Steve Finley Essentials Positions: Outfield Bats: L Throws: L Height: 74 Weight: 175 Born: Friday, March 12, 1965 in Union City, TN USA Debut: 4/3/1989 Last Game: 6/3/2007 Full Name: Steven Allen Finley Notable Events and Chronology for Steve Finley Career Biography The holder of multiple Gold Gloves, Finley’s excellent instincts gave…
2006 – Steve Finley hits his 300th career home run as the San Francisco Giants beat the host Arizona Diamondbacks, 11 – 4. Finley, who has 316 career stolen bases, becomes the sixth member of the exclusive 300 HR/300 SB club, joining teammate Barry Bonds, his father Bobby Bonds, Andre Dawson, Willie Mays and Reggie Sanders.
2001 – The Braves fall to the Diamondbacks‚ 9 – 1‚ as Greg Maddux’s National League-record streak for innings without allowing a walk is ended at 72 1/3. Maddux intentionally walks Steve Finley in the 3rd inning to end the streak. Arizona 2B Junior Spivey gets 5 singles in the contest‚ becoming the 5th rookie in 50 years to have a pair of five-hit games in his first season. His other such contest was on June 21st.
1996 – A major league All-Star team opens an eight-game series in Japan with a 6 – 5 loss to the Japan All-Stars. Players include Cal Ripken, Jr., Sammy Sosa, Steve Finley, Brady Anderson, Barry Bonds, Mike Piazza, Hideo Nomo, Gary Sheffield, Alex Rodriguez, and Shane Reynolds.
Steve Finley’s lead-off home run in the 11th gives the Padres a 2 – 1 win over the host Giants. San Francisco’s only run is Barry Bonds’ 40th homer, and he joins Hank Aaron and Jose Canseco as the only players with 40 home runs and 30 stolen bases in a season.
Due to a conflict with the Republican National Convention being staged in San Diego, the first major league game ever played outside of the United States or Canada takes place in Monterrey, Mexico, with the ‘home team’ Padres out-slugging the Mets at Estadio de Beisbol, 15-10. Fernando Valenzuela, a native of the Mexican city of Navojoa, opens the three-game series and goes six innings to get the victory for the first-place Friars.
1994 – In one of the biggest player swaps in baseball history, the Astros send infielders Ken Caminiti, Andujar Cedeno and Roberto Petagine, outfielder Steve Finley and pitchers Brian Williams and Sean Fesh to San Diego for infielders Craig Shipley and Ricky Gutierrez, outfielders Derek Bell and Phil Plantier and pitchers Doug Brocail and Pedro Martinez. It’s a thinly-disguised salary dump and, were it not for Bell’s success, would have been regarded as one of the worst trades in club history. Caminiti and Finley blossom into All-Stars who lead the Padres to the N.L. title in 1998. Bell and Gutierrez are the only salvagable parts for the Astros and they are both gone after the 1999 season.
1993 – A trio of arbitration cases are avoided when three starters are inked to similar three-year deals. Infielders Craig Biggio and Ken Caminiti, along with outfielder Steve Finley now represent a $32 million dollar investment to go with the $36 million spent on deals for pitchers Doug Drabek and Greg Swindell – a pay-out unlikely to have happened before the recent change in ownership.
1991 – In one of the most unbalanced trades ever made in major league history, the Baltimore Orioles send pitchers Curt Schilling and Pete Harnisch and outfielder Steve Finley to the Houston Astros for first baseman Glenn Davis. Davis, who averaged 27 home runs in six seasons playing in the Astrodome with Houston, will hit only 24 homers in three injury-filled years as Schilling becomes one of the most dominant pitchers in the game and Harnisch and Finley develop into solid major league players.
December 12, 1980 – The Mariners trade Larry Cox, Rick Honeycutt, Willie Horton, Mario Mendoza and Leon Roberts to the Texas Rangers for Steve Finch, Brian Allard, Rick Auerbach, Ken Clay, Jerry Don Gleaton and Richie Zisk. Honeycutt will lead the league in era in 1983 for the Rangers. Zisk will have 2 productive years…