Charlie Spikes and His Twin Seasons

By JT

Charlie Spikes was a big man for that era, 6-3, 215 to 220 pounds and he could generate some power. He was the Yankees prospect and in the minors, he hit home runs and stuck out a lot.

He was traded to the Cleveland Indians and there he showed he could hit home runs and strike out a lot. 

In 1973 and 1974 he put together two promising seasons hitting .255 and averaging 22 home runs and 76 RBIs but also over 100 fans. Back then, strikeouts were frowned upon much more than today. 

In those years he hit both left and right pitchers (no real pattern) and played full-time. In 1975 he slumped versus righties and hit well versus lefties but didn't platoon (oddly) he just played part-time—here are his splits:

Versus left-handed pitchers, he batted .297 with 9 homers in just 175 at-bats.

In the next couple of years, he lost his power and then be bounced to the Tigers and then the Braves, and then he was out of the big leagues.

He looked like he was on his way to being an All-Star then gone. Baseball seems to have a lot of these kinds of stories.