He played in Major League Baseball as a shortstop, most notably for the San Francisco Giants and the Montreal Expos.

He is known by the nickname "the Alameda Rifle" as a native of the San Francisco Bay Area city who possessed a strong arm during his days as an active player.

He hit for the cycle twice in his major league career, on July 20, 1978, as a member of the Montreal Expos in a 7-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves at Montreal and nearly 10 years later on July 9, 1988, as a member of the San Francisco Giants in a 21-2 rout of the St. Louis Cardinals at Candlestick Park.

He also filled in when manager Dusty Baker was hospitalized in Chicago in September 2012 – this was when they clinched a playoff berth.

[4] He was replaced as the bench coach by Jay Bell when Baker was fired, but stayed on in the Reds organization as a Special Assistant to General Manager Walt Jocketty.