Ron LeFlore

[Honus Wagner Rules]

Who remembers watching Ron LeFlore play? I vaguely remember him, being so young at the time. Based on his numbers he obviously had amazing speed. How good an outfielder was he? He must have had amazing raw talent given he went from prision to the majors in less than a year and didn't play organized ball until his early 20s. Can a Ron LeFlore story happen today?

[KCGHOST]

Leflore was biasically an average hitter with some doubles power who could run like the dickens. Excellent base stealer (76% success rate). Very mediocre CFer, though.

Could it happen again?? Of course.

[leecemark]

--LeFlore was a horrible outfielder when he first came up. He really didn't know what he was doing out there (which isn't surprising considering the path he took to the majors), but he developed into a solid CFer. Unfortunately, his arm got worse as his fielding got better and that kept him from ever beign a real defensive asset.

[Bench 5]

I watched LeFlore quite a bit when he played for the White Sox in 1981 and 1982. In 1981 he really sparked the team early in the season. He was hitting great and stealing bases. He slowed down after the season picked up after the strike and he wasn't nearly as effective.

He had great speed but he didn't have very good instincts on defense. He misjudged balls and didn't get great jumps. So he had to make up for it with his speed. He had a weak arm and he wasn't very accurate. In one game he misjudged a fly and lost it. The ball wound up bouncing straight off his head ala Jose Canseco.
LeFlore really lost his skills quickly. Even though he was still fast, he put on some weight when he was with the Sox. He was pretty much done after that.

On offense like many of the Sox players at the time he studied under Charlie Lau and changed his swing ala George Brett. He seemed pretty mechanical at the plate to me. Like I said he hit pretty well at first but he faded quickly and was out of baseball shortly after that. In my opinion if he kept himself in better shape he could have played a few more years but he seemed to let himself go after signing a pretty big contract with the Sox at the time.

[SABR Matt]

Ron LeFlore's defense by PCA:

Age	Yr	ADWC	PRG
26	1974	1.54	61
27	1975	1.42	131
28	1976	4.80	138
29	1977	1.69	150
30	1978	4.98	158
31	1979	1.24	111
32	1980	0.90	122
33	1981	1.35	78
34	1982	0.56	71

As Mark said...when he first came up, he had no idea what a route was or how to run it...but by 1976 he was a gold glove contender...looks like he hit the wall pretty darned early though...

On offense:

Age	Yr	OWC	PA
26	1974	1.24	272
27	1975	2.40	591
28	1976	7.64	603
29	1977	8.92	698
30	1978	7.57	741
31	1979	8.09	654
32	1980	6.37	587
33	1981	1.35	369
34	1982	2.77	357

You can see though that he was a darned good little hitter/baserunner...almost right away...kind of interesting that he showed up out of prison and within a couple of years was a legitimate team MVP candidate...what was he in jail for?

[Bench 5]

One more thing............I think another thing that contributed to the early demise of his career was when Lavar Burton played LeFlore in the made for TV movie about his life. That's almost as bad as when Anthony Perkins played Jimmy Piersall in Fear Strikes Out!!

[SABR Matt]

LOL...I didn't know a movie was made about this guy...that's pretty hilarious.

[johnny]

LOL...I didn't know a movie was made about this guy...that's pretty hilarious.

Matt
Actually, this made-for-tv has a nice documentary prison style with decent acting by LeVar Burton as Ron LeFlore. Nice shots of old Tiger Stadium. Plus appearances by Billy Martin Norm Cash Al Kaline Jim Northrup Steve Kemp and Bill Freehan.
Actually, its a pretty impressive real life story. I mean, Michael Jordon couldn't make the jump but this guy did. Nice story of redemption/making good.

[Bench 5]

Yeah, the movie was called "One in a Million". I remember watching it as a kid in the late 70s. Billy Martin played himself in the movie. Actually the movie was pretty good so it's worth renting if it's still available.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

Ron LeFlore's defense by PCA:

Age	Yr	ADWC	PRG
26	1974	1.54	61
27	1975	1.42	131
28	1976	4.80	138
29	1977	1.69	150
30	1978	4.98	158
31	1979	1.24	111
32	1980	0.90	122
33	1981	1.35	78
34	1982	0.56	71

As Mark said...when he first came up, he had no idea what a route was or how to run it...but by 1976 he was a gold glove contender...looks like he hit the wall pretty darned early though...

On offense:

Age	Yr	OWC	PA
26	1974	1.24	272
27	1975	2.40	591
28	1976	7.64	603
29	1977	8.92	698
30	1978	7.57	741
31	1979	8.09	654
32	1980	6.37	587
33	1981	1.35	369
34	1982	2.77	357

You can see though that he was a darned good little hitter/baserunner...almost right away...kind of interesting that he showed up out of prison and within a couple of years was a legitimate team MVP candidate...what was he in jail for?

Armed robbery. What's amazing is that he didn't play any organized ball until he went to prison! I just find that almost impossible to believe. I can see a guy with great speed getting by as backup outfielder but LeFlore somewhow was able to adapt to major league pitching just a year out of prison with handly any baseball experience at all. Wow.

[Brian McKenna]

a fellow inmate of leflore's knew a bartender who knew - you guessed it - billy martin - leflore was granted a 48-hour furlough in June 1973 to perform for the manager at Tigers Stadium

[Captain Cold Nose]

Copied from the History forum. What memories of LeFlore do you have?

[moldyoldie]

The made-for TV movie "One in a Million" was based on LeFlore's book co-written with Jim Hawkins. It was a fairly well-made docu-drama that did tend to lapse into melodrama, but I remember enjoying it. As I recall, the movie ended with some hecklers shouting down on him about his past as he was positioned in center field at Tiger Stadium.

As a player, LeFlore had all the natural attributes for being a major league outfielder. His bad tendencies were to not get a good jump on the ball and to catch the ball close to his chest. I don't ever remember him being regarded for his throwing arm.

He had pop in his bat, and you could count on a lead-off single being as good as a double. He was never much of a situational hitter, however. He also never mastered how to bunt for a hit; he looked lost in this regard.

LeFlore played on many very mediocre teams under manager Ralph Houk and was eventually traded in the off-season following Sparky Anderson's hire to the Expos for touted young left-handed starter Dan Schatzeder. In his only season with the Expos he had 97 stolen bases but his BA plummeted to .257.

I also remember there being questions concerning his real age; i.e., that he was actually a few years older than stated.

[Bluesteve32]

In the late 1980s, a freind of mine attended the Joe Brinkman Umpires School in Florida. Among the people attending that year was Ron LaFlore. Apperently, LeFlore ran into Marty Springsted, the former AL umpire who was working as an umpire supervisor for the AL, and the two chated a bit.

LaFlore mentioned how he missed the game and Springsted suggested maybe he ought to consider umpiring. LaFlore attended Brinkman's school that winter. La Flore obvoiusly did not make it as an umpire in professional ball, but several other MLB players had fine careers as umpires, Eddie Rommel, Hank O'Day, and Bill Kunkel come to mind right away. Too bad Ron could not have done the same.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

LeFlore had some serious natural talent to go from prison baseball to the majors in just over a year. I think a lot fo LeFlore's defensive problems stemmed form the fact he didn't have any baseball experience as a youth. Things that most playeres learned as youths, and became second nature to them, LeFlore had to learn in the major leagues. And that's tough to do.