Dave Hollins

[William Malone]

David Michael Hollins was born on May 25, 1966 in Buffalo, New York.

The San Diego Padres selected him in round six of the 1987 MLB Draft. He was acquired by the Philadelphia Phillies as a Rule-5 Draft choice, and debuted for them in 1989. Hollins spent seven seasons with the Phillies, batting .257 with 67 home runs over 550 games. He was an All-Star in 1993. Philadelphia reached the World Series that same year, falling to the Toronto Blue Jays. Hollins had two home runs and six RBI during that postseason.

He was traded to the Boston Red Sox at the deadline in 1995, and then signed a one year deal with the Minnesota Twins as a free agent that winter. Hollins got off to a hot start with the Twins, driving in two runs during their Opening Day win over the Detroit Tigers in 1996. He finished April with a 1.034 OPS and 22 RBI across 25 games. More importantly, Minnesota finished the month with a winning record. The franchise had suffered through three consecutive losing seasons, and had finished tied for baseball's worst record in 1995.

But the Twins cooled off, and so did Hollins. He hit .185 with just four RBI during the month of May, and Minnesota found themselves several games below the .500 mark. Hollins was traded to the Seattle Mariners on August 29th in a post-deadline waiver deal. His Twins tenure ended with a .242/.364/.396 slash line over 121 games, adding 13 home runs and 53 RBI.

Hollins was a force during his short 28 game stint with the Mariners, hitting .351 with 25 RBI. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to push Seattle into the playoffs. They fell three games short of the American League wild card spot. Even worse, those 28 games from Hollins cost them first base prospect David Ortiz.

The Anaheim Angels signed Hollins as a free agent. He hit .271 with 27 homers and 127 RBI over two seasons with them. He also had injury riddled stints with the Blue Jays and Cleveland Indians, before returning to Philadelphia in 2002. Since retiring, he has been a longtime scout for the Phillies.

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