Greatest 21 Days Baseball Profiles

While not stellar, Sherman Corbett 's debut with AA Orlando was worthy of praise . The lefty pitched 5.1 innings, giving up eight hits and got the win. "Sherman is what you would call a crafty left-hander," Orlando Cubs manager Tommy Jones told the Orlando Sentinel in July 1993, "and tonight he was very tough on their lefties." By 1993, Corbett was already three years on from his last major league appearance , with the Angels. It would be his final year in professional baseball, he would not return to the majors. Corbett's pro career began in 1984, drafted by the Angels in the third round. He made AA Midland in 1986 and AAA Edmonton in 1987. He made spring training that year, working with Stewart Cliburn to shut out the Giants for nine innings in one game. It was in 1988 that he made California, appearing in 34 games that year in relief with a 4.14 ERA. Corbett was also the subject of an apparent malapropism from Angels announcer Ken Brett th...

So I've just been the recipient of a couple trades, drastically shortening my want list. Both come from Cardinals fans, something that I, as a Cubs fan, can overlook if they're sending cards I need. Together, the additions bring my CMC set total percentage over 90 percent. I now have 799 of the 880 cards. First up, we have a trade with Kerry at Cards on Cards . Kerry, a fan of the Cardinals had three of the cards on my want list: 619 Jim Olander; 485 Chuck Hernandez; 15 Danny Shaeffer Kerry also passed along some cool Andre Dawsons and Ivan Rodriguez. I'm the Dawson guy. My wife loves Pudge. Then, not to deminish Kerry's trade. How about reader Shawn, from Missouri? He's also a Cardinals fan. Shawn finally moved his old collection out of his parents' house. Well, he moved them out and, get this, he sent along 87, 87!, cards from the want list, offering them to the cause. How cool is that? It basically slashed my want list by more than half. In case you're wo...

Pat Austin could hit. He could also run. But his defense, that was a liability, at least according to some, the Reading Eagle wrote in 1991. It was a label he was trying to shake, with his fourth organization in three years. But it wasn't a label for his then manager , Don McCormack. "He might not have the greatest arm in the world, but you don't need one at second base," McCormack told The Eagle . "He makes up for his lack of arm strength with quickness, and he's got good range." Austin joined Reading for 1991 having played in the Orioles, Cardinals and Tigers systems in recent years . He was originally drafted by the Tigers in the fifth round of the 1986 draft . Sent to rookie league Bristol , Austin proceeded to swipe 48 bases, then an Appalachian League record . Austin stole another 45 bases at single-A Lakeland in 1987. Austin made AA Glens Falls in 1988, hitting .297, the same mark he'd had the previous year. After a brief stint a...

Fresh out of the University of Southern California, Stu Pederson found himself with the single-A Lodi Dodgers, hitting a home run in his first at bat . Now, Lodi was looking for the California League championship, the five-game series tied 2-2, in an account in the Lodi News-Sentinel . Lodi had battled back from a 3-0 deficit in that game five, finding themselves tied at four with one out in the bottom of the ninth. Pederson came to bat. He fouled off pitches until the count was 3-2. He then parked the next one over the wall as the Lodi Dodgers walked off with the 1981 California League championship. "I knew he would challenge me with a fastball," Pederson told The News-Sentinel during the celebration afterward . Pederson was drafted by the Dodgers, taken in the ninth round of the draft. Lodi was his first destination. It would be a career that would span 12 seasons , and one where he would make it to the majors only once, for eight brief appearances. Pederson m...

When Leo Garcia made his debut for the Reds in April 1987, he got the run home, lifting a fly ball to left for a sacrifice. It wasn't his first hit, but it was good enough for some high-fives . If he could reach. Taller teammate Dave Parker went on tip toes, putting the target out of reach, amusing manager Pete Rose. "Funniest thing I ever saw," Rose told The Los Angeles Times the next month. While Rose was unimpressed with Garcia's high-five skills, he was impressed that spring with Garcia's defensive abilities. Garcia made the team that spring, despite the Reds being continually flush with outfielders . The abundance of outfielders was something Garcia tried not to think about . "When I got here, I just got my mind on working hard and trying to make the team," Garcia told the Associated Press . Garcia was originally signed seven years earlier out of his native Dominican Republic by the White Sox. He spent two seasons at single-A Appleton...

Mo Sanford couldn't believe he'd been called up to the Reds. The Padres wished he hadn't . In his major league debut, Aug. 9, 1991, Sanford pitched seven solid innings , gave up two hits, one unearned run and struck out eight. "He was real tough," Padres leadoff hitter Bip Roberts told reporters afterward . "Our scouting report said his breaking ball wasn't one of his better pitches, but after that first at-bat, I told the guys, 'this boy is for real, you'd better be ready." It was a call-up that came in his fourth year of professional ball. Sanford was a late-round draft pick by the Reds in 1988, taken in the 32nd round out of the University of Alabama. He did well in the low minors, posting a 12-6 record at Greensboro in 1989, making the South Atlantic League All Star team. He had an even better 13-4 mark at Cedar Rapids for 1990. Sanford was rewarded in 1991 with a promotion to AA Chattanooga, then AAA Nashville and Cincinn...

(Note: This is the first of two features from CMC 659. Read my earlier post on why. Scott Shockey is the player named on the card. The photo, though, belongs to Mo Sanford. Mo Sanford's feature: Real Tough ) Scott Shockey made AAA Tacoma for a brief stint in 1990, but for 1991, it was back for seasoning at AA Huntsville. In 70 games for the Stars, his season hadn't been going well. He hit .240 with just four home runs. Then, it got worse, about as bad as it could, according to The Los Angeles Times . Attempting to break up a double play, Shockey's foot got stuck, his knee gave out, according to The Times . Total reconstructive surgery ended his year and made him lose out on all the next year. Doctors, The Times said , put his chances of coming back at no better than a coin flip. "You can tell someone the odds, but you can't tell how much desire they have," Shockey told The Times in 1993 , playing for AAA Tacoma. "I don't like being told I...

Let me first say this next card is one of cards in the set I remember from when I was a kid. The photo is a nice one of a pitcher on my hometown team, the Cedar Rapids Reds. The CR Reds' home Veterans Memorial Stadium was the first stadium I ever attended a game at. I can't say I remember much about that game, but I do remember during one game being urged by my parents to get a slip of paper signed by a player signing for other kids. So anyway, I remember getting this card and thinking, cool, I got a Cedar Rapids card. I was more of a picture guy when I was a kid, never actually reading or questioning what was on the card. So that brings me to this card, CMC 659. I remember seeing it but I don't ever remember questioning the team. The player is identified as Scott Shockey , of the Midwest League's Madison Muskies. Maybe Shockey was traded before the picture was changed? No. According to Baseball Reference, Shockey was a career-long member of the Athletics organization....

Charlie Mitchell and his brother John had been on their way to becoming siblings on the same team, the Red Sox. Until 1985 . First John was traded to the Mets system, then Charlie was sent off to the Twins. "We have nothing against the Mitchell family," Red Sox GM Lou Gorman told a reporter after the organization rid itself of the second Mitchell sibling, "but we didn't think Charlie fit into our plans in the long haul." For his brother John, the move signaled the path to his major league debut. For Charlie, it saw him leave the major league portion of his career behind. Charlie Mitchell was taken by the Red Sox in the fourth round of the 1982 draft. He was first sent to short-season Elmira, and made AA New Britain in 1983. With New Britain, Mitchell shut down Reading Sept. 6 over four innings for his 14th save, according to a wire report in The Day . He made Pawtucket and Boston in 1984. He made the International League All Star team that year....

Van Snider had gotten a taste of the majors the previous September, but his prospects for 1989 weren't good. He could do well and still not make the team . The outfielder had three, better established players already patrolling the outfield at Riverfront Stadium. "Realistically, I won't make it," Snider told The South Florida Sun Sentinel that March. "I won't be there in April... but there's nothing wrong with being there in May." It wasn't May, but Snider did make it up for four games in June, and four more in July. The games brought Snider's career total to 19 , where it would remain. Snider began his career with the Royals' system, signed as a free agent in 1981. By 1983, he was at single-A Charleston, where he hit .291, going 4-4 in one July game. He made AA Jacksonville in 1983, a two-run triple for AA Memphis in August 1985 helped Memphis win . He made AAA Omaha in 1986 after posting 26 home runs at Memphis, his 25th ...

Called in for the eighth, Darrin Chapin , Albany-Colonie's closer, did what he was supposed to do , and more. Pitching against the Hagerstown Suns, Chapin set the Suns, striking out the side twice, April 30, 1989, for his third save on the year, according to The Schenectady Gazette . "I think I was 0-1 on every hitter today," Chapin told The Gazette . "I've always tried to go right after the hitters, and if they want to lay off that first pitch, that's okay." Taken by the Yankees in the sixth round of the 1986 draft out of Cleveland State , the Warren, Ohio-native Chapin had started his career as a starter. He started all 13 games he appeared in for the Yankees' Gulf Coast League rookie team that year with a respectable 3.24 ERA. But a move to the bullpen for 1987, at short-season Oneonta proved a boon. The right-hander appeared in 25 games, posting a stellar sub-1 ERA , at 0.68. Chapin continued that at single-A Fort Lauderdale in 1988, tho...

So I was perusing Chris' want list over at Nachos Grande recently and realized I had a couple cards he needed, (and one he apparently didn't ). So I sent them off. He didn't have anything off my admittedly limited want list of CMCs, so I suggested some random Cubs cards and he came through with this cool package almost two dozen Cubs in return. It's a great selection, everything from a 1985 Topps Henry Cotto to a 2008 Goudey Derrek Lee . But you'll have to forgive me, there were two other cards that stuck out to me, the proprietor of a blog focusing on the 1990 CMC set. There was the 1995 Stadium Club Cub Willie Banks . Banks graced card 808 of the CMC set, a card that I do not yet own. So maybe this is a want list card. Banks spent 1990 with the Orlando Twins as one of the club's top prospects . He made it to the Cubs for 1994, traded by the Twins in a three-player deal. The back of his card points out he threw his first complete game shutout May 24. Over his...

Fifteen thousand fans at County Stadium wanted it and Don Gordon did his best to prevent it. But, Gordon's best wasn't enough. Paul Molitor slapped Gordon's first pitch through the right side, making this game, Aug. 25, 1987, Molitor's 39th consecutive in which he got a hit. "I can't say I was worried," Molitor told reporters afterward , the day before his streak would be broken, "But it looked like one of those nights when you swing the bat well and come up empty." Gordon gave up a few hits in his time, 150 to be exact , in a major league career that spanned three seasons. Gordon began his pro career, selected in the 31st round by the Tigers in the 1982 draft. He made AA Birmingham his second year, but was released by mid-1984. Picked up by the Blue Jays, Gordon made AAA Syracuse in 1985, earning International League Pitcher of the Week honors in June, and Toronto in 1986. In 21.2 innings for the Blue Jays in 1986, Gordon gave up 17...

Sports Illustrated described the shirt as dazzling and paisley. The shirt was found in the spring training locker of Twins minor leaguer Julius McDougal by new manager Tom Kelly . Kelly took a liking to it, so much so that the young manager borrowed it and wore it out to practice . "I like to keep the game fun," Kelly told the magazine . While the game was fun for his manager that spring, the game had to be fun for McDougal. He played it for parts of nine seasons, never making the majors. By spring 1987, McDougal had spent three years in the minors, reaching AA Orlando in 1986 and Baseball Digest had him challenging for a utility position for 1987. By the time his career was over McDougal got as high as AAA, but no further. A native of Jackson, Miss., McDougal was originally taken by the Cubs in the third round of the 1984 draft. McDougal had been a stand-out at Jackson State . He spent three seasons with the Cubs system, overcoming a slow offensive start wit...

Major League Baseball had just tightened rules on treatment of Dominican prospects and Blue Jays farmhand and Dominican Republic-native Bernie Tatis believed it was progress, he told The Evening Independent of St. Petersburg in 1986. The new rules placed restrictions on scouts, including the age that prospects could sign. "A lot of scouts sign players when they are young," Tatis told the paper . "If a boy is good, the scouts will try to sign him before anybody else, even if he's only 15 or 16, I think it's a good idea to wait, so the boy can finish school." Tatis himself played his first professional game at the age of 19, in Medicine Hat, Alberta, in 1981, making a slow rise through the Toronto system. Tatis played at single-A Florence and Kinston through 1984. That year in Florence, Tatis stole 83 bases. He made AA Knoxville in 1985, where he stayed through 1987, having a couple triples in one game May 31 his final year. Signed by the Pirate...

Doug Davis never thought he would be a manager, he told The Reading Eagle in 1998. A veteran of 12 minor league seasons, and a grand total of five major league games, Davis recalled that he'd heard from a former teammate that the Mets were looking to make some changes. "There are hundreds of guys who were in my position, and the thing you hope for is that someone comes along and gives you a break," Davis told The Eagle . Playing his last game in 1995, by 1996 Davis was manager of the short-season Pittsfield Mets. It was the beginning of a managerial and coaching career that would lead Davis to the World Series, as bench coach for the 2003 Florida Marlins. Davis' pro career began in 1984, taken by the Angels in the ninth round out of North Carolina State University . He made AA Midland and AAA Edmonton and then Anaheim in 1988. (He is, of course, not to be confused with the current Doug Davis , a pitcher.) His stint with the Angels only lasted five game...