Foster, George A.
Baseball
b. Dec. 1, 1948, Tuscaloosa, AL
A right-hander, the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Foster was a clutch power hitter who became the chief RBI man for Cincinnati's "Big Red Machine" during the 1970s.
He had brief tryouts with the NL's San Francisco Giants in 1969 and 1970, then joined the team at the beginning of the 1971 season and was traded to Cincinnati after just 36 games with San Francisco. Injuries limited his playing time during the next three seasons, but he finally became a starting outfielder in 1975 and the following year he led the league with 121 RBI.
Foster was named the NL's most valuable player in 1977, when he batted .320 and led the league with 52 home runs, 149 RBI, 124 runs scored, and a .631 slugging percentage. He was the home run and RBI leader again in 1978 with 40 and 120, respectively.
His production began to tail off in 1979 and he was traded to the New York Mets in 1982. Media pressure to perform troubled him in his first season, when he hit only 13 home runs, his lowest total since 1974. He came back to hit 28, 24, and 21 over the next three seasons. During the 1988 season, the Mets traded him to the Chicago White Sox and he retired after just 15 games with Chicago.
Foster had a career .274 batting average in 1,977 games, with 1,925 hits, including 307 doubles, 47 triples, and 348 home runs. He drove in 1,239 runs and scored 986.