| George Foster (baseball Player) |
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George Arthur Foster (born December 1 , 1948 , in Tuscaloosa, Alabama ) is a former Left Fielder and right-handed batter in Major League Baseball who played for the San Francisco Giants , Cincinnati Reds , New York Mets and Chicago White Sox from 1969-1986. A 5-time All-Star (1976-79, 1981), Foster was a member of the 1970s Big Red Machine , leading the league in home runs in 1977-78, runs batted in from 1976-78, and OPS in 1977. In 1977 , Foster hit 52 Home Run s, making him the only major league player to belt 50 or more homers in a single season during a 25-year period (between Willie Mays with 52 in 1965 and Cecil Fielder with 51 in 1990 ). The next batters to hit 50 HRs in the National League were Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa in 1998 . He also batted in a NL leading 149 runs. In recognition of his accomplishment, Foster received the NL's MVP award by a unanimous vote. Although he was not able to hit 50 or more homers again in 1978, he paced the NL with 40 and in RBIs with 120. In his career he hit for a .274 Batting Average , with 348 HRs , 1239 RBI , 1925 Hits and 986 Runs Scored in 1977 games played. In 1981, at a point in his career when it looked like he would one day rank among the game's all-time greats, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book ''The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time''. Acquired by the Mets February 1982 from Cincinnati, Foster was given a five-year, $10 million deal but never delivered big numbers for the Mets. (He hit only 13 home runs during his first season in New York.) Foster was a huge disappointment during his 4½-year tenure. He received his outright release in August 1986 after he accused the Mets of racism for benching him See http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/john_rolfe/08/29/meltdown.team/1.html. His replacement on the team was Kevin Mitchell also of African decent. SEE ALSO
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