Early Career
As his career started, Franco was part of a 1982 five-for-one trade between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Cleveland Indians. The Phillies received highly regarded prospect, Von Hayes, in exchange for Manny Trillo, George Vukovich, Jay Baller, Jerry Willard, and Franco.
Franco hit over .300 in every season from 1986 to 1989. He also averaged over 20 stolen bases per season from 1983 through 1991. When he switched from shortstop to second baseman in 1988, he won four straight Silver Slugger Awards. Franco batted with a long whip-like swing with the heaviest bat allowed. Because of his batting style, Franco twice led the American League in grounding into double plays and was in the top-ten in that category seven times in the 1980s alone. He is seventh on the all-time list in ground-ball double plays and has just over 300.
After the 1988 season, Franco was traded from Cleveland to the Texas Rangers for an established player, Pete O'Brien, and two prospects, Oddibe McDowell and Jerry Browne.
With Texas, Franco was named to all three of his All-Star teams: in 1989, 1990 and 1991, and he won the Major League Baseball All-Star Game MVP Award in 1990. In the 1990 All-Star game, Franco came to bat in the 7th inning against Rob Dibble of the Cincinnati Reds. Franco drove a 101 mph fastball to the right-center field fence for a double, scoring the only runs of the game.
In 1991, Franco had his only 200-hit season and won the American League batting title. His .341 average was nine points higher than that of Baseball Hall of Famer Wade Boggs. 1992 was the only injury-plagued season of Franco's career; it limited him to 35 games and ended Franco's time as a middle infielder. He spent 1993 as a designated hitter before opting to become a free agent and signing with the Chicago White Sox.
Read more about this topic: Julio Franco
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