Happy Birthday Dave Collins

It is Dave Collins 56th birthday today. Dave, they called him Davey back then, what a horrible name for a grown up man, played for the Jays in 1983 and 1984. He played left field and batted lead off. He was, to use a very overused term in Blue Jay land, a Reed Johnson type. He was a switch hitter, got on base well and stole a lot of bases, he wasn't as good an outfielder, pretty good range, awful arm.

In 83 he hit .271/.342/.328 with 31 steals in 118 games. He had a much better season in 84 batting .308/.366/.444 with 60 steals and league leading 15 triples. The Jays finished second in the division that season and Collins raised his trade value so much that the Jays were able to trade  him, Alfredo Griffin and cash to get Bill Caudill from Oakland. Yeah that trade really didn't work out.

But the trade that did work out was the one that brought Collins to us. We got Collins, Mike Morgan and Fred McGriff from the Yankees for Dale Murray and Tom Dodd. That must be the best trade in Jays history. Murray had been a pretty decent middle reliever before the Yankees got their hands on him and Todd was a corner infielder prospect that never turned into a major leaguer. That Pat Gillick was a genius...sometimes.

Anyway, happy birthday Dave. Hope you have a good one.