A retired Detroit Tigers site written by Mike McClary from 2006-2017.
Kemp for Lemon Revisited
Mike McClary	Fungoes	 November 27, 2007 2 Minutes
Twenty six years ago today the Detroit Tigers traded left fielder Steve Kemp to the White Sox for Chet Lemon. It was the quintessential Jim Campbell Winter Meetings trade.
Kemp made too much money and former GM Campbell didn't like players who held out (Rusty Staub) or won in arbitration (Kemp, again). Campbell also liked to trade players who, like Kemp and Ron LeFlore in 1979, were entering their walk year.
On Nov. 27, 1981, the Tigers and White Sox swapped outfielders both who were former top selections in the amateur draft (Lemon by Oakland in 1972, Kemp number-one overall by Detroit in 1976), were roughly the same age and who had put together similar careers to that point.
While many Tigers fans might remember Lemon as an All-Star centerfielder who hit sixth or seventh in Sparky's lineup, in his first season in Detroit he batted leadoff 49 times and played 93 games right field. (By early July, Lou Whitaker took over the leadoff spot for good.) It wasn't until 1983 that he switched positions with Kirk Gibson and became the regular centerfielder…until Gary Pettis arrived in 1988. Lemon finished his first season as a Tiger with a .266 average, 19 HR and just 52 RBI in 125 games.
Lemon hit 142 homers for the Tigers in his nine seasons in Detroit and proved to be a rather durable player averaging 134 games played over that span. (Note: There's no record of the number of rallies Lemon killed in Detroit but would it be far-fetched to think the total to be in the triple digits?)
Steve Kemp was no slouch during his five years patrolling left field at Tiger Stadium. He produced a .284 average, 89 home runs (lowered a bit with his nine homers in the strike-shortened 1981 season), and averaged 84 RBI and 23 doubles. He also displayed a keen eye at the plate averaging 75 walks — including 97 in 1978.
In his only season in Chicago, Kemp had a career year batting .286 with 19 HR and 98 RBI in 160 games. As I noted, Lemon also hit 19 home runs in 1982 but drove in nearly half the number of runs.
After the '82 season Kemp cashed in on a free-agent contract with the New York Yankees but he, like so many other mid-'80s free agents, flopped in the Bronx. In 1983, Kemp hit .241 with just 12 home runs in 109 games. After the '84 season he was traded with Tim Foli and cash to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Dale Berra, Alfonso Pulido and Jay Buhner.
An eye injury, suffered when Kemp was hit by a batted ball in batting practice, shortened his career in the mid-1980s. He last played in the majors in 1988 when he played in 16 games for the Texas Rangers, hitting just .222 in 36 at bats. His career batting average in 11 seasons was .278 — five points higher than Lemon's.
When Jim Campbell pulled the trigger on the Kemp-for-Lemon deal he probably had no idea that Kemp would flame out and that Chet the Jet would play more than 1,100 games in the outfield for Detroit.
Still, he had to like the odds that the trade would work out better than LeFlore for Dan Schatzeder.
As frustrating a player as Chester Earl Lemon could be, he was nothing if not reliable during some fun summers for Tigers fans.
Chet Lemon
Dan Schatzeder
Ron LeFlore
Steve Kemp
Previous Post Tram a World Series All-Star
Next Post Tiger Stadium Seats, Continued
6 thoughts on "Kemp for Lemon Revisited"
Big Al says:
Steve Kemp was one of my all-time favorite players. I was SOOOOO ticked off by the Lemon trade at the time. Hell, I still remember where I was when I heard the deal went down. I had just dropped off my buddy, and was pulling out of his driveway, when I heard about the trade over the radio. I had to pull back in, storm into my friend's house, and bitch out the Tigers!
I thought the Tigers would rue the day they traded Steve Kemp. Shows what I know…
Outstanding post, Mike.
Unlike Big Al, I have no idea where I was when this trade occurred. I wasn't married to Steve Kemp nor was I too fond of Chet Lemon. I do recall him being a rightfielder initially. How Gibby ever survived (or Sparky with Gibby) in centerfield is beyond me!
It's hard to believe it'll be 20 years this summer since Kemp last played MLB. Where has the time gone?
Northern Cyprus says:
Steve Kemp is definitely a great player, no question about that, right?!
Mikey,
Steve Kemp is the first player I remember people REALLY talking about his arbitration winning amount of $600,000 smacks (or was it $660,000)? At Lakeview, in Government, Mr. Crew broke down on the chalk board how much he would make a game and could not believe it.
Fun to read about again. By the way, Lemon killed all 100 of those ralies with a lazy fly ball to center field. Always good on the defensive end though.
GallopingGre says:
Kemp was an excellent hitter, especially in the clutch, and a very good RBI producer. He was much better offensively than Lemon, no question, but he ran into Jim Campbell's lock-and-key restraints on the Fetzer millions. I disliked Lemon immensely as a player; very overrated in the outfield, with a meager arm. He did play well for the Tigers, however, and did have a good 1984 season. Jimmy Piersall, the analyst for ChiSox games in the 80s, used to hate Lemon and his fundamental inadequacies in CF. And Piersall was a superb CF in his day.
Kevin Lear says:
I'm reading this about 13 years late. I'm on other end of trade. I'm a Sox fab who was huge Chet Lemon fan. Looking back I did not realize Kemp had that good of year withSox. But he was a butcher in the outfield. I'll use a Jimmy Piersall reference also. He sarcastically said of Kemp after another misplay,"Well, you get what you pay for. Chet has a ring and Kemp doesn't.
Archives Select Month May 2017 April 2017 February 2017 December 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 December 2013 September 2013 April 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 July 2012 June 2012 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 February 2010 January 2010 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006
Fungoes