Editing Lyman Bostock (section)

==Baseball career ==

===Minor leagues (1972-1974)===
Bostock's minor league stops were with the Class A [[Charlotte Twins]] in 1972; the Class AA [[Orlando Twins]] in 1973, and the Class AAA [[Tacoma Twins]] in 1974.  His batting averages for those years were .294, .313, and .333, respectively. In 1975, he was hitting .391 after 22 games and 92 at bats with Tacoma when the Minnesota Twins called him up.<ref name="baseball-reference.com">{{Cite web|title=Lyman Bostock Stats|url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/bostoly01.shtml|website=Baseball-Reference.com|language=en|access-date=2020-05-07}}</ref>

===Minnesota Twins (1975-1977)===
Bostock was promoted to the major leagues in April 1975, making his major league debut on April 8, when he was 1-for-4 with two walks and three runs scored in an 11–4 Twins win over the {{nowrap|[[1975 Texas Rangers season|Texas Rangers]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1975/B04080TEX1975.htm |title=Minnesota Twins 11, Texas Rangers 4 |website=[[Retrosheet]] |date=April 8, 1975}}</ref>}} For the season, he batted .282 in 98 games for Minnesota (and .391 in 22 games for the [[Tacoma Rainiers|Tacoma Twins]] in the [[Pacific Coast League]]).

A fine defensive [[center fielder]], Bostock finished fourth in the tight [[American League]] [[batting average (baseball)|batting]] race in [[1976 Minnesota Twins|1976]], his first full season in the majors. He hit .323, finishing behind the [[1976 Kansas City Royals season|Kansas City Royals]]' [[George Brett (baseball)|George Brett]] (.333) and [[Hal McRae]] (.332), and teammate [[Rod Carew]] (.331). Bostock [[Hitting for the cycle|hit for the cycle]] on July 24, in a 17–2 Twins victory over the [[Chicago White Sox]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1976/B07240CHA1976.htm |title=Minnesota Twins 17, Chicago White Sox 2 |website=[[Retrosheet]] |date=July 24, 1976}}</ref>

In 1977, Bostock's .336 batting average was second only to the .388 of Carew. On May 25, Bostock collected 12 [[putout]]s in the second game of a [[doubleheader (baseball)|doubleheader]] against the [[1977 Boston Red Sox season|Boston Red Sox]], tying the major league mark for putouts by an outfielder, which had been set by [[Earl Clark (baseball)|Earl Clark]] of the [[Boston Braves (baseball)|Boston Braves]] {{nowrap|in [[1929 Boston Braves season|1929]],<ref name=latimes>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15377227/carew_has_7_of_twins_35_hits/ |title=Carew Has 7 of Twins' 35 Hits |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=May 26, 1977 |access-date=November 26, 2017 |via=newspapers.com}}</ref>}} and was equalled by [[Jacoby Ellsbury]] {{nowrap|in 2009.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.baseball-almanac.com/rb_ofpu.shtml |title=Outfielder Putout Records |website=[[Baseball Almanac]] |access-date=November 26, 2017}}</ref>}} Bostock had a total of 17 putouts in the doubleheader,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1977/B05251BOS1977.htm |title=Minnesota Twins 13, Boston Red Sox 5 (1) |website=[[Retrosheet]] |date=May 25, 1977}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1977/B05252BOS1977.htm |title=Minnesota Twins 9, Boston Red Sox 4 (2) |website=[[Retrosheet]] |date=May 25, 1977}}</ref> which set an [[American League]] record {{nowrap|for outfielders.<ref name=latimes/>}}

===California Angels (1978)===

===Attempt to return salary===
After the 1977 season ended, Bostock became one of baseball's earliest big-money free agents, and signed with the [[1978 California Angels season|California Angels]], owned by {{nowrap|[[Gene Autry]].<ref name=bslysi>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=MjxOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0-0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4947%2C3206362 |work=Spokesman-Review |location=(Spokane, Washington) |agency=Associated Press |title=Bostock signs for $3 million |date=November 22, 1977 |page=18}}</ref>}} Bostock had made $20,000 with the Twins in 1977 and signed a $2.3 million, six-year contract with the Angels. The Twins, Padres and Yankees had all tried to sign Bostock.<ref name="sabr.org"/> Almost immediately, Bostock donated $10,000 to a church in his native [[Birmingham, Alabama]] to rebuild its Sunday school.

The [[1978 California Angels season|1978]] season started off poorly for Bostock; he batted .150 for the month of April.  Bostock met with the team's management and attempted to return his April salary, saying he had not earned it.<ref name="Russo">{{cite book |last1=Russo |first1=Frank |last2=Racz |first2=Gene |title=Bury My Heart at Cooperstown: Salacious, Sad, and Surreal Deaths in the History of Baseball |year=2006 |publisher=Triumph Books |isbn=1572438223 |pages=137–139 }}</ref> The team refused, so Bostock announced he would donate his April salary to charity.<ref name="Russo" />

"He came into my office and told me he was reluctant to take his salary," Angels' general manager Buzzy Bavasi recalled. "He said, 'I'm not doing my job.' But I told him, 'I won't let you do that.' And he says, 'Why not?' So I told him, 'What if you hit .600 next month? You're sure as hell not getting any more money out of me.' "<ref name="latimes.com"/>

Thousands of requests came in for the money, and Bostock reviewed each one of them, trying to determine who needed it the most. After his poor April, Bostock hit .404 in June and was hitting .296 when he was killed in September.

As the 1978 season neared its conclusion, Bostock was leading the Angels in batting. With a week remaining in the season, he went 2-for-4 with a walk in his final game, a Saturday afternoon game against the [[1978 Chicago White Sox season|White Sox]] in [[Chicago]], to raise his season average to .296.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1978/B09230CHA1978.htm |title=Chicago White Sox 5, California Angels 4 |website=[[Retrosheet]] |date=September 23, 1978}}</ref>

In his four-season career, Bostock was a .311 career hitter, with a .365 on-base percentage, 23 [[home run]]s, 102 doubles, 30 triples, 45 stolen bases and 250 [[runs batted in]] during 526 [[games played|games]]. A contact hitter, he had 171 career walks against 174 career strikeouts and a .988 [[fielding percentage]] playing all three outfield positions, with the majority in centerfield.<ref name="baseball-reference.com"/>