Dave Owen
From Sports Library
Dave Owen (born April 25th, 1958) is a former Major League Baseball shortstop for the Chicago Cubs and Kansas City Royals.
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Career
Owen made his major-league debut September 6th, 1983 as a late-inning defensive replacement vs. the Montreal Expos. His first plate appearance occurred September 10th against the St. Louis Cardinals. He flied out fo Cardinal centerfielder Willie McGee. His first start was September 14th against Pittsburgh in Three Rivers Stadium. He went hitless. Owen reached base for the first time when he walked in the 6th inning against New York's Ron Darling in a game at Shea Stadium. He scored his first major-league run, after drawing his second carer walk, in the 9th inning against the Mets on September 24th at Wrigley Field. Owen's first RBI was on September 28th when successfully executed a squeeze bunt, scoring Jody Davis. He later recorded his second career RBI by driving in Davis with a Sacrifice Fly. At this point, Dave Owen had appeared in 13 games, made 12 plate appearances, had walked, scored a run, driven in a run with squeeze bunt, and driven in another run with a sacrifice fly. However he still had not delivered his first major-league hit . That happened on September 30th, when he singled off St. Louis' Neil Allen in the second inning of a game in Busch stadium.
Owen's rookie season was in 1984, when he appeared in a career-high 47 games, with 93 at-bats. All five of his career extra base hits (2 doubles, 2 triples, and 1 home run) occured in 1984. For the most part, Owen was a utility infielder who, along with Tom Veryzer backed up regular infielders Ron Cey, Larry Bowa, and Ryne Sandberg.
Owen appeared in only 22 games the following season in 1985, garnering only 20 at-bats. It was his final season with the Cubs.
After being out of baseball the following two seasons, Owen reappeared in 1988 with the Kansas City Royals. He failed to reach base in 5 plate appearances. His final game was October 2nd, 1983 in Royal Stadium against the Chicago White Sox. In his final plate appearance, Owne struck out looking against Shawn Hillegas.
1984 Contributions
Owen's most prominent season was as a backup for the Cubs' 1984 National League East Division Champions--the first time in 39 years that the Cubs had earned a trip to the postseason. While Owen's .194 batting average and late-game substitutions would typically be rendered as an insignificant contribution, he managed to have a key role in the ending of two of the Cubs' most remarkable victories of the season.
On June 23rd, 1984, aka The Sandberg Game, Owen ended the wild contest wherein Ryne Sandberg had hit two game-tying home runs off of Bruce Sutter and Willie McGee had hit for the cycle by delivering a game-ending RBI single off of St. Louis' Jeff Lahti in the 11th inning.
On August 2nd, the Cubs and Rick Sutcliffe were clinging to a 3-2 lead against the Expos in the ninth inning when Sutcliffe allowed two singles sandwiched around a strikeout. After the second single, which left runners at first and third, Cubs manager Jim Frey pulled Sutcliffe in favor of closer Lee Smith to face Pete Rose, who had been called on by Montreal manager Bill Virdon to pinch-hit for Expos starter Bryn Smith. Rose proceeded to hit a line drive right up the middle that appeared destined for centerfield as a game-tying single. Instead, the ball hit off of Smith's right shoulder--Smith was still in his follow-through motion--and went straight up in to the air. Owen ran under the ball and caught it for the putout on Rose. Owen then fired the ball to first baseman Leon Durham to double up the baserunner, a surprised Mike Stenhouse, who had assumed Rose's single was headed toward center field, for a strange 1-6-3 game-ending double play. The wild finish to the game prompted Cubs WGN-TV play-by-play announcer Harry Caray to wonder aloud if destiny was truly on the Cubs' side.
Trivia
Owen is the brother of Spike Owen, who enjoyed a 13-year career as a shortstop for Seattle, Boston, Montreal, the New York Yankees and California Angels.
External Links
- Dave Owen's career statistics at Baseball-Reference
- Game information provided by Retrosheet
