Kansas City Royals.

Date of birth: July 30, 1957 Big Rapids, MI

High School:  Merritt Island HS (Merritt Island, FL)

First Impression; Bad ass swing here, this was one of my tops.

Career stats player: Lets jump on over to Hurdle’s playing days. He qualified as a rookie in 1978 and hit .264 with 7 homers and that was his second best year. His best came in 1980 where maybe the photo on this card is one of his 10 homers (career high) and he hit .294. He had been a high draft pick by the Royals (9th) and was even featured on Sports Illustrated but he was traded in 1981 to the Reds and then bounced around until retiring after 1987. Clint played 515 games and hit 32 HR with a .259 career average.

All Time Stat: Being a lefty hitter his batting average was only 10 points lower vs lefties, but his power was significantly lower. He had 28 HR vs R and 4 HR vs L. 3 in 1978, Don Hood, in KC vs Cleveland, Wilbur Wood vs the White Sox in Chicago and in Toronto vs Mike Willis. His final one was 1981 vs Mike Flanagan in Baltimore.

Career stats manager: 1269-1345. Nearly identical record to Ned Yost. Clint started in 2002 with the Rockies after they fired Buddy Bell. They continued riding the struggle bus until they made the World Series in 2007 as a Wild Card. They were 7-0 going into the World Series when they were swept by the Red Sox. Hurdle lasted slightly more than one season before he was fired in 2009.

He took over in Pittsburgh in 2011 and it appeared it was going to be more of the same old new Pirates, the non-competitive Pirates. But Hurdle was able to turn the team around in 2 years and in 2013 they won 94 games. They had not had a competitive record since 1992. They won the Wild Card game vs the Reds but lost to the Cardinals in the next round. The next season was similar as they made the Wild Card game but this time lost. And then miraculously the Pirates made their 3rd playoff appearance in a row, albeit another Wild Card game which they lost again, this time to the Cubs. He took home manager of the year in 2013, I have no issues with that one.

They never got it clicking again to the level of being a playoff team with a chance to win. Clint was let go near the end of the 2019 season.

Fun Fact: I am going to amend this table from Don Baylor’s page to franchise’s first World Series instead of first winning season, honoring Clint as the first to do so with the Rockies.

TM 1ST PLF. 1ST WS. TIME FROM PLAYOFF TO WS YRS TO 1ST WS W
KC 1976 1980 4yrs 16
MIL 1981 1982 1yr n/a
EXPOS 1981 2019 38yrs 50
PADRES 1984 1984 – n/a
SEA 1995 NONE n/a n/a
TOR 1985 1992 7yrs 15
FLA 1997 World Series Winner. – 4
COL 1995 2007 12yrs n/a
AZ 1999 2001 2yrs 4
TB 2008 2008 – n/a

Ever a Future Star?  He was a 1978 Rookie Outfielder with Dave Bergman, Miguel Dilone and Willie Norwood.

Rookie or final card? No and he would get manager cards in 2003-2009.

Hall of Fame? Number retired? No

Links to stories including Clint Hurdle.