Shawon Dunston

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Shawon Donnell Dunston (born March 21, 1963 in Brooklyn, New York) is a former shortstop and right-handed batter in Major League Baseball. He was the first overall pick in the 1982 MLB draft by the Chicago Cubs, and played for the Cubs (1985-95, 1997), San Francisco Giants (1996, 1998, 2001-02), Pittsburgh Pirates (1997), Cleveland Indians (1998), St. Louis Cardinals (1999, 2000) and New York Mets (1999).

Beloved by Cubs fans, Dunston was a rifle-armed shortstop with some pop in his bat. He joined double-play partner Ryne Sandberg as an All-Star in 1988 and 1990. Dunston was also a key contributor to the Cubs' NL East division title in 1989, hitting .278 with 20 doubles, 6 triples, 9 home runs, 60 runs batted in and 19 stolen bases.

Dunston's fans were known for holding up a "Shawon-O-Meter" at Cubs games, which displayed his batting average, followed by the words "And rising!!!" The Shawon-O-Meter was frequently seen by baseball fans around the country, as Cubs games were then being broadcast on superstation WGN.

In the second half of his career, Dunston was sidelined by back surgery, and various aches and pains in his throwing arm and his legs. Told that his career was in jeapordy following back surgery, he sought help from his friend John Balano. With Balano's help as his private strength and conditioning coach, Dunston returned to the Cubs and earned his starting job at shortstop back. In fact, he played another 10 years and retained Balano in each off-season for (according to major league insiders) grueling 5:00am workouts. The two remain close, and Dunston on several occasions has referred to Balano as his "Big Brother".

It was Balano, along with Dusty Baker, who talked Dunston out of premature retirement when he was traded to the Mets from St. Louis. Dunston's 15-pitch at bat and subsequent stolen base led to him scoring the winning run in Game 5 of the NL Championship Series (versus the Atlanta Braves) and assured that the Mets would live another day as the series traveled back to Atlanta. To this day, that at bat is part of major league playoff lore.

At the end of his career, he was used mainly as a fourth outfielder and a role player off the bench. His crowning achievement was his last season when he played with the San Francisco Giants as they battled the Anaheim Angels to the brink in the 2002 World Series. In Game 6 Dunston hit a towering home run and was greeted at home plate with a hug and kiss from his then young son Shawon, Jr., who was a bat boy for the Giants.

Dunston was a career .269 hitter with 150 home runs and 668 RBI in 1814 games. Bill James noted that Dunston was an "eternal rookie, a player who continued until the end of his career to make rookie mistakes."^[1]

[edit] References

[edit] Highlights

• Batted .790 his senior year at Brooklyn's Thomas Jefferson High School (1982)
• Twice All-Star (1988, 1990)
• Led NL shortstops in putouts, assists, double plays, errors and home runs (1986)
• Tied a major league record with three triples in a game (July 28, 1990)
• Along with Barry Bonds became just the 12th pair of teammates to hit back-to-back homers as pinch hitters (August 23, 2001)
• Belted the Giants' 14th pinch hit home run of the season to tie the Diamondbacks major league record (September 8, 2001)
• One of top 500 major league home run hitters

[edit] External links

• Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis

Preceded by Mike Moore

First overall pick in the MLB Entry Draft 1982

Succeeded by Tim Belcher