ... Major league affiliations National League (1883–present) West Division (1969–present) Current uniform Retired Numbers NY, NY, 3, 4, 11, 24, 27, 30, 36, 42, 44 Name San Francisco Giants (1958–present) New York Giants (1885–1957) New York Gothams (1883–85) Other nicknames The Jints, The Gigantes, The G... The following are the baseball events of the year 1969 throughout the world. ... This article is currently under construction // This year in baseball Events January 31 - The new Special Veterans Committee selects seven men for enshrinement to the Hall of Fame: former players Dave Bancroft, Jake Beckley, Chick Hafey, Harry Hooper, Joe Kelley, Rube Marquard, and executive George Weiss. ... For other uses, see Cincinnati Reds (disambiguation). ... This article is currently under construction // This year in baseball Events January 31 - The new Special Veterans Committee selects seven men for enshrinement to the Hall of Fame: former players Dave Bancroft, Jake Beckley, Chick Hafey, Harry Hooper, Joe Kelley, Rube Marquard, and executive George Weiss. ... The following are the baseball events of the year 1981 throughout the world. ... Major league affiliations National League (1962–present) East Division (1969–present) Current uniform Retired Numbers 14, 37, 41, 42, Shea Name New York Mets (1962–present) Other nicknames The Amazin Mets, The Amazins, The Metropolitans, The Kings of Queens Ballpark Shea Stadium (1964-present) Polo Grounds (1962–1963) Major league... The following are the baseball events of the year 1982 throughout the world. ... This article is currently under construction // This year in baseball Events January 8 - Willie McCovey is the only player elected this year to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America, and becomes the 16th player elected in his first year of eligibility. ... Major league affiliations American League (1901–present) Central Division (1994–present) Current uniform Retired Numbers 2, 3, 4, 9, 11, 16, 19, 42, 72 Name Chicago White Sox (1904–present) (Chicago) White Stockings (1901-1903 *From 1900 to 1903, the official name did not contain the city name of Chicago... This article is currently under construction // This year in baseball Events January 8 - Willie McCovey is the only player elected this year to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America, and becomes the 16th player elected in his first year of eligibility. ... The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also popularly known as the Midsummer Classic, is an annual baseball game between players from the National League and the American League, currently selected by fan vote for the starting position players and by the respective managers (from the previous years World... For other events named World Series, see World Series (disambiguation). ... The 1975 World Series was between the Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds. ... The 1976 World Series matched the defending champion Cincinnati Reds of the National League against the New York Yankees of the American League, with the Reds sweeping the Series to repeat. ... Silver Slugger Award In Major League Baseball, the Louisville Silver Slugger award is given annually to the best offensive player at each position in each league. ... The Most Valuable Player Award (commonly known as the MVP award) is an annual award given to one outstanding player in each league of Major League Baseball. ... is the 335th day of the year (336th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Tuscaloosa is a city in west central Alabama in the southern United States. ... The position of the left fielder A left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder in the sport of baseball who plays defense in left field. ... Major Leagues redirects here. ... Major league affiliations National League (1883–present) West Division (1969–present) Current uniform Retired Numbers NY, NY, 3, 4, 11, 24, 27, 30, 36, 42, 44 Name San Francisco Giants (1958–present) New York Giants (1885–1957) New York Gothams (1883–85) Other nicknames The Jints, The Gigantes, The G... For other uses, see Cincinnati Reds (disambiguation). ... Major league affiliations National League (1962–present) East Division (1969–present) Current uniform Retired Numbers 14, 37, 41, 42, Shea Name New York Mets (1962–present) Other nicknames The Amazin Mets, The Amazins, The Metropolitans, The Kings of Queens Ballpark Shea Stadium (1964-present) Polo Grounds (1962–1963) Major league... Major league affiliations American League (1901–present) Central Division (1994–present) Current uniform Retired Numbers 2, 3, 4, 9, 11, 16, 19, 42, 72 Name Chicago White Sox (1904–present) (Chicago) White Stockings (1901-1903 *From 1900 to 1903, the official name did not contain the city name of Chicago...

Foster began his career in the San Francisco Giants organization, but the Giants already had a promising young outfielder named Bobby Bonds. Figuring Foster was expendable, the Giants dealt him early in the 1971 season to the Reds for Frank Duffy and Vern Geishert. Foster made the Reds lineup as the starting centerfielder (replacing an injured and out-for-the-season Bobby Tolan) almost immediately and showed flashes of his power by hitting 10 home runs and driving in 50 runs in his first season as a Red. Major league affiliations National League (1883–present) West Division (1969–present) Current uniform Retired Numbers NY, NY, 3, 4, 11, 24, 27, 30, 36, 42, 44 Name San Francisco Giants (1958–present) New York Giants (1885–1957) New York Gothams (1883–85) Other nicknames The Jints, The Gigantes, The G... Bobby Lee Bonds (March 15, 1946 – August 23, 2003) was an American right fielder in professional baseball from 1968 to 1981, primarily with the San Francisco Giants. ... Frank Thomas Duffy (born October 14, 1946 in Oakland, California) was a Major League Baseball player from 1970 to 1979 for the Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, Cleveland Indians, and Boston Red Sox. ... Bobby Tolan (born Robert Tolan on November 19, 1945 in Los Angeles, California) is a former Major League Baseball player. ...

But, in the 1972 season, Tolan was healthy and won the Comeback Player of the Year award playing center and Foster was relegated to platooning in rightfield with Cesar Geronimo, another young Reds outfielder, for the next two seasons. There are two awards in American professional sports called the Comeback Player of the Year award: NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award - National Football League, professional American football MLB Comeback Player of the Year Award - Major League Baseball Category: ... C sar Ger nimo [THAY-sar hay-RO-ne-mo] (b. ...

In 1974, the Reds dealt Tolan, moved Geronimo to center, and placed a young Ken Griffey in right. Foster was still a backup, as the Reds had Pete Rose in left. George Kenneth Griffey, Sr. ... Charlie Hustle redirects here. ...

Finally, early in the 1975 season, Reds manager Sparky Anderson made the move that would enable Foster to emerge as a star. He moved Rose to third base to save his aging legs and to get Foster's powerful bat in the lineup every day. Foster responded by hitting 23 homers that year and being a vital cog in the "Big Red Machine" for the next six years. George Lee Sparky Anderson (born February 22, 1934 in Bridgewater, South Dakota) is fifth on the all-time list for manager career wins in Major League Baseball (behind Connie Mack, John McGraw, Tony La Russa and Bobby Cox) and is the first manager to win the World Series while leading... The position of the third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in the sport of baseball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base, the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in a counterclockwise succession in order to score a run. ...

A 5-time All-Star (1976-79, 1981), Foster was a member of the 1970s Big Red Machine, leading the league in home runs in 1977-78, runs batted in from 1976-78, and OPS in 1977. The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also popularly known as the Midsummer Classic, is an annual baseball game between players from the National League and the American League, currently selected by fan vote for the starting position players and by the respective managers (from the previous years World... The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. ... Statistics are very important to baseball, perhaps as much as they are for cricket, and more than almost any other sport. ...

In 1977, Foster hit 52 home runs, making him the only major league player to belt 50 or more homers in a single season during a 25-year period (between Willie Mays with 52 in 1965 and Cecil Fielder with 51 in 1990). The next batters to hit 50 HRs in the National League were Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa in 1998. He also batted in an NL leading 149 runs. In recognition of his accomplishment, Foster received the NL's MVP award by a unanimous vote. The following are the baseball events of the year 1977 throughout the world. ... Homerun redirects here. ... Willie Howard Mays, Jr. ... The following are the baseball events of the year 1965 throughout the world. ... Cecil Grant Fielder (born September 21, 1963 in Los Angeles, California) is a former Major League Baseball player who was a popular slugger with the Toronto Blue Jays (1985-88), Detroit Tigers (1990-96), New York Yankees (1996-97), Anaheim Angels and Cleveland Indians (both in 1998). ... The following are the baseball events of the year 1990 throughout the world. ... National league can refer to: National Basketball League, in the United States and Canada, which merged with the rival Basketball Association of America to form the National Basketball Association National Football League, the major American football league in the United States National Hockey League, the major ice hockey league in... Mark David McGwire (born October 1, 1963 in Pomona, California) is a former professional baseball player who played the majority of his major league career with the Oakland Athletics before finishing his career with the St. ... Samuel Sosa Montero (born November 12, 1968 in San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic) is a designated hitter and right fielder in Major League Baseball and is currently a free agent. ... This year in baseball 1995 - 1996 - 1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 Events January-March January 5 - Don Sutton, a 324-game winner is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on his fifth try. ... In the game of baseball, both amateur and professional, it is tradition to annually recognize the one player in the league who has contributed the most to the success of the players team. ...

Although he was not able to hit 50 or more homers again in 1978, he paced the NL with 40 and in RBIs with 120.

In his career he hit for a .274 batting average, with 348 HRs, 1239 RBIs, 1925 hits and 986 runs scored in 1977 games played. Batting average is a statistic in both cricket and baseball measuring the performance of cricket batsmen and baseball hitters, respectively. ... Homerun redirects here. ... In baseball statistics, a run batted in (RBI) is given to a batter for each run scored as the result of a batters plate appearance. ... In baseball statistics, a hit (denoted by H), sometimes called a base hit, is credited to a batter when he safely reaches first base after batting the ball into fair territory, without the benefit of an error or a fielders choice. ... In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances safely around all three bases and returns safely to home plate. ...

In 1981, at a point in his career when it looked like he would one day rank among the game's all-time greats, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time. Lawrence S. Ritter (1922 - 2004) was a writer whose specialty was baseball. ...

Acquired by the Mets February 1982 from Cincinnati, Foster was given a five-year, $10 million deal but never delivered big numbers for the Mets. (He hit only 13 home runs during his first season in New York.) Foster was a huge disappointment during his 4½-year tenure. He received his outright release in August 1986 after he accused the Mets of racism for benching him.^[1] His replacement on the team was Kevin Mitchell, also of African descent. The New York Mets are a Major League Baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City. ... For other persons of the same name, see Kevin Mitchell. ...

See also

• 50 home run club
• Top 500 home run hitters of all time
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBIs
• List of Major League Baseball RBI champions
• List of Major League Baseball home run champions
• List of Major League Baseball runs scored champions
• Major League Baseball hitters with three home runs in one game
• Chicago White Sox all-time roster

In Major League Baseball, the 50 home run club is an informal term applied to the group of players who have hit 50 or more home runs in a single season. ... In the sport of baseball, a home run is the act of hitting the ball in such a manner, whether out of the park or in (see inside the park home run), that allows the batter to safely reach home and score in one play. ... Major League Baseball recognizes runs batted in champions in the American League and National League each season. ... Major League Baseball recognizes home run champions in the American League and National League each season. ... Major League Baseball recognizes runs scored champions in the American League and National League each season. ... Listed below are the occurrences of Major League Baseball players who have hit three home runs in a single game. ... The following is a list of players and managers (* ), both past and current, who appeared at least in one game for the Chicago White Sox franchise as listed on MLB.com. ...

Trivia

• Foster is a born-again Christian and spends time instructing youth in baseball techniques.
• Foster was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 2003.
• Foster played baseball, football and ran track at El Camino College before being drafted.
• Foster is a motivational speaker in the United States.
• Foster's nickname in Cincinnati was "The Destroyer".
• Against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the fifth and deciding game of the 1972 National League Championship Series, Foster scored the winning run on Bob Moose's wild pitch, which put the Reds into the World Series for the second time in three years.
• Foster always used black-colored bats when hitting. His nickname for those bats was "Black Beauty." Teammate Ray Knight, while still in the minors, once borrowed one of Foster's bats and used it to hit nine homers in a month.
• Foster was one of the most hated batters by opposing pitchers because he would step out of the batter's box after every single pitch.
• Attended Leuzinger High School, Lawndale, California and El Camino College
• Regularly arrived at his MLB games in a stretch limo.

Born again is a term used originally and mainly in Christianity, where it is associated with salvation, conversion and spiritual rebirth. ... The Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame was instituted in 1958 to recognize the career of former Cincinnati Reds players, managers and front-office executives. ... // [[General Information]] El Camino College is a two-year public community college located in Torrance in Los Angeles County, California. ... // A nickname is a name of an entity or thing that is not its proper name. ... This article is about the baseball team. ... The 1972 National League Championship Series was played between the Cincinnati Reds and the Pittsburgh Pirates from October 7 to October 11, 1972. ... Robert (Bob) Ralph Moose Jr. ... In baseball, a wild pitch (WP) is charged to a pitcher when a pitch is too high, too low, or too wide of home plate for the catcher to field capably, thereby allowing one or more runners to advance or to score. ... For other events named World Series, see World Series (disambiguation). ... Ray Knight (born December 28, 1952 in Albany, Georgia) is a former right-handed Major League Baseball player in the 1970s and 80s. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... // [[General Information]] El Camino College is a two-year public community college located in Torrance in Los Angeles County, California. ...

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
• Baseball Library