a standout streaming video player at the University of Southern California, Kingman began as a pitcher before existence converted to an outfielder. Inside 1970 he was known as an Everthing-Western & led a Trojans to the College World Series championship. He was selected per Giants by owning a number one pick of the 1970 secondary phase draft.

A lofty Sixer'Captain hicks" Kingman became one of the most feared sluggers of the 1970s and 1980s. He hit plenty of home runs, and he could hit them farther than many had ever seen, sometimes over 550 feet; on five separate occasions he hit three home runs in a game. In his first major league game, he hit a home run, and he slugged two more a day later; early the next year, he hit for the cycle. But he also was also apt to strike out regularly, and usually posted a low batting average.

He spent his career with seven teams in both leagues, and was known as a difficult teammate wherever he played. (One Mets teammate stated publicly that Kingman had "the personality of a tree stump"; Chicago columnist Mike Royko referred to him as "Dave Ding-Dong"). But Kingman never liked the spotlight, and just wanted to play the game and be left alone off the field. His unpredictable and often antisocial behavior, and largely one-dimensional game, led to his being regularly traded. In one three-month stretch in 1977, he was traded, waived, and had his contract sold, becoming the first player to play in four divisions in one year; he was also released after the season.

Kingman had his best year in 1979 when he played his first full season for the Cubs, hitting a respectable .288 with a National League-leading 48 homers, as well as 115 runs batted in and 97 runs scored. His .613 slugging percentage was almost 50 points higher than that of the next closest NL player (Mike Schmidt). Traded to the Mets before the 1981 season, he again led the NL in home runs in 1982.

Always an awkward defensive player while primarily playing the outfield and first base, he played his last three seasons as a designated hitter in Oakland, collecting at least 30 HRs and 90 RBIs in each of those years. He also had two remarkable at-bats in this period which ''didn't'' result in HRs, but nonetheless added to his legend: in a 1984 game in Minnesota, he hit a pop-up which went all the way to the roof of the Metrodome, but stuck there; and in a 1985 game in Seattle, he hit a tremendous drive to left field which struck a speaker hanging from the roof of the Kingdome, bounced back and was caught.

In his 16-season career, Dave Kingman batted . 236, with 442 home runs, 1210 runs batted in, 901 runs scored, 1575 hits, 240 doubles, 25 triples and 85 stolen bases in 1941 games played. He also struck out 1,816 times, then the 4th-highest total in history. He was named to the NL All-Star team three times (1976-79-80).

Quotes

"Everybody's universally talking just about our strikeouts. Whenever I personally personally played everyday, I may strike out mayhap 400 days. We've there is no idea how else numbers of residence diarrhea I personally personally can hit in case I played day-after-day. We've never played day-to-day." - Dave Kingman, 1975. "What's the opinion of Kingman's performance!? What a Beep do you believe is our opinion of it? I personally believe it was BLEEPING BLEEP. Put that within, We don't Beep. Opinion of his performance!!? BLEEP, he beat u.s. by having troika BLEEPING residence diarrhea! What a Beep do you mean, 'What is the opinion of his performance?' How else can smart shoppers ask maine the wonder such as that, 'What is the opinion of his performance?' BLEEP, he hit ternion page diarrhea! BLEEP. I personally'1000 BLEEPING BLEEPED murder to lose that BLEEPING game. & wise shoppers ask maine our opinion of his performance! BLEEP. That's the hard wonder to ask maine, international relations and security network't it? 'What is our opinion of his performance?'" - Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, 1976, in response to a question from reporter Paul Olden about Kingman's hitting of three home runs during a June 4, 1976 11-0 victory by the Mets over the Dodgers "The sullen, abrasive personality, his defensive defect & his high strikeout ratio come reasons "Kong" has played for septet major-league teams... Nonentity hits 'em farther - or even higher." - Zander Hollander, The Complete Handbook of Baseball, 1985. "What We saw of him at third, We didn't such as. However he gives united states the jolly full guy on the bench & he's insurance in the outfield in case Cleon Jones can't do a job." - Yogi Berra, Mets manager, 1975. "We told Yogi that whenever he plays Dave around 150 games, he'll hit Xxx homers for the two, possibly Forty. & fallowing he's swimming regularly for two or three of years, he'll exist as a next human to hit Sixty homers." - Bobby Bonds, 1975. "That of these's inside Milwaukee!" - Chicago radio broadcaster Lou Boudreau, describing a very long Kingman home run at Wrigley Field.

Highlights
3-time All-Star (1976, 1979, 1980) 2-time NL leader in home runs (48, 1979; 37, 1982) Led AL in slugging and OPS (.613 and .956, 1979) Tied a MLB record with most times hitting three or more home runs in a game in one season (two) Tied a MLB record for home runs in two consecutive games (five) Hit three home runs in a game five times, one shy of the MLB record held by Johnny Mize Hit 14 grand slams One of eight batters with a 3-home run game in both leagues Twice hits three home runs and drives in eight runs in a game (at Dodger Stadium, on June 4, 1976 and May 14, 1978) Hit for the cycle (April 16, 1972) Won AL Comeback Player of the Year Award (1984: .268, 35 HR, 118 RBI) His 442 career homers place him 27th in major league history He joins Ruppert Jones, Ricky Lee Nelson, Jose Canseco, Alvaro Espinoza and Kevin Millar as the only players in MLB history to hit a fair ball that got stuck in a stadium obstruction. Resource: [http://www.baseballlibrary.com/baseballlibrary/ballplayers/E/Espinoza_Alvaro.stm Baseball Library]

Lowlights
First player to play for teams in four divisions in the same year (Mets [NL East], Padres [NL West], Angels [AL West], Yankees [AL East], 1977) 3 times led the NL in strikeouts (131, 1979; 105, 1981; 156, 1982) Lifetime walks-to-strikeout ratio: 0.258 (608-1816)