by Paul Semendinger
***
Jimmy Wynn was known as “The Toy Cannon.” This was due to the fact that he was short in stature (just 5’, 10”), but very strong and powerful. The man could hit.
In an era when players didn’t hit home runs at the rates they do today, Jimmy Wynn blasted 20 or more homers in a season eight times. In three of those seasons he hit over 30 bombs. In 1967, Wynn hit 37 home runs with 107 runs batted in for the Houston Astros.
Wynn also played in the era before taking a walk was considered an on base skill, but his patience at the plate added to his value. Wynn walked over 90 times in a season eight times in his career. Because of his propensity for drawing the base on balls, Wynn’s lifetime On-Base Percentage (.366) is over 100 points higher than his lifetime batting average (.250).
In his career, Jimmy Wynn played for the Astros (1963-1973), the Dodgers (1974-75), the Braves (1976), and, in his final season, 1977, the Yankees and the Brewers.
Wynn was a star, but like so many players who played for the Yankees in this period, by the time he reaches the Yankees, his star had faded.
In Wynn’s first game as a Yankee, he went 2 for 3 with a single, a walk, and a home run. The homer came off Brewers’ starter Bill Travers. That homer would be the 291st, and final, round-tripper of his career.
All told, Jimmy Wynn played 30 games for the Yankees in 1977. He batted just .143 (11 for 92) in pinstripes and was released on July 14, 1977. A few days later, he was picked up by the Brewers where he finished out his career batting .197 over 36 games.
The 37 HRs in '67 were 2nd in the NL (behind some guy named Henry Aaron with 39). Pretty good in a) an era of dominant pitching, and b) playing half his games in the Astrodome.