page_title: Vada Pinson
section_title: Later career (1969-1975)
hierarchical_section_title: Vada Pinson / Professional career / Later career (1969-1975)
caption_attribution_description: English: Professional baseball player Vada Pinson with Disney character Goofy in 1972.
context_page_description: Vada Edward Pinson Jr. was an American professional baseball player and coach. He played as a center fielder in Major League Baseball for 18 years, from 1958 through 1975, most notably for the Cincinnati Reds, for whom he played from 1958 to 1968 as a four-time National League All-Star. He was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame in 1977. The 5 ft 11 in, 170 lb Pinson, who batted and threw left-handed, combined power, speed, and strong defensive ability.
context_section_description: In his only year with the Cardinals, he played in 123 games while having 126 hits, 58 runs, 22 doubles, 10 home runs, 70 RBIs on a .255 batting average (his 2nd lowest for his entire career) while having a .303 OBP and .686 OPS. Although he played in just 1,090.2 innings, he had a .996 fielding percentage as an outfielder (with just one error all season), 1st in the league. Pinson recorded his 2,000th hit off Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Joe Gibbon in the bottom of the 7th inning on September 18, 1969.
  He moved onto the Cleveland Indians for the 1970 season. He played in 148 games while having 164 hits, 74 runs, 28 doubles, a career-high 24 home runs, 82 RBIs on a .286 batting average, .319 OBP and .800 OPS (his highest since 1965). The following year, he played in 146 games, having 149 hits, 60 runs, 23 doubles, 11 home runs and 35 RBIs while stealing 25 bases (5th most in the American League) with a .263 batting average, .295 OBP, and a .672 OPS. He was third in both assists as a center fielder and errors committed, with nine and five respectively. On October 5, he was traded by the Indians (along with Frank Baker and Alan Foster) to the California Angels for Alex Johnson and Jerry Moses.
  For 1972, he played in 136 games while having 133 hits and 56 runs with 24 doubles, seven home runs, 49 RBIs, 17 stolen bases on a .275 batting average, a .321 OBP, and .697 OPS. In left field, he had 10 assists in his 112 games played at the position, with the former category being 2nd in the League, while turning three double plays, a league high. He regressed slightly the following year, playing in just 124 games while having 121 hits, 56 runs, 14 doubles, eight home runs, 57 RBIs with five stolen bases on a .260 batting average, .286 OBP and a .653 OPS. He appeared in under 1,000 innings on the field (having 997.2), the first time this occurred since his rookie year in 1958. His totals would go down the following two seasons.  He was traded by the Angels on February 23, 1974 for Barry Raziano and cash.
  In 115 games with the Royals the ensuing season, he had 112 hits, 46 runs, 18 doubles, 41 RBIs, 21 stolen bases for a .276 batting average, .312 OBP, and a .686 OPS. He played most of his games at right field (with occasional games at left or center), logging in 860 combined innings while having a .980 fielding percentage. In his final season in 1975, Pinson played in just 103 games, having 71 hits, 37 runs, 14 doubles, four home runs with 21 RBIs, five stolen bases with a .223 batting average, .248 OBP, and a .583 OPS. He played 629 total innings in the field, a good chunk in right field, while having a .993 fielding percentage, with five games played at DH. In his final game on September 28, 1975 against the Texas Rangers, he replaced Amos Otis in center field and played the position for three innings, having one at-bat against Stan Perzanowski in the 6th, grounding out. On December 15, he was released by the team. He was signed as a free agent by the Milwaukee Brewers, but he was released by the team on April 4, four days before the season started.
caption: Pinson in 1972
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