Carney Lansford

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Carney Ray Lansford (born February 7, 1957 in San Jose, California) is a former third baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the California Angels (1978-80), Boston Red Sox (1981-82) and Oakland Athletics (1983-92). He batted and threw right-handed.

Originally drafted by the California Angels in the 3rd round of the 1975 amateur draft, Lansford became the Angels' best rookie in 1978 and finished third in the overall AL Rookie of the Year vote. The Angels dealt Lansford to the Red Sox after the 1980 season. With the emergence of Wade Boggs, the Red Sox sent Lansford to Oakland in a deal in the 1982 off-season involving Tony Armas. He appeared to be on his way to playing first base for the A's until the emergence of Mark McGwire. Instead, Lansford became the A's third baseman for their 1988 through 1992 dynasty, typically hitting second behind Rickey Henderson once the A's acquired Henderson. Although his power numbers dropped off during those years, and he missed almost all the 1991 season, Lansford's speed, defense and solid hitting made him a significant contributor. He played in three World Series with the A's, losing in 1988, 1990 and winning in 1989.

In a 15-year career, Lansford was a .290 hitter with 151 home runs 874 RBI, and 224 stolen bases in 1862 games.

Lansford had a cameo role as Kit "Hit or Die" Kesey, the Chicago White Sox batter that Mel Clark (played by Tony Danza) retires for the final out in the Angels' pennant-winning game in the 1994 remake of Angels in the Outfield.

He is currently the hitting coach of the San Francisco Giants.

His son, Jared, was drafted by his former team Oakland in the second round of the 2005 Amateur Draft. His other son, Josh, is a third baseman in the Chicago Cubs minor league system.

According to his 1988 Topps baseball card, Lansford is a direct descendant of the British privateer Sir Francis Drake. However, this is extremely unlikely since Drake is not known to have fathered any children. ^[1]

He played for the Santa Clara Little League team which made it to the finals of the 1969 Little League World Series. In the final game of the World Series on August 2), Carney's team was defeated 2-0 by the team from Taipei City, Taiwan. (Carney is one of less than a dozen men who have played in both the Little League World Series and the MLB World Series.)[1]

Frame on the Mantel, a Portland-area rock band, titled their song Carney Lansford (Complacency Stinks) in honor of a t-shirt he was rumored to have worn during spring training.

[edit] See also

• List of major league players with 2,000 hits
• List of AL Silver Slugger Winners at Third Base
• List of Boston Red Sox awards
• Top 500 home run hitters of all time
• List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs
• List of Major League Baseball batting champions
• Major League Baseball hitters with three home runs in one game

[edit] External links

• Baseball Library
• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
• 1969 Little League World Series

[edit] References