1982 Cardinals World Series Champion David Green Passes Away
The St. Louis Cardinals have confirmed that David Green (a member of the 1982 World Series Champion team) has passed away at the age of 61.
Several media outlets in Nicaragua where Green was born, have reported that it was due to a heart attack with no additional details being confirmed.
David Green was once touted as one of baseball’s most promising prospects drawing comparisons to Roberto Clemente.
Born in Managua, Nicaragua (Dec. 4, 1960), Green was one of ten children of Edward Green Sinclair & Bertha Casaya. David’s father was a very successful baseball player in Nicaragua for both the national baseball team & for the Cincos Estrellas club of Managua.
David was signed by the Milwaukee Brewers at age 17 (Sept. 24, 1978). He debuted the next season for the Brewers minor league affiliate Class A Stockton Ports of the California League. There, he batted .262 with 8 HR and 70 RBI in 136 games and spent the following year with Class AA Holyoke Millers of the Eastern League. In 129 games he hit .291 with 8 HR and 67 RBI.
Before he had a chance to play for the big league club, Green was part of a blockbuster trade between the Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals that sent Rollie Fingers and Ted Simmons (both future Hall of Famers) along with Pete Vuckovich (future AL Cy Young Award winner) to Milwaukee for Green, Dave LaPoint, Sixto Lezcano & Lary Sorrensen.
During the 1981 season, Green was promoted to the Class AAA Springfield Redbirds where in 106 games batted .270 with 10 HR and 67 RBI. He made his MLB debut on Sept 4, after being called up for the expanded September roster and hit .147 in just 21 appearances.
The following year Green split time between the St. Louis Cardinals and Triple A Louisville Redbirds. That season he hit .345 in 46 games for the Redbirds and had a slashline of .283/.315/.373 with 2 HR and 23 RBI in 178 plate appearances for St. Louis.
The 21-year old Green started 2 games of the World Series for the Cardinals ironically vs his former Brewers team. St. Louis beat Milwaukee 4 games to 3 to win the championship.
The 1983 and 1984 seasons, David saw a lot more action as he was a primary outfielder for the Cardinals. He slashed .284/.325/.422 with 8 HR and 69 RBI in ‘83 followed by a slash of .268/.297/.416 with 15 HR and 65 RBI in ‘84.
During the off-season, Green was traded along with Dave LaPoint, Gary Rajsich and Jose Uribe to the San Francisco Giants for slugger Jack Clark.
Green’s numbers took a dive for the Giants as he ended the 1985 season with a .248 avg. with only 5 HR and 20 RBI. Clark on the other hand earned an All-Star appearance slashing .281/.393/.502 with 22 HR and 87 RBI that same season.
The Giants traded Green back to Milwaukee where he was released and then reacquired and assigned to the Monterrey Sultanes of the Mexican League as part of a player-loaning deal between clubs. He hit .391 in 48 games for the Sultanes.
David then was signed by the Kintetsu Buffaloes of Japanese Nippon Professional Baseball. He hit .270 with 10 HR and 39 RBI for the 1986 season.
The St. Louis Cardinals organization brought Green back on July, 11 1987 where he spent the majority of that season (50 games) with Louisville and only (14 games) with St. Louis. He played his final MLB game for the Cardinals on Oct. 4, 1987 at age 26.
He then had stints in both the Atlanta Braves and Texas Rangers minor leagues, ultimately having 1991 be his last year of professional baseball for the Tulsa Drillers.
In Green’s major league career, he slashed .268/.308/.394 with 31 HR, 18 triples and 181 RBI.
He is the fourth member of the St. Louis Cardinals 1982 Championship team to have passed away. Darrell Porter, Bob Forsch, & Joaquin Andujar being the others.
Our prayers to his family and friends during this difficult time.