John Mayberry
John Claiborn Mayberry Sr. is an American former Major League Baseball player who was active from 1968 to 1982 for the Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees. He was a two-time All Star.
High school and minor leagues
Mayberry attended Northwestern High School, graduating in 1967. He was a gifted high school athlete, playing baseball, football, and basketball at Northwestern; John was twice named to the Detroit News All-State Basketball Team. After graduation, Mayberry was selected by the Houston Astros in the first round of the 1967 Major League Baseball draft. He was the second first baseman taken in the draft, Ron Blomberg having been selected number one overall by the New York Yankees.As an 18-year-old, Mayberry was assigned to the Covington Astros of the Appalachian League. While there, he batted.252 in the 1967 season, hitting 4 home runs in 155 at-bats. He continued to develop the following season, making appearances at three different levels of minor league baseball. His batting average for the 1968 season was a robust.320, with a high of.338 in 195 at-bats for the Cocoa Astros of the Florida State League. Between three levels, Mayberry hit 23 home runs and slugged.552. He made his major league debut that season, appearing in four games, although amassed no hits. During his four-game call-up, Mayberry recalled the first time he met Hank Aaron, who was playing for the Atlanta Braves:
I just stood there looking at him,' Mayberry said. 'I said to myself, "so this is the Hammer, this is Henry Aaron.
At 20 years old, Mayberry played 123 games for the Oklahoma City 89ers of the AAA-level American Association. With 21 home runs, a.303 batting average, and a.522 slugging percentage, his power began to resemble the man he met the year before in the majors. He batted in 78 runs and scored 95, walking more times than he struck out. Mayberry's second short stint in the majors did not result in his first hit, though he did make it on base with one walk in five plate appearances. That would not come until the following year; after playing 70 games at Oklahoma City and batting.273 with 13 home runs, Mayberry was called up to the Houston Astros.
Major league career
Houston Astros
Mayberry played in 50 games during his first extended stint in "the Show", with his first career hit coming in April 1970 before he was sent back down to AAA. It came against the San Francisco Giants in a 7-4 loss; he hit a single to right field off Giants right-hander Frank Reberger. The 1971 season was yet another year split between the minor leagues and the major leagues. While he hit.324 with 13 home runs in 64 games in the minors that year, Mayberry could only muster a.182 batting average in 46 games with Houston, hitting seven home runs and striking out 32 times. The Astros tried to turn Mayberry into a slap hitter rather than utilizing his natural power:
They wanted me to cut down on my strikeouts,' he said, 'but all long ball hitters seem to strike out a lot, don't they? What happened was that I not only wasn't cutting down on my strikeouts, but I wasn't hitting the long ball any more either.
Mayberry was traded along with minor league infielder Dave Grangaard from the Astros to the Kansas City Royals for Jim York and Lance Clemons at the Winter Meetings on December 2, 1971. The trade turned out to be very one-sided in favor of the Royals.
Kansas City Royals
Mayberry was a classic slugging first baseman who batted left-handed. In his first season with the Royals, he hit 25 home runs and drove in 100 runs. His 78 walks were slightly more than his 74 strikeouts, and his.298 batting average came with the re-discovery of his power stroke. The 1973 season produced nearly identical statistics, but yielded better production. Mayberry led the league in walks and on-base percentage while still batting.278, hitting 26 home runs, and driving in 100 for the second consecutive season. Mayberry's pure statistics, though, were even more remarkable in light of the fact the Royals had no other power hitters in the lineup to protect him. Other than center fielder Amos Otis, who equaled Mayberry's 1973 home run total, no other Royals batter achieved double-digits in home runs.Mayberry's best season in Kansas City was in 1975. He set career marks in doubles, home runs, runs scored, and RBI. His 34 home runs in a season were a Royals team record when he retired after the 1982 season. He was named the American League Player of the Month in July 1975 for hitting 12 home runs and posting a.365 batting average, and hit three home runs in a game against future Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins. He also had an eight-game stretch during which he hit eight home runs. Mayberry finished second in American League MVP voting, behind Fred Lynn of the Boston Red Sox.
Mayberry's statistics declined drastically in 1976 and 1977. He slumped badly in 1976 with a.232 batting average and only 13 home runs. Mayberry's home run production rebounded in 1977; he hit 23 home runs, earning him a tie for the Royals team lead in that department. But his batting average remained low at.230, and his RBI total declined from 95 in 1976 to 82 in 1977.
On August 5, 1977, Mayberry went 4-for-5 against the Chicago White Sox, hitting a single off Chris Knapp, a home run and a triple off Bart Johnson, and a double off Don Kirkwood to complete the cycle; the Royals won the game, 12-2.
During the 1977 American League Championship Series against the New York Yankees, Mayberry arrived late for the fourth game, which was played in the afternoon, after a late-night outing. Mayberry played very poorly on both offense and defense. Mayberry's ragged play prompted manager Whitey Herzog to bench him midway through Game Four and to leave him out of the starting lineup for the decisive fifth game.
Herzog later blamed Mayberry for the Royals' failure to defeat the Yankees in the ALCS and demanded Mayberry's dismissal from the team, even though he also said he had "always loved the way John played". Consequently, before the start of the 1978 season, the Royals sold Mayberry to the Toronto Blue Jays, who were beginning their second season of play in the American League.