Athletes - Bill Madlock

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	Athletes - Bill Madlock

Bill Madlock, Jr. (born January 2, 1951 in Memphis, Tennessee) is a former Major League Baseball player. From 1973 to 1987, he played for the Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates, Los Angeles Dodgers and Detroit Tigers.

In a 15-season career, Madlock, nicknamed “Mad Dog,” compiled a .305 batting average with 2008 hits, 163 home runs and 860 runs batted in.

Madlock was drafted by the Washington Senators in the 5th round of the secondary phase of the 1970 amateur draft. He made his debut with the Texas Rangers (who had moved from Washington after the 1971 season) on September 7, 1973, and played 21 games with them, batting .351. After the season, Madlock and Vic Harris were traded to the Cubs for Ferguson Jenkins. Madlock replaced Ron Santo as the Cubs’ third baseman and hit .313, the highest average for a Cubs third baseman since Stan Hack batted .323 in 1945. In 1975 Madlock won his first batting title with a .354 average. He also shared MVP honors with Jon Matlack in the All-Star Game, the first of his three All-Star appearances. On July 26 of that year he went 6-for-6 during a Cubs’ loss to the New York Mets. In 1976 he repeated as batting champion with a .339 average, edging out Ken Griffey, Sr. of the Cincinnati Reds on the final day of the regular season. In an 11-1 win over the Atlanta Braves, Madlock collected four singles to raise his average from .333 to .339, one point ahead of Griffey. Griffey belatedly entered his team’s game (which the Reds won over the Montreal Expos 8-2) and went 0-for-2, dropping his average to .336. After the 1976 season, Madlock was traded to San Francisco in a deal that sent Bobby Murcer to the Cubs. Madlock, an average fielder at best, was moved to second base, and batted “only” .302 and .309 in 1977 and 1978 respectively. In June of 1979, the unhappy Madlock was traded to Pittsburgh and won a championship with a Pirates team with stars Dave Parker and Willie Stargell. Madlock returned to third base and batted .328 with the Pirates during the regular season and .375 in the World Series.

On May 1, 1980, in a game against the Montreal Expos at Three Rivers Stadium, Madlock poked umpire Jerry Crawford in the face with his glove after being called out on strikes with the bases loaded. National League President Chub Feeney fined Madlock $5,000 and suspended him 15 games. Madlock appealed the suspension and remained in uniform before finally serving the suspension on June 6, after National League umpires threatened to eject him from every game he tried to play in.

Madlock won two more batting titles, in 1981 and 1983, making him the first player to win multiple batting titles with two different teams. Afterwards, however, his play mirrored the decline of the team. In August of 1985 the Pirates traded him to Los Angeles which, like Pittsburgh in 1979, was contending for a division title. The Dodgers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS but Madlock hit three home runs in the loss. In 1987 the Dodgers traded Madlock to Detroit, where he again earned a trip to the postseason. Madlock became a free agent at the end of the 1987 season and played in Japan in 1988. In 2000 and 2001 Madlock was a coach with the Detroit Tigers.

From 1971 to 1989, Madlock was the only right-handed hitter to win a National League batting title. His record of four batting titles as a third baseman would later be eclipsed by Wade Boggs.

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