Carney Lansford

From SoSH

Carney Ray Lansford (born February 7, 1957 in San Jose, CA), made in impact in his short stint with the Red Sox, winning the batting title in 1981, the first right-handed hitter since 1970 to do so in the AL. He came to Boston, along with Mark Clear and Rick Miller in exchange for Rick Burleson and Butch Hobson. He was traded in 1982 for Tony Armas after Wade Boggs took over 3rd base. Boggs finally cracked the starting lineup when Lansford injured his ankle attempting to stretch a triple into an inside-the-park homerun. Boggs hit .390 in Lansford's time on the DL.

Contents 1 Overall Career 2 Moments in the Sun 3 Awards/Achievements 4 Trivia 5 Transactions 6 External Links

Overall Career

Lansford started his professional career out strong, and came in 3rd in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1978. Carney played a big role in the Angels winning their first-ever division title in 1979, hitting 19 homeruns and driving in 79 runs. He had quickly become a fan favorite and established himself as one of the more promising young hitters in the game.

After the 1980 season, he was traded to Boston in a deal that the Angels would regret for years to come. Not only did Lansford play well for the Sox in the following two seasons, he eventually landed with division rival Oakland, and helped the A's dominate their division in the late 1980's. Lansford was part of the 1988 and 1990 Oakland A's clubs that thumped Boston in the postseason, and Carney got his World Series ring in 1989. Overall, in a 15-year career, Lansford was a .290 hitter with 151 home runs 874 RBI, and 224 stolen bases in 1862 games.

After retiring, Lansford stayed in professional baseball as a coach. He would ultimately serve as St. Louis Cardinals bench coach in 1997 and 1998 under former manager Tony LaRussa. In 2007, Lansford was named hitting coach for the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, Triple-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies.

His two sons are highly-regarded baseball talents. Lansford's son Jared was drafted in the 2nd Round of the 2004 Draft by Oakland and former teammate Dave Stewart is Jared's agent. His oldest son, Josh, was drafted in the 6th Round of the 2006 Draft by the Chicago Cubs.

Moments in the Sun

• September 1, 1979: Lansford hits three-consecutive home runs, helping the California Angels best the Cleveland Indians 7-4.
• Set an Oakland franchise record with a 24-game hit streak in 1984.

Awards/Achievements

• American League All-Star (1988)
• 1981 American League Batting Champion (.336)
• Silver Slugger Award (1981)
• Top 10 American League MVP (6th, 1981)

Trivia

• Won a World Series Ring with the Oakland Athletics in 1989.
• Appeared in both the Little League World Series and the Major League World Series.
• Younger brother Jody played 25 games for the San Diego Padres in 1982-1983.
• Severely injured in a New Year's Eve snowmobile accident in 1990, requiring surgery to reconstruct the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee as well as repair other ligament damage. As a result, Lansford appears in only 5 games in 1991 for the A's.
• Carney played the role of "Kenny 'Hit or Die' Kesey" in the movie Angels in the Outfield.

Transactions

• June 3, 1975: Drafted by the California Angels in the 3rd round of the 1975 amateur draft.
• December 10, 1980: Traded by the California Angels with Mark Clear and Rick Miller to the Boston Red Sox for Rick Burleson and Butch Hobson.
• December 6, 1982: Traded by the Boston Red Sox with Jerry King (minors) and Garry Hancock to the Oakland Athletics for Tony Armas and Jeff Newman.
• November 6, 1991: Granted Free Agency.
• December 9, 1991: Signed as a Free Agent with the Oakland Athletics.

External Links

• Baseball-Reference.com - Career Statistics and Analysis
• 'Like father, like sons'-Boston Globe, 2005 by Jon Goode
• 'The A's Land Lasnford'Mountain View Voice, 2005 by Scott Campbell
• Jared Lansford Page at Minorleaguebaseball.com
• Joshua Lansford Page at Minorleaguebaseball.com