August 15, 1986: With Mets saga behind him, George Foster homers in first appearance for White Sox

George Foster experienced American League baseball for the first time in his 18-year career on August 15, 1986, a little over a week after his tumultuous relationship with the New York Mets ended after controversial remarks.1 With 347 career home runs, the 1977 National League Most Valuable Player joined a youthful Chicago White Sox roster as a rejuvenated player hoping to make an impression that would lead to a new contract for 1987 and beyond.

“First, I want to achieve the plateau of 400 homers. It’ll enhance my chances of reaching 500,” the 37-year-old Foster said.2 He boldly added that he believed he could “average 30 home runs a year for the next five years,”3 even though he had not reached that mark in a season since 1979.

Unfortunately for Foster, he hit only one more home run in his career, which came in his AL debut against the Milwaukee Brewers at Comiskey Park. Foster smashed a 400-foot home run into the lower deck in left-center field in the fourth inning. That solo shot was the last of three home runs Chicago hit on August 15, but the Brewers rallied for a 4-3 win after being down to their last strike in the top of the ninth.

Foster’s journey to Chicago began on July 22, when the Mets could sense a special season was brewing and made a pair of roster moves designed to improve their chances of a World Series championship – which they won in seven games over the Boston Red Sox.

Though manager Davey Johnson declared that the plan was not “etched in stone,”4 he benched Foster – the NL’s highest-paid player with $2.8 million in compensation for 1986 – in favor of a platoon between 24-year-old rookie Kevin Mitchell and 28-year-old Danny Heep.5 Johnson also gave the full-time center-field job to 23-year-old Lenny Dykstra, who had been platooning with 30-year-old Mookie Wilson.

“I guess when you’re 13½ games up, you can experiment,” Foster said on July 23 in a precursor to remarks that led to his release and eventual transition to the White Sox. “I know I’m not swinging well, but there are other guys who haven’t been swinging well and they still get to play. … [W]ith 72 games to go … there has to be something behind this other than the fact that I’m not swinging well.”6

About two weeks and a scant 14 plate appearances later, Foster’s frustration had grown. He doubled down on his disdain, drawing the ire of team executives.7

“I’m not saying it’s a racial thing, but that seems to be the case in sports these days,” Foster said on August 5. “When a ball club can, they replace a George Foster or a Mookie Wilson with a more popular white player. I think the Mets would rather promote a Gary Carter or a Keith Hernandez to the fans, so parents who want to, can point to them as role models for their children rather than a Darryl Strawberry, a Dwight Gooden, or a George Foster. The kids don’t see color, though.”8

A day later, Foster clarified that his quote had been taken out of context because he was speaking strictly from a business and economics point of view: “I never said race had anything to do with who plays – me or Dykstra or Lee] Mazzilli or Mitchell. I even prefaced my remarks by saying I didn’t want it to be racial. How could it be construed as such when Kevin Mitchell isn’t white? I was talking from a business standpoint about promoting players, marketing players. You can take it from a business or economic standpoint: What product will sell to the public? What section of people will it attract to the ballpark?”9

Even so, it was too late.

Foster’s remarks became the final straw in what had become a contentious relationship that New York severed on August 7.10

As an aging outfielder, Foster knew his best chance to latch onto a team would come in the AL, where he could also serve as a designated hitter.11 The White Sox – holding only a sliver of hope of securing the AL West Division title12 – quickly expressed interest in Foster, who provided the right-handed power hitter Chicago lacked after trading Ron Kittle to the New York Yankees.13 Before the August 15 game against Milwaukee, the White Sox signed Foster to a prorated $60,000 league minimum contract, which cost the franchise a little less than $20,000 – a steep discount from the $10 million the Mets guaranteed him in 1982.14

And the first game of Foster’s Chicago tenure made it seem as though he would be worth it.

Daryl Boston launched his first career leadoff home run to right field in the bottom of the first inning15 to give Chicago an early lead against Milwaukee starter Bill Wegman, a 23-year-old rookie who entered with nine losses. Ron Hassey added to Chicago’s advantage with his own home run to lead off the second, making him and Boston the first players in White Sox history to lead off the first and second innings of the same game with home runs.16 Foster’s solo shot to open the fourth extended the lead to 3-0.17

“It felt good to get those hits,” said Foster, who also singled in the sixth inning for his first multihit game since June 22. “This is a talented, ambitious club, and I want to contribute.”18

Milwaukee’s Rick Manning opened the fifth with a triple and scored after Rick Cerone flied out to right, spoiling veteran Richard Dotson’s hopes of recording his first scoreless start since 1984.19 In the sixth Gorman Thomas knocked a one-out double into right and scored when Glenn Braggs hit a two-out single.

The White Sox appeared poised to win 3-2 going into the top of the ninth, but a clutch hit from future Hall of Famer Paul Molitor changed the mood of the 22,187 fans in the Friday night crowd.

Facing reliever Bill Dawley – who entered with two outs in the sixth inning and retired eight straight White Sox – Jim Gantner hit a one-out single. After Manning flied out, Dawley walked pinch-hitter Ben Oglivie, and new reliever Dave Schmidt put Molitor into a 0-and-2 count with the game on the line.

“I stepped out of the box and tried to relax and block the crowd out,” Molitor said. “I choked up on the bat and fought off the pitch.”20

Molitor looped Schmidt’s breaking ball into center field for a single that extended his hitting streak to eight games21 and evened the score at 3-3. Both he and pinch-runner Charlie Moore advanced a base on the throw home, so when Schmidt uncorked a wild pitch a few pitches later, it allowed Moore to easily cross the plate as the winning run.22

Brewers rookie reliever Dan Plesac, who had entered in the eighth, made quick work of the White Sox in the bottom of the ninth, inducing a weak Russ Morman groundout and striking out pinch hitters Luis Salazar and Jerry Hairston to collect his eighth win of the season.

Plesac, a hard-throwing, 24-year-old left-hander who had started 61 games in the minors since the Brewers selected him in the first round of the June 1983 draft, embraced his role in the bullpen. His performance against Chicago gave him three wins in his eight appearances since July 21.

“When I did have a chance to start him, I decided I couldn’t do it the way he’s been pitching,” Milwaukee manager George Bamberger said. “We probably have one of the best bullpens in baseball now with this kid and Mark] Clear.”23

Dawley, a former Houston Astro in his first season with Chicago, took the loss and dropped to 0-5.

“It’s a tough loss,” said White Sox manager Jim Fregosi, Chicago’s third skipper of the season.24 “A walk, a bloop single, and a wild pitch. Not a nice way to lose a game.”25

After winning the opening stanza of a three-game series, the strategically rebuilding Brewers (57-58) – who traded away 30-year-old starter Danny Darwin before beating the White Sox26 – climbed back to .500 the next day with a 6-5 win. Foster once again tried to do his part for the White Sox (51-63), following his sparkling AL debut with an RBI triple. He added hits in four of the next six games, but after he batted only .167 over his next seven appearances, Chicago released him on September 7.

“Part of my coming here was to showcase myself,” Foster said. “I know deep down that I can still play. Things didn’t work out like I wanted them to. I just appreciate the White Sox for giving me the opportunity that they did. I knew it was important for me to produce right away.”27

Foster never appeared in the major leagues again. He attempted to find a job during the offseason by mingling outside the winter meetings at the Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood, Florida, in December 1986 but could not secure a contract, despite “planting the seeds letting people know that I still want to play.”28

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Laura Peebles and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: George Foster, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted the Baseball-Reference.com, Stathead.com, and Retrosheet.org websites for pertinent statistics and the box scores noted below. He also used information obtained from the New York Times, New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, and The Sporting News.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHA/CHA198608150.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1986/B08150CHA1986.htm

Notes

1 Foster debuted in 1969 with the San Francisco Giants and was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in 1971. He remained there until a 1982 offseason trade sent him to the Mets.

2 Bob Logan, “Foster Has Blast in His Sox Debut,” Chicago Tribune, August 16, 1986: 2-1.

3 Nicholas K. Geranios (Associated Press), “Foster: I Can Average 30 Home Runs a Year For Five Years,”
 Belleville (Illinois) News Democrat, August 16, 1986: 3D.

4 Howard Blatt, “Met Lineup Shakeup,” New York Daily News, July 24, 1986: 65.

5 Before his benching, Foster had highlights such as NL Player of the Week honors in June and hitting his 13th career grand slam on May 27.

6 Howard Blatt, “Foster, Mook Sit in Favor of Mitch, Len,” New York Daily News, July 24, 1986: 60.

7 Manager Davey Johnson took particular offense to Foster’s remarks: “Normally, I wouldn’t comment on something a player is quoted as saying. But this is an affront to me. He was alluding to my integrity as a baseball manager. I cannot have anybody on the club who questions my motives. George is a fine man, a good man, and he’s been a great ballplayer. But it hurts me. He put me into a corner. The only thing I can think of is he’s had a great career, and I’ve had the unfortunate task of sitting him down near the end of his career.” Joseph Durso, “Mets to Drop Foster Amid Racial Controversy,” New York Times, August 7, 1986: 1.

8 Jim Corbett, “Foster Blasts Mets’ Moves,” Journal-News (Rockland County, New York), August 6, 1986: C1.

9 Durso.

10 An official release from the Mets cited that Foster had been “ineffective as a part-time player” since his benching. Johnson reportedly wanted to release Foster in July rather than bench him, but general manager Frank Cashen refused the move, hoping Foster would provide leadership and a trusted veteran pinch-hitter during the postseason. The August 7 release cost the Mets about $1.7 million – $500,000 buyout options for 1987 and ’88, and about $700,000 remaining on his 1986 salary. Durso, and Dave Anderson, “What’s Behind Foster Furor,” New York Times, August 10, 1986: S3.

11 Associated Press, “Foster Blames Low Production on Mets,” Decatur (Illinois) Herald and Review, August 9, 1986: B4.

12 On the day the Mets released Foster, Chicago sat 10 games below .500 but were only nine games behind the division-leading California Angels.

13 On July 30 Chicago sent Kittle, Joel Skinner, and Wayne Tolleson to the Yankees for Hassey, Carlos Martínez, and a player to be named later (Bill Lindsey). After the trade, general manager Ken Harrelson explained that the team was “trying to corral the best young talent we can get,” and also seemed to have given up on the season, explaining that the difference between the Kittle trade and an offseason trade was that in December, “we thought we were in a good position to win the division.” Jerome Holtzman, “It’s Back to the Future,” Chicago Tribune, July 31, 1986: 4-3.

14 The White Sox demoted outfielder Steve Lyons, acquired from Boston earlier in the season in exchange for Tom Seaver, to the minor leagues to make room on the roster for Foster.

15 The leadoff home run marked the first one for the White Sox since Rudy Law outran an inside-the-park homer to lead off the bottom of the first inning against the Oakland Athletics on September 21, 1985. On May 3, 1987, Boston led off a game at Baltimore with a home run off Mike Boddicker, the first of six leadoff homers the White Sox hit that year.

16 According to data available since 1915 in Stathead’s batting event database as of June 10, 2024. The White Sox repeated the feat on September 22, 1999, when Mike Caruso led off a game at Yankee Stadium with a home run off Hideki Irabu and Chris Singleton led off the second inning with another homer. Chicago did it again on June 4, 2000 (Ray Durham and Singleton against Houston’s Octavio Dotel); July 2, 2002 (Kenny Lofton and José Valentín against Detroit’s Adam Bernero); August 17, 2006 (Pablo Ozuna and Jermaine Dye against Kansas City’s Odalis Pérez); and September 23, 2021 (Tim Anderson and Luis Robert against Cleveland’s Aaron Civale).

17 In 1986 the White Sox hit three home runs in a game seven times during the season. (This game marked the sixth occurrence.) It was Chicago’s lowest total of such games since the White Sox hit three or more homers in only three games during the strike-shortened 1981 season. It was the lowest full-season total since having five such games in 1980.

18 Logan.

19 Dotson last allowed no runs on August 5, 1984, with 7⅓ scoreless innings at Milwaukee. Dotson later recorded a shutout on September 5, 1986, against the Toronto Blue Jays.

20 Logan.

21 Molitor’s hitting streak continued for four more games. The following year, he garnered national attention by hitting in 39 straight games.

22 Five days earlier, Schmidt allowed a game-winning home run to Gorman Thomas in the 11th inning of a game at Milwaukee.

23 United Press International, “Brewers Dump Sox,” Streator (Illinois) Times-Press, August 16, 1986: 6.

24 Chicago opened the season with Tony La Russa as manager, but he was fired on June 19 after a 26-38 start. Hitting coach Doug Rader took on an interim role for the next two games before the White Sox pried Fregosi away from the Louisville Redbirds, the St. Louis Cardinals’ Triple-A affiliate. Fregosi had also been named as a potential manager for the Cubs after they fired Jim Frey on June 12, but they hired Gene Michael.

25 United Press International, “Brewers Dump Sox.”

26 The Brewers sent Darwin to the Houston Astros in exchange for minor-league pitcher Don August, a member of the 1984 Team USA Olympic team, and a player to be named later (Mark Knudson). Milwaukee promoted Mike Birkbeck to the major-league roster after the trade. Brewers general manager Harry Dalton said: “We are not trying to be young just to be young. We’re trying to put this team together so when we get it where we want it, it will be there for years.” Associated Press, “At 30, Darwin Too Old For Brewers,” Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin), August 16, 1986: 21.

27 Ed Sherman, “Sox Win; Foster Released,” Chicago Tribune, September 8, 1986: 3-3.

28 Frank Dolson, “A Slugger Finds Himself Without a Job – Or His Money,” Philadelphia Inquirer, December 14, 1986: 1-E.