Doug Flynn
Doug Flynn | ||
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Runs batted in | 284 | |
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Robert Douglas Flynn Jr. (born April 18, 1951) is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1975 to 1985 as an infielder for the Cincinnati Reds, New York Mets, Texas Rangers, Montreal Expos and the Detroit Tigers. Flynn was a member of two world championship winning teams with the Cincinnati Reds and won a Gold Glove Award in 1980 as a member of the New York Mets.
Early life
Flynn was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky. He attended Bryan Station High School, where he starred in baseball, basketball and football, playing quarterback on a 12–1 team. He went to the University of Kentucky on a combination baseball-basketball scholarship. While attending Kentucky, Flynn and some friends went to a Cincinnati Reds tryout camp in Somerset, Kentucky. Flynn made the cut. After one more tryout camp and yet another audition at Riverfront Stadium, the Reds signed him as an amateur free agent in 1971.[1]
Playing career
Cincinnati Reds
Flynn batted .245 with six home runs and 113
He made the team, but as a
Flynn batted just .172 with no home runs or RBIs in April. With Reds third basemen batting a combined .162, Anderson shifted perennial All-Star and former National League MVP Pete Rose to third, with George Foster taking over in left.[5] The shift worked, as the team won 108 games that season to storm to a first-place finish in the National League West by twenty games over the Dodgers. The reduced role also seemed to do Flynn's bat some good. Over the rest of the season, Flynn batted .296 with twenty RBI. He hit his first major league home run on May 21 against the New York Mets, a game in which Tom Seaver was the losing pitcher.[6]
Flynn saw semi-regular action early in the 1976 season due to a back injury to Joe Morgan.[7] During a nine-game stretch in June, Flynn batted .382. He ended up appearing in 93 games for the "Big Red Machine", as they became affectionately called, and batted .283 with one home run and twenty RBIs. The Reds won the 1975 and 1976 World Series. Flynn's only postseason appearance came as a defensive replacement in the 1976 National League Championship Series against the Philadelphia Phillies.[8]
Flynn's role with the Reds decreased drastically in 1977. Through June 12, he appeared in 36 games, mostly as a late inning defensive replacement for Rose at third. Meanwhile, Tom Seaver was in a contract dispute with New York Mets chairman M. Donald Grant.[9] On Wednesday, June 15, 1977, Grant traded Seaver to the Cincinnati Reds for Steve Henderson, Dan Norman, Pat Zachry and Flynn.[10]
New York Mets
Flynn's playing time increased substantially upon his arrival in
He began the season at second, but shifted to short when Foli injured his knee at the end of April,[12] and returned there periodically throughout the remainder of the season. All told, he logged 430 innings at short, committing just seven errors for a .968 fielding percentage. At second, he logged the league's second best fielding percentage (behind the Montreal Expos' Dave Cash) at .986. With the bat, Flynn produced a modest .237 batting average with no home runs and 36 RBIs in the eighth spot of manager Joe Torre's batting order, however, he tied Lenny Randle and Joel Youngblood for the team lead with eight triples.
Flynn's first home run as a Met was a three-run shot off future
On August 5,
Flynn signed a new five-year contract before the 1981 season,[17] but that did not prevent it from being his last season as a Met. With top prospect Wally Backman ready to make the jump to the majors, the Mets traded Flynn to the Texas Rangers with Dan Boitano for Jim Kern at the end of the season.[18] Kern was then packaged with Greg Harris and Alex Treviño for George Foster from the Cincinnati Reds.
Rangers, Expos and Tigers
Just prior to the start of the 1982 season, the Rangers traded incumbent second baseman Bump Wills to the Chicago Cubs, opening the starting job for Flynn. As the season wore on, rookie prospect Mike Richardt began getting the bulk of the playing time at second with Flynn splitting his time between second and short. The Montreal Expos had used seven different players at second base, and were desperate need of an upgrade at that position when they purchased Flynn's contract from Texas on August 2.[19]
He held the starting second base job with the Expos through
After retirement, Flynn shortly took up slow-pitch softball, playing on several traveling tournament teams in the late 80's and early 90's.[23]
Career statistics
Games | AB | Runs | Hits | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | Avg. | OBP | Ch | PO | DP | Fld% |
1308 | 3853 | 288 | 918 | 115 | 39 | 7 | 284 | 20 | 151 | 320 | .238 | .266 | 5629 | 2358 | 672 | .982 |
Personal life
Flynn's father, Bobby, was a second baseman in the Brooklyn Dodgers' organization in 1948, and later played semi-pro ball with the Lexington Hustlers. While his son was coming up through the Reds' minor league system, Bobby was also climbing politically, serving as Kentucky state senator. His mother also played second base in fast-pitch softball for years. After retirement from baseball, Flynn spent a couple of years working in the Mets minor league system. He then headed up the state of Kentucky's anti-drug program.
Flynn's younger sister, Melanie, went missing in 1977 at the age of 24 and has not been heard from since. The case is heavily featured in the 1990 book The Bluegrass Conspiracy.[24]
His wife, Olga, is a former
In 1981, Flynn began singing
In early 2010, he faced a bout with thyroid cancer. '"They took my thyroid out, and it did a little damage to my voice box, but I'm doing good", Flynn said later that year, his voice giving away little hint of what's happened.'[29]
Beginning in 2013, Flynn worked as a part-time radio broadcaster for the Cincinnati Reds, filling in for several games a year when one of their regular complement of broadcasters had some time off.
Since 2015, Flynn has hosted Kentucky Life, a weekly half-hour magazine program on Kentucky Educational Television.[32]
References
- ^ Don Collins (August 6, 1976). "Doug Flynn Makes the Major Leagues". The Daily News (Kentucky). p. 25.
- ^ "Sparky Still Chasing Elusive Goal". Star-News. March 7, 1974. p. 24.
- ^ "Cincinnati Reds 4, Los Angeles Dodgers 3". Baseball-Reference.com. April 9, 1975.
- ^ "Cincinnati Reds 7, Los Angeles Dodgers 6". Baseball-Reference.com. April 10, 1975.
- ^ "Rose Returning to Third Base". Portsmouth Daily Times. May 3, 1975.
- ^ "Cincinnati Reds 11, New York Mets 4". Baseball-Reference.com. May 21, 1975.
- ^ "Reds Win; Zachry Back on Top". The Palm Beach Post. June 22, 1976. p. D1.
- ^ "1976 National League Championship Series, Game One". Baseball-Reference.com. October 9, 1976.
- ^ "Tom Seaver Finds New Spouse: Trade to Reds Expected Soon". Boca Raton News. June 14, 1977. p. 9.
- ^ "Mets Trade 'Franchise'". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. June 16, 1977.
- ^ "Williams to Coach Red Sox; Cincy's President Resigns". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. February 17, 1978. p. 5E.
- ^ "Foli On Disabled List". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. April 25, 1978. p. 4B.
- ^ "San Diego Padres 10, New York Mets 5". Baseball-Reference.com. May 1, 1979.
- Pittsburgh Press. June 13, 1979. p. D20.
- ^ "New York Mets 5, Cincinnati Reds 3". Baseball-Reference.com. June 6, 1979.
- ^ "Expos Beat Mets 11-5; Williams' 1,000 Win". The Gadsden Times. August 6, 1980. p. 15.
- ^ "Flynn Signs 5-Year Pact". The New York Times. March 17, 1981.
- ^ "Winter Meetings Close With Furry of Activity". Reading Eagle. December 12, 1981. p. 6.
- ^ "Expos Get Flynn From Texas". The Gazette (Montreal). August 3, 1982. p. C5.
- ^ John Nelson (December 8, 1984). "Sutter Signs With Atlanta". Deseret News. p. D1.
- ^ Brian Kappler (June 15, 1985). "Raines Creeps Up On Stolen Base Record". Montreal Gazette. p. E4.
- ^ "'Coming Home' Says Frank Tanana". Ludington Daily News. June 22, 1985. p. 6.
- ^ "The Softies' Ballgame Can be Just as Hard". Chicago Tribune. 26 July 1989.
- ^ Latek, Tom (July 19, 2019). "Police taking a closer look at famous missing person case that inspired 'The Bluegrass Conspiracy' book". Northern Kentucky Tribune. Retrieved December 29, 2021.
- ^ Kevin Kernan (October 10, 2009). "Former Met Flynn 'banks' on success after baseball". New York Post.
- ^ http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/mets/item_m2K44Qp1rkbATGCFNBUeTPx.
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(help) [dead link] - ^ George Vecsey (January 11, 1981). "Mets' Flynn Hitting Musical Notes Now". The New York Times.
- ^ Kernan, Kevin (October 10, 2009). "Former Met Flynn 'banks' on success after baseball". New York Post.
- ^ "Former New York Mets second baseman Doug Flynn is vocal about beating cancer". Daily News. New York.
- ^ Keith Taylor (April 12, 2014). "Former Cincinnati Reds Player Doug Flynn recalls blessed career". Winchester Sun.
- ^ "Broadcasters". Archived from the original on 2018-10-09. Retrieved 2015-05-11.
- ^ "New Kentucky Life Host Doug Flynn". KET. 2015-11-09. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet, or The Ultimate Mets Database