[Terry D]

Outfielder Miguel Dilone came up with the Pirates in the mid 70s, at a time when many teams including the Bucs were dazzled by sheer speed. Dilone was indeed a fine baserunner, but he didn't hit in four years of limited trials with Pittsburgh so in the spring of 1978 the Pirates dealt him with Elias Sosa and a PTBN (Mike Edwards) to Oakland for Manny Sanguillen. Dilone didn't hit for the A's either so in mid-season '79 they sold him to the Cubs. Dilone hit .306 in limited duty for the Cubs but as the 1980 season opened he was back in the minors. The Indians, desperate for outfield help, purchased Dilone that May and he caught fire for them. Dilone had a career year for the Tribe, hitting .341 with doubles and triples power, stealing 61 bases with only 18 CS, walking enough to post a .375 OBP, and scoring 82 runs as leadoff man for a lousy team. Dilone was good again in '81, but less good--.290 avg., .334 OBP--and in 1982 he crashed back to earth and hit just .235. He was no better in 1983, and bounced from Cleveland to the White Sox and back to the Pirates that year. Dilone seemed to be done, but he signed as a free agent with the Expos and had a surprising comeback as a reserve for Monttreal, posting a fairish .713 OPS off the bench and stealing 27 bases while being caught only twice. Dilone was ineffective for the 'Spos in the first half of the '85 season and so they released him. The Padres had a very thin bench that year so they took Dilone on, and he finished out the year with them. He hit just .217 in 46 AB but he ran well to the end, stealing 10 bases and being caught three times, a nice ratio. This Fritsch postcard shot from ebay is the first image I have seen of Dilone as a Padre.