Unknown Heroes Pt. 31: Bob Zupcic

Who?  Well, why do you think he is mentioned as an Unknown Hero?  Bob Zupcic kind of came out of nowhere.  He was drafted in the first round in 1987 but I do not think I heard anything about him until he was suddenly in the Major Leagues in 1991.  He did not hit real well in the minors, although he did have an 18 home run season in 1991 leading up to his Major League call-up.  He played in 18 games in 1991 for the Red Sox, never really doing much.

In 1992 though, Zupcic became a personal favorite of mine.  He lead the team in hitting with a .276 average which tells you how bad Boston's offense was that season.  But it was the home runs that really helped.  On June 30, Zupcic came up against Mike Henneman and the Tigers.  The Red Sox were behind 5-4 and had the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th.  Zupcic hit a walkoff grand slam home run.  Then on July 10, he came up again with the bases loaded and Boston losing 2-1 in the bottom of the 8th and again hit a grand slam against Bobby Thigpen.  He only hit one other home run on the season, but those grand slams were huge.

Zupcic played regularly in 1993, getting into 141 games all over the outfield.  His versatility in the outfield was what kept him around.  His numbers were not terribly impressive though, with a slash line of .241/.308/.360 with two home runs and 26 RBIs.  Zupcic was released early in 1994 and found his way to the White Sox.  I actually saw him play with the White Sox that year.  It was the last time he was in the Majors.