At age seventeen, Foli started out poorly with the
Marion Mets of the
Appalachian League. The following year, while the Mets were on their way to winning the
1969 World Series, Foli hit over .300 for their high
Class A minor league team, the
Visalia Mets of the
California League. In , Foli posted decent numbers for the
Triple-A Tidewater Tides and the Mets called the 19-year-old up to the majors on September 11. At the time, he was the fourth youngest player in the majors, behind
César Cedeño,
Balor Moore and
Don Gullett. In his second game, Foli started at
third base, picked up two hits and drove in a late run as the Mets defeated the
St. Louis Cardinals. The defending champions faded the rest of the way and missed the playoffs. Foli spent all of with the Mets, fighting for playing time at
second base and third base. On May 9, he had an RBI
triple and a three-run
double in the first two innings for his first four-
RBI game. It would prove to be his last four-RBI game until . In 97 games, his batting average was .226, with both his
on-base percentage and
slugging percentage below .300.
Montreal Before the season, the Mets packaged Foli with fellow young prospects
Ken Singleton and
Mike Jorgensen and sent them to the Montreal Expos for star
outfielder Rusty Staub. Foli became a mainstay at shortstop in Montreal for the next five seasons. Although Foli, Singleton and Jorgensen played well in Montreal, the Expos never posted a winning record until after Foli was gone and even lost 107 games in . Foli's offensive numbers in five seasons with Montreal were representative of his whole career. He batted between .238 and .264 each season, only once slugging over .300, and only once reaching .300 in
on-base percentage. was the only offensive season that stood out for Foli, as he posted career highs with 36 doubles (fifth-highest in the N.L.), six home runs and a .366 slugging average. On April 21, 1976, Foli hit a
single, double and triple against the
Chicago Cubs before the game was suspended on account of darkness. (Wrigley Field did not have lights at that point.) When the game was resumed the next day, Foli hit a home run to complete the first
cycle in Montreal Expos history. In addition, Foli's cycle was the first "natural cycle" (where the single, double, triple and home run are hit in that sequence) in almost a decade. Foli was popular in Montreal, as evidenced on July 8, 1973, when
Houston Astros left fielder Bob Watson slid hard into Foli at second base trying to break up a double play, breaking Foli's jaw. When Watson returned to left field in the next half-inning, the Montreal fans at
Jarry Park hurled debris at him. Foli missed the next month of the season.
Journeyman was the beginning of Foli's time as a major league
journeyman. In his final nine seasons, Foli spent seven different stints with six different franchises. His travels began on April 26, 1977, when he was traded from the Expos to the
San Francisco Giants for
Chris Speier in an exchange of starting shortstops. Foli, who was batting .175 at the time of the trade, hit only .228 for the Giants, who finished well out of playoff contention. Foli's Giants highlight was on July 22, when he had the only two-homer game of his career. After the 1977 season, Foli's original team, the Mets, purchased his contract from San Francisco. was a typical season for Foli, who played 113 games and batted .257, Pittsburgh went on to sweep the
Cincinnati Reds in the
1979 National League Championship Series, with Foli driving in a run in all three games. In the World Series, Foli had a hit in six of the seven games. With the Pirates trailing three games to one, and facing 23-game winner and 1979
Cy Young Award winner
Mike Flanagan in game 5, Foli scored the tying run and drove in three insurance runs to keep the Pirates alive in the series. Foli then scored a run in Game 6 against
Jim Palmer and the Pirates forced a Game 7, which they won the next day to capture the fifth World Championship in team history. Foli posted typical numbers for him in and the
strike-shortened season, but the Pirates, suffering from the decline of future
Baseball Hall of Fame member
Willie Stargell, as well as other intangibles, dropped from World Champions to mediocrity.
Late career After the 1981 season and shortly after his 31st birthday, Foli was traded again, moving from Pittsburgh to the California Angels in exchange for 22-year-old
catcher Brian Harper. Foli was reunited with
Gene Mauch, his
manager from Montreal. He was slated to be a
utility infielder for the Angels, but when
Rick Burleson suffered a torn
rotator cuff in mid-April, Foli spent the season as the starting shortstop. A mid-September winning streak propelled the Angels into first place and into the
1982 American League playoffs, but they lost to the
Milwaukee Brewers three games to two, as Foli managed only two hits and one RBI. The Angels traded Foli to the New York Yankees for
pitcher Curt Kaufman after the season. In 61 games, Foli played all four
infield positions for the Yankees, who traded him to Pittsburgh after the season in a trade which brought 20-year-old
Jay Buhner to the Yankees. Foli batted just .189 in 19 games with the Pirates in , before Pittsburgh released him on June 17. but retired after playing just one game with the team. ==Post-playing career==