Boog Powell
Boog Powell | |
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First baseman | |
Born: Lakeland, Florida, U.S. | August 17, 1941|
Batted: Left Threw: Right | |
MLB debut | |
September 26, 1961, for the Baltimore Orioles | |
Last MLB appearance | |
August 24, 1977, for the Los Angeles Dodgers | |
MLB statistics | |
Batting average | .266 |
Home runs | 339 |
Runs batted in | 1,187 |
Teams | |
Career highlights and awards | |
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John Wesley "Boog" Powell (born August 17, 1941) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman and left fielder from 1961 through 1977, most prominently as a member of the Baltimore Orioles dynasty that won four American League pennants and two World Series championships between 1966 and 1971. The four-time All-Star led the American League in 1964 with a .606 slugging percentage and won the American League Most Valuable Player Award in 1970. He also played for the Cleveland Indians and the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 1979, Powell was inducted into the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame.[1]
In a 17-season career, Powell posted a .266 batting average with 339 home runs, 1,187 RBI, .462 slugging percentage and a .361 on-base percentage in 2,042 games. Powell hit three home runs in a game three times, and stands third only behind Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken Jr. on the all-time home run list of the Orioles.
In 1983, Powell received five votes for the Hall of Fame (1.3% of all BBWAA voters) in his only appearance on the ballot.
Early life
[edit]Powell was born in Lakeland, Florida; he played for that city's team in the 1954 Little League World Series. After his family moved to Key West when he was 15, Powell played at Key West High School and graduated in 1959.[2] Powell received the nickname "Boog" from his father. As Powell explained, "In the South they call little kids who are often getting into mischief buggers (pronounced 'boogers'), and my dad shortened it to Boog."[3][4]
Career
[edit]Baltimore Orioles
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f5/Boog_Powell_1966.jpg/150px-Boog_Powell_1966.jpg)
Powell signed with the Baltimore Orioles; Jim Russo (the scout who signed him) was also the scout who would sign Jim Palmer and Dave McNally.[5] Powell joined the Orioles after leading the International League in home runs at Rochester in 1961. Powell spent his first three seasons in Baltimore as a slow-footed left fielder before switching to first base in 1965. At the plate he was an immediate success, hitting 25 home runs in 1963; in 1964 he led the American League in slugging percentage (.606) while blasting a career-high 39 home runs, despite missing several weeks because of a broken wrist. Powell slumped to .248 with 17 home runs in 1965, then won the American League Comeback player of the Year honors in 1966 (.287, 34 home runs, 109 runs batted in) while being hampered by a broken finger.
In 1966, Powell, along with Frank Robinson and Brooks Robinson, led the Orioles to the World Series, where they surprised the baseball world by sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers in four games to become baseball's world champions.
Before the 1968 season, Powell lamented, "once, just once, I'd like to go through a whole season without an injury", and he did just that, playing over 150 games each of the next three seasons. In 1969 he hit a career-high .304 with 37 home runs and 121 runs batted in, and in 1970 he was the American League Most Valuable Player, hitting 35 home runs with 114 runs batted in and narrowly missed a .300 average during the last week of the season. In the 1970 World Series, Powell homered in the first two games as the Orioles defeated the Cincinnati Reds in five games. Prior to the 1971 season, Powell appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated for the 1971 baseball preview issue. Powell helped Baltimore reach a third straight World Series that year, blasting a pair of home runs in game two of the 1971 ALCS against the up-and-coming Oakland Athletics, but he hit only .111 in the Series as Baltimore lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates in seven games.
Later career
[edit]Powell had been an American League all-star for four straight years (1968–1971). However, Oriole manager Earl Weaver believed in making liberal use of the platoon system; in 1973 and 1974, Powell fell victim to it, limiting his at-bats. He and Don Hood were traded to the Cleveland Indians for Dave Duncan and minor league outfielder Alvin McGrew on February 25 1975.[6] Powell, again a regular with the Indians, batted .297 (with 129 hits) and 27 home runs (his best season since 1970), and a .997 fielding percentage. However, he hit only nine home runs in 1976. He was waived by the Indians during spring training on March 30, 1977.[7] His final season was 1977, as a pinch-hitter for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He hit .244 with no home runs and 5 RBI's. He was released on August 31, 1977.
In popular culture
[edit]In the 1970s and 1980s Powell appeared in more than ten different television commercials for Miller Lite beer, including a memorable one with umpire Jim Honochick.[8] Playing on the theme of mocking umpires who make bad calls, the ad featured Honochick trying unsuccessfully to read the label on a beer bottle as Powell did the voice-over. Borrowing Powell's glasses to bring the label into focus, and suddenly able to see who is standing next to him at the bar and providing the narration, Honochick exclaims, "Hey, you're Boog Powell!"[9][10]
Powell is mentioned in an episode of Cheers entitled "Sam at Eleven". The fictional star of Cheers, ex-Red Sox reliever Sam Malone, relates his greatest moment in the Major Leagues: retiring Boog Powell in both games of a doubleheader.[11]
Powell is also mentioned in an episode of Bill Burr's Netflix original show F Is for Family. While searching for his wife after having an argument, Frank Murphy drives past a batting cage and hears the crack of the bat hitting a pitch. He then quips to his daughter Maureen, "That's either your mother or Boog Powell."
Powell was very often referenced in episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Example: when a giant hand bursts through a window, Servo exclaims, "Hey, it's Boog Powell!"
Current MLB announcer Jon Sciambi is nicknamed after him.
See also
[edit]- List of Major League Baseball career home run leaders
- List of Major League Baseball career runs batted in leaders
References
[edit]- ^ "Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame at MLB.com". mlb.com. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
- ^ "Boog Powell Statistics and History". Baseball Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved October 23, 2013.
- ^ Baseball Digest, February 1987, p. 86
- ^ "Boog Powell - Society for American Baseball Research". sabr.org.
- ^ Palmer, Jim; Dale, Jim (1996). Palmer and Weaver: Together We Were Eleven Foot Nine. Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel. p. 8. ISBN 0-8362-0781-5.
- ^ "Indians Obtain Powell," The Associated Press (AP), Tuesday, Feb. 25, 1975. Retrieved October 12, 2019
- ^ "People in Sports," The New York Times, Thursday, March 31, 1977. Retrieved October 16, 2022.
- ^ Tom (September 13, 2013). "1981 Boog Powell Miller Lite Commercial". Ghosts of Baltimore. Retrieved March 3, 2019.
- ^ Greg Stoda, Powell Enjoys Second Career, Wilimington (N.C.) Star-News, April 8, 1984
- ^ Philadelphia Inquirer, Obituary, Jim Honochick, March 14, 1994
- ^ "Everybody Knows His Name Cheers for Sam Malone, the ex-Bosox reliever". SI.com. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
External links
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet
- Boog Powell at the SABR Baseball Biography Project
- Boog Powell at IMDb
- Living people
- 1941 births
- American League All-Stars
- Baltimore Orioles players
- Cleveland Indians players
- Los Angeles Dodgers players
- Major League Baseball first basemen
- Baseball players from Lakeland, Florida
- People from Key West, Florida
- Bluefield Orioles players
- Fox Cities Foxes players
- Rochester Red Wings players
- American League Most Valuable Player Award winners
- Key West High School alumni
- Baseball players from Monroe County, Florida