Forgotten Superstars-Andy Van Slyke

We return to the Forgotten Superstars universe with one of my favorite players and perhaps my favorite Pirate of the last 30 years.

Andy Van Slyke was one of the premier defensive outfielders of his time and swung an underrated bat as well.
Van Slyke was originally a Cardinal and had just middling offensive numbers with base stealing being his lone plus stat until he was traded to the Pirates in the Tony Pena trade.
Pena was one of the best offensive catchers in the game at the time and it was considered quite a coup for the Cardinals to land him considering the price of Van Slyke,who although was solid,the Cardinals had an excess of fleet outfielders that were pluses defensively,Mike LaValliere and Mike Dunne.
All of three of the players obtained in the deal by Pittsburgh would contribute to the three Pirate division champion teams in the early 90's,but none more than Van Slyke,who began to mature as an offensive player .

Van Slyke hit Pittsburgh in 1987 with a vengeance as he notched career highs in average,homers,doubles,triples,homers,RBI and steals in an attempt to show the Cardinals what they had traded away.
1988 was even better as Van Slyke would post the highest homer total of his career with 25 homers and 100 RBI as he made the All-Star team along with winning the Gold Glove and Silver Sluggers awards.
Van Slyke struggled through a poor 1989 before rebounding with excellent seasons for the three division winners from 1990-92 and was off to a great 1993 as he made the All-Star team before an injury that ended his season and never really returned as the same offensive player.
Van Slyke's stats dropped off badly in 1994 and he attempted to start a new portion of his career in 199,but in 80 games with the Orioles and Phillies,it was clear that his days were numbered and he retired at the end of the season.

Van Slyke was a tremendous defender as he flew across the artificial turf fields of the day with tons of leaping over the wall catches and skin scraping dives which not only made him a top notch defensive star,but a huge fan favorite not only in Pittsburgh,but across the country.
The hustle that Van Slyke played with made him popular,but likely shortened his career crashing around the concrete pool tables that the National League players played on back then.
Van Slyke also possessed one of the games better throwing arms as he played right field for the Cardinals before moving to his better known center with the Buccos.
Van Slyke built a reputation as a gunner with double digit assists in his final two Cardinal seasons and first two years in Pittsburgh,so runners rarely tried to take the extra base on Van Slyke.

Van Slyke was outspoken and sometimes that got him into trouble with fans and teammates and it was well known that he and Barry Bonds did not get along well with the Pirates.
There is always the famous story on the Sid Bream play that Van Slyke told Bonds to move in on Francisco Cabrera and Bonds responded with a one finger answer!
You know how that play ended!

We welcome Andy Van Slyke to the Forgotten Superstars universe and remember his all out playing style with the fondest of memories!