Greatest 21 Days Baseball Profiles

The latest batch of graduates had just signed letters of intent in November 2008 to play college baseball and Darrell Miller was satisfied. The youths were graduates of Major League Baseball's Urban Youth Academy in Compton, headed by the former Angel Miller. "What we've said all along is that they won't all make the big leagues," Miller told MLB.com in November 2008 article, "but we can get them to focus on school. If we can get 60 percent of the kids to pass along to a university or junior college, we're doing our job." Miller is now known as former Angel and current urban youth academy's director . He's been known by other names in the past, including two referencing more famous siblings. Miller was drafted by the Angels in the ninth round of the 1979 draft, spending five full seasons in the minors before finally getting called up to California. Miller primarily played catcher and outfield during his time in the majors. He h...

Check out the revisited Paul Coleman feature from November 2011: Paul Coleman, Impressed Enough The St. Louis Cardinals had high hopes for Paul Coleman , taking Coleman in the first round of the 1989 draft. He'd had a stellar senior year at Frankston High in his Texas hometown, eight home runs in 24 games . He also starred at his high school in football , making the comparisons obvious. "We've been looking for a power hitter and we think Coleman is the type," Cardinals scouting director Fred McAlister told The Associated Press . "He's built along the lines of a Bo Jackson." As it turned out, Coleman was hardly AA material , let alone Bo Jackson material. Sent to rookie league Johnson City, Coleman hit just .233 , hitting three home runs. At single-A Savannah, Coleman was worse, he increased his home run total to six, but hit a paltry .209. Coleman played 45 games in 1991 at single A Springfield and 21 at high A St. Petersburg for 1992. He wouldn't p...

Paul Noce was ready with advice in July 1987. The utility infielder had spent six seasons in the minors, finally getting a call to the majors and an extended stay in Chicago with the Cubs. "Work hard," Noce told The Spokane Spokesman-Review . Noce played his college ball in Spokane with Washington State. "Don't let anything get in your way. Don't let people say you can't play. It pays off." Noce was in the middle of a year where he played in 70 games for the Cubs. He'd had a good spring, and was brought up June 1 to give Shawon Dunston a rest. As it turned out, Cubs Hall of Fame second basemen Ryne Sandberg sprained his ankle, extending Noce's playing opportunities . Noce was originally taken in the 14th round of the 1981 draft by the Padres. He never made it above high A with San Diego, traded by the Padres in early 1984 to the Cubs. In the Chicago system, Noce went right to AA Midland. He made AAA Iowa in 1985 and Chicago in 1987. Read ...

I've got a few other candidates for this series, but Jim Shellenback has jumped to the head of the line. He's jumped, because I've turned my only Topps Million code into this cool 1971 Topps Washington Senators Shellenback. (Check out that expression.) It's also ahead of schedule because Shellenbeck's 1990 CMC entry, as the pitching coach for the Portland Beavers, is among the cards I don't yet have. It's number 573 on my want list below. It's also the CheckOutMyCards image below. But Shellenback becomes my third entry into this Then and Then series, which started in January when I discovered a 1961 Topps Ray Rippelmeyer at a card show, a few days after reviewing his 1990 CMC Nashville Sounds coach card. Shellenback's Then and Then entry comes by way of a Wal-Mart trip with my wife to get some of those gel shoe insoles. (Yes, she is gellin', exactly like Magellan.) I grabbed a Topps jumbo pack. I'd picked up a few packs before, but only a ...

Life in minor league baseball, or even college ball can be fleeting. So perhaps George Arias , third basemen on tiny Pima Community College's entrant into the 1992 Junior College World Series, could be forgiven. Asked by an Arizona Daily Star columnist about the previous series entrant, the 1985 Pima squad, and a particular player, John Alva , Arias drew a blank. "John Alva?" Arias asked The Daily Star columnist . "No. I don't know who he is." Alva helped Pima Community College to the championship game in 1985. He then promptly signed with the Braves, with a $45,000 signing bonus, according to The Daily Star. He had been drafted in the January draft , taken in the first round. But his professional career would be undistinguished, playing in seven minor league seasons . His bat, though, never caught on and he never made the majors. Alva played 1985 at rookie league Pulaski, 1986 at single A Sumter, hitting .227 at both. Despite his low average, Al...

A new team and a new position and Jose "Cheo" Garcia 's prospects were looking up. He had spent five seasons in the Twins organization, helping AA Orlando to the 1991 Southern League championship. But he'd only gotten a taste of AAA ball. With the Red Sox organization in 1993 he'd gotten to spring training and played well enough to be assigned to AAA Pawtucket. By August, the prospects were still there, but Garcia had been slowed by injury . ''Since he has come back from the disabled list, Cheo has done a good job for us,'' Pawtucket manager Buddy Bailey told The Orlando Sentinel , the paper checking up on its Orlando alum. ''Hopefully, he can stay healthy the rest of the way and help us get back in the pennant race.'' The Venezuelan native was originally signed by the Twins in 1988. He began his tour of the Twins system at rookie Elizabethton, hitting .259. The next year he was at Kenosha hitting .235, then it was high...

Carlos Maldonado 's first four outings for the Royals in 1991 were serviceable , if not good. In 7.1 innings pitched, Maldonado struck out one, giving up two earned runs. His fifth, on July 19, however, would be different. The Royals already down 8-0, Maldonado was brought in to just get some outs. Of the eight batters he faced, only one of them was out. That one out was only because the Tigers' Tony Phillips tried to stretch a double into a triple, according to the wire account . Maldonado gave up seven runs, five of them earned in just a third of an inning. Over two seasons, Maldonado pitched in a total of nine games for Kansas City. July 19, 1991 was his last. Maldonado had signed with the Royals in 1986, out of his native Panama. It took him through 1989 to do well enough at single-A to make the jump to AA Memphis for 1990. Maldonado then made another, larger, jump, directly to the majors as a September 1990 call-up. In four outings, he posted a dismal ERA of 9....

It's not often when a player has one moment in his career notable in the public's consciousness, let alone two. Especially two that could be used as examples to young ballplayers of how not to do things . Yet that is the case for Josias Manzanillo , recipient of a cringe-worthy physical injury and an anger-worthy professional injury, both of which Manzanillo had the power to prevent. Manzanillo started his in 1983 one of any number of players coming out of the Dominican Republic as a free agent. Sent to short-season Elmira, Manzanillo had difficulty learning English, and keeping onions out of his dinner, according to the Providence Journal . "My goal was to play in the big leagues," Manzanillo told The Journal in 2005, "so I wanted to learn English and the American way, how you do things here. You need to be able to communicate." Manzanillo stayed with the Red Sox organization for eight seasons , not making AA until 1987 and AAA until 1990. He made ...

While it might not have been as unusual as a left-handed second basemen, Monty Fariss still got some looks at his chosen position of shortstop, according to The South Florida Sun-Sentinel . Listed at up to 6 feet, 5 inches tall, Fariss was a rare tall fielder at short, something Fariss was unconcerned about talking to The Sun-Sentinel in 1991. "Shortstop has felt like my natural position ever since I first started playing as a kid. Being big has never bothered me, or hurt my play," Fariss told The Sun-Sentinel . "Being a big shortstop gives me some advantages. I can cover as much or more ground than anyone going from side to side, and offensively I can hit with some power." "A big shortstop has the ability to field and really produce at the plate," he told The Sun-Sentinel . "That's a great combination." Fariss spoke to The Sun-Sentinel as he was fighting for a spot that spring on the Rangers' roster. He wouldn't make it t...

Darryl Kile 's name appeared on the stadium scoreboard, announced as that day's starter, many times throughout his career. It was there on April 25, 1991, for his first major league start , pressed into service by a teammate's injury. It was a start where he pitched six sterling innings, never giving up a hit. It was there on Sept. 8, 1993, when he told his manager he would pitch a four-hit shutout, then gave up one run, but no hits, accomplishing the no-hitter he'd missed out on two years earlier. It was there 331 times during his career , including each of his 20 wins for St. Louis in 2000. It was also there June 26, 2002. Announced on the Busch Stadium scoreboard as that day's starter was Kile. This was his memorial service. Kile passed away four days earlier of a heart attack. That day, former Astro teammate Pete Harnisch told of mobbing Kile on the mound after his no-hitter. It was Harnisch's personal greatest thrill as a player, playing in Ki...

Warming up before a game against the Angels Greg Walker caught the ball, but his attention was instantly drawn elsewhere. There was something wrong with his hip. Quickly, his right leg was numb . His first reaction that day, July 30, 1988, was that he'd had a heart attack. What it was, was a seizure the threatened his life , the first of two. "A lot worse things happen to people," Walker told reporters a month after the incident, according to a wire account . "I feel lucky to be here." It was the most serious of a series of problems for the White Sox everyday first basemen. He had broke his wrist in 1986, underwent surgeries in 1989 and 1990, according to The Los Angeles Times , and he'd had a bad shoulder since high school. Then there were the seizures, determined to be caused by a viral infection, according to media accounts, an infection that was controlled through medication . "I've had a lot of things go wrong," Walker told Th...

We learned a few things on our trip to Buffalo to see the Bisons last weekend. We learned where the safe and out umpire hand signals may have come from. We learned that fried pickles can be a good ballpark snack. We also learned that Buffalo's attendance totals are from ticket sales, not actual people in the ballpark. And, it's cool to snag a baseball. What we knew going in: If you're planning a trip to Buffalo for a baseball game in April, be prepared to wear layers. That's what we did Saturday, in 45-degree weather, dodging occasional sprinkles at Coca-Cola Field, to see a 2-0 Bisons victory over visiting Scranton. My wife and I went to Buffalo for our first game of the year not only because her dad lives out that way and we had yet to see the stadium, but also because one of the visiting coaches, Scott Aldred was a member of the 1990 CMC set. I had designs on getting my two CMC Aldred cards signed, as well an Upper Deck card Nick at BaseballHappenings.net sent alon...

Check out the revisited Steve Kiefer feature from October 2012: Steve Kiefer, Everything Hit One time, Steve Kiefer injured a tendon in batting practice, another time he caught his ankle rounding third on a triple, according to The Los Angeles Times . Add to those the plain unlucky, a beer bottle to the head in a case of mistaken identity, and the plain awful, his wife having a miscarriage. All those were after after a pretty good 1987 season, making a stretch for Kiefer best forgotten, according to The Times . "I was looking to be called up (to the Yankees)," Kiefer told The Times in 1989 while rehabbing the ankle injury at AAA Columbus. "It seemed like everything hit when I got to the major leagues to stay. I never had anything that kept me out more than a week." By that time, July 11, 1989, Kiefer had already played in 100 major league games over four seasons. He would only play in five more, before turning his sights on another career involving those ...

Spring training 1991 came to a close, and the Dodgers signed themselves a new catcher, future Hall of Famer Gary Carter . That meant someone else had to go. That someone else was pitcher Dave Walsh . "I am happy to still be a Dodger," Walsh told The Los Angeles Times after he was sent down. "I know everybody around here. I can still improve. Who knows what will happen?" Walsh made Los Angeles the previous August, pitching in 20 games over two months . He posted a 3.76 ERA and even recorded a save. It was Walsh's first call-up after eight seasons in the minors. He'd been drafted in 1982 by the Blue Jays in the ninth round out of UC Santa Barbara. He'd shown promise in high school, pitching at El Camino Real High in Woodland Hills, Ca. The Times recalled he was part of a "potent righty-lefty combination." With the Blue Jays system, Walsh started at rookie league Medicine Hat. He made AA Knoxville, then got a taste of AAA Syracuse ...

As much as a pitcher doesn't want to hang a curve, a pitcher certainly doesn't want to hang drywall . But after his pro career was seemingly over, that's what former Padres and Astros pitcher Danny Boone did. He did that for nearly six years, until, that is, the Orioles came calling . Out of professional baseball since 1984, Boone heard about a new senior league in Florida. With the support of his wife , he went. And he did well enough for the Orioles to hand the 36-year-old a AAA contract. "Deep down inside, every athlete wishes he could play until he's 100," Boone told a Washington Post columnist that spring, adding he was amazed his wife had been so supportive. "She realizes that now is the time." Boone spent the summer at AAA Rochester before, improbably, returning to the majors that September - eight years after throwing his last major league pitch. Boone entered pro ball, taken in the second round of the 1976 draft by the Angels. I...