Adam Dunn is Weirdly Consistent

Adam Dunn is a peculiar beast…and I mean that in the most positive of ways.

The 34-year-old slugger was dealt Sunday by the Chicago White Sox to the Oakland A’s and, because people like a story, all the talk became about how he would end his streak of 1977 games (and counting) without a playoff appearance. What’s missing is Dunn’s consistency. And, no, I’m not talking about the strikeouts (third all-time!)…I’m talking about the home runs.

Consider this nugget, in the first game Dunn has played in for each of the last three teams he’s played for…he’s gone deep.

Prior to the 2009 season, the “Big Donkey” agreed to a two-year, $20 million deal with the Washington Nationals. On April 6, 2009, in his first game as a member of the Nationals, he hit a home run and had four RBI.

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Two years later, Dunn signed a four-year, $56 million deal with the Chicago White Sox and, wouldn’t you guess it…debuted on April 1, 2011, with a home run and four RBI.

[mlbvideo id=”13361691″ width=”600″ height=”336″ /] Then, there was Monday. With a home run for his new team in the first inning, Dunn became the 12th player in Oakland history to hit a home run in his first at-bat with the club. He’d knock in a pair.

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But I know what you’re asking yourself, “self, hasn’t Adam Dunn played for five Major League franchises?”…and you’d be right.

After Dunn’s call up to the Cincinnati Reds in 2001, it took seven games until he went deep.

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On August 19, 2008, after being sent from Cincy to the Arizona Diamondbacks, he waited until, you guessed it, his seventh game to hit a home run. And, for the record, I think this one is my favorite of the bunch.

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If only Dunn wasn’t retiring following this season. Seriously, it would have been fun to watch and see if the trend (and I use the term loosely) continued.