A vital part of the Big Red Machine that had the most success of any other team in the National League, George Foster debuted in 1969 (with San Francisco); George Foster broke through in 1975 with a 23 Home Run year. Helping the Reds win the World Series that year, Foster won the RBI Title in 1976 with 29 Home Runs and a .306 Batting Average. This would usher in the first of five All-Star Games, and four in the next five years. Foster again helped them win the World Series, and he was second in MVP voting.
The Reds did not win the World Series again in the 1970s, but Foster would have better years ahead. In 1977, he would smack 52 Home Runs, an incredible tally for the 1970s. Foster also led the National League in Runs Batted In (149), Runs Scored (124), Slugging Percentage (.631), and OPS (1.013). To the surprise of nobody, he won the MVP. Foster won his second Home Run Title (40) and third RBI Title (120) in 1978, and in 1981, he was third in MVP voting with 22 Home Runs and a .519 Slugging Percentage in that strike-shortened year. That was his last season on the Ohio River, as he was traded to the New York Mets, where he played four years and would have a brief stop with the Chicago White Sox before he retired in 1986.
Foster would smack 348 Home Runs, 1,239 Runs Batted In with a .480 Slugging Percentage. He remained on the ballot for four years (1992-95). Had he been better defensively and had a better On Base Percentage, he would have been much higher on this list.
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