Herm Winningham

Herman Son Winningham

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 185 lb.
• School DeKalb College
• High School Orangeburg-Wilkinson Senior High School
• Debut September 1, 1984
• Final Game October 3, 1992
• Born December 1, 1961 in Orangeburg, SC USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Herm Winningham played in the majors as an outfielder from 1984 to 1992. He was drafted by the New York Mets in the secondary phase of the January 1981 amateur draft and first came up with them as a September call-up in 1984, hitting .407 in 14 games. He was then one of four players traded to the Montreal Expos in return for All-Star catcher and future Hall of Famer Gary Carter. The Expos had had their eyes on him for a while, having previously drafted him in the secondary phase of the 1980 amateur draft, one of four times he was drafted. He was installed as the everyday centerfielder in 1985, and while he was an excellent defensive outfielder with very good speed, he failed to hit and did not materialize into a top base stealer either. He hit .237 in 125 games that season and slugged just .317, then in 1986 lost the starting job to Mitch Webster, who may not have been as good an athlete as Winningham was, but who was a much more productive hitter. He hit .216 in 90 games that year, then regained his starting job in 1987, a bit by default since it was because RF Andre Dawson left via free agency, and Webster slid over to right to take over for him, leaving center field for Herm. Offensive numbers went up around baseball that year, but it did not do him much good, as he ended up at .239 in 137 games. His OPS+ over the three seasons were 76, 74 and 71.

Winningham was no longer a regular in 1988, obtaining just 90 at-bats in 47 games and fulfilling the dire prediction of one sportswriter the year before who asked the rhetorical question: "Is Herm Winningham only a glove?", given that, for all his raw tools, he couldn't hit, was not a particularly good baserunner, and his throwing arm was average at best; he could catch the ball however, and that was the role he was reduced to. On July 13th that season, he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds as the Expos cleared some dead wood from their roster, also sending unproductive catcher Jeff Reed and pitcher Randy St. Claire in the same trade in return for OF Tracy Jones and P Pat Pacillo. Winningham hit his customary .230 in 53 games the rest of the way that year, but did better in 1989, when he ended up at .251 in 115 games and raised his OPS+ to 89. It went even higher in 1990, when the Reds surprised the baseball world by leading the NL West from start to finish and then making it to the World Series, where they swept the heavily-favored Oakland Athletics in four games. Herm had his best season with the bat, hitting .256 in 84 games with an OPS+ of 98. He appeared in 3 games in the NLCS against the Pittsburgh Pirates, going 2 for 7, and went 2 for 4 in the World Series.

He fell back to his earlier level of performance in 1991, batting .225 in 98 games with his OPS+ plummeting to 56 and following the season signed as a free agent with the Boston Red Sox. In his one season in Fenway Park in 1992, he hit .235 in 105 games, again largely as a defensive replacement, with an OPS+ of 53. He played one more season, that one in the minor leagues, splitting his time between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Norfolk Tides, the latter the AAA affiliate of his original team, the Mets, and hitting a combined .254 in 95 games. Overall, in his 9 major league seasons, he hit .239 and slugged .334 in 868 games, with 19 homers and 105 stolen bases.

He was hired to re-instate baseball at Claflin University, but resigned after only 4 games (all losses) to become a coach for the Charleston River Dogs in 1998. He was then hitting coach of the Huntsville Stars in 1999.

Notable Achievement

• Won a World Series with the Cincinnati Reds in 1990

Related Sites

• Herm Winningham at the SABR Bio Project