Greatest 21 Days Baseball Profiles

The score tied 3-3, and a runner on first, Mark Higgins came up. Off Mike Flanagan, Higgins smacked a single to center , setting up the tie-breaking run. It was Higgins' first major league hit , one that came in a crucial situation for his Cleveland Indians, as the Tribe went on to a 5-4 win over Toronto. It was also a hit that would turn out to be Higgins' only one in the majors. In his fifth major league game, Higgins only got into one more before being sent back down for good. Higgins made it to Cleveland after being taken by the Indians five years earlier in the first round of the 1984 draft out of the University of New Orleans. Higgins started at short-season Batavia, hitting .272 with eight home runs. He spent 1985 and 1986 at single-A Waterloo. He hit .254 his first year at Waterloo, then .317 his second. His second year earned him a promotion to AA Williamsport for 1987. At Williamsport, Higgins hit .312 with 19 home runs. Higgins went 4 for 5 in one April ...

Before I get going head long into my vacation posts , just a quick thanks to reader Will. Before we left for vacation, Will offered and sent all the CMC cards I needed to complete the set, except three. Before Will got to my want list, I needed a total of 48 cards to complete the CMC set, including a couple of the key cards, the Juan Gonzalez and Steve Avery cards. Will is an avid collector of minor league baseball cards himself, including the CMC set. He was actually trying to finish the set and I had the cards he needed and sent them off to him. Thanks again Will! Actually, Will brought my list down to four. I just brought it down to three myself. It turns out one of the cards I needed, I already had. Number 661. It turns out there is no actual 661, but two numbered 660. Mario Brito and Brian Barnes are both numbered 660. The master checklist I've been working off of, which notes other misnumbered cards, didn't have this one down. It looks like Barnes should have been the act...

In his fifth year in the minors, Rich Aude was eager to finally get his call-up. The Pirates' general manager in town, Aude saw his chance to get noticed, The Los Angeles Times wrote in June 1993. Aude delivered with two hits, a double and his 11th home run for AA Carolina, The Times wrote . Those went along with a high batting average at .330. "The name of the game is being consistent," Aude told The Times . "With two strikes, I choke up an inch, move a little closer to the pitcher and just try to put the ball in play. If I can sneak in a few singles, I can keep my average up." Whether he got noticed then or somewhere else, Aude was in Pittsburgh by September, marking the first of three seasons in which Aude would see major league time . Aude began his career taken by the Pirates in the second round out of Chatsworth High in 1989. It was Aude's height that got him noticed then. He grew four inches before his senior year to 6 feet, 5 inches tal...

The August moon rises over the Great American Ball Park scoreboard Aug. 27 So my wife and I are back from vacation. We road tripped back to my home state of Iowa seeing a bunch of cool things along the way. (See the coolest site RoadsideAmerica.com ) Also along the way I got a few extra blog topics. The obvious topics are the rundowns of the three games we saw. My wife and I traveled to Burlington, Iowa and took in a Bees game. The Burlington write-up will also give me the opportunity to mention again the last time I was there, with my dad. It involved A-Rod. We also traveled over to Omaha with my folks to see the ninth-to-last game ever at Rosenblatt Stadium. It was team card set night. We got two. On the way there, we stopped at the Bob Feller Museum in Van Meter, Iowa, and saw some very cool stuff there, including a notable Babe Ruth bat he borrowed from Feller. More on that when I get there. Both Rosenblatt and the Feller museum are among the 101 Baseball Places to See Before You ...

Updated November 2014 It was late in the 1984 gold medal game and the U.S. was down 3-1 to Japan. Starter John Hoover had pitched well, but he was in trouble. But the trouble wasn't all his doing. The two runners on base were there on a single and then an error . Hoover stayed in and promptly gave up a three-run shot to Japan's Katsumi Hirosawa for an insurmountable 6-1 deficit. "I threw a million pitches in my career, maybe a billion," Hoover told The Los Angeles Times eight years later. "A lot of them were good, some were bad. I left a curveball up and he did what any good hitter would do with it." Taken by the Orioles that year in the first round, Hoover did throw many pitches in his seven-season professional career. But the number of pitches Hoover threw in the major leagues was a precious few . Hoover only appeared in two major league games . A native of Fresno, Calif., Hoover made the Olympic team out of Fresno State. Hoover went 31-16 w...

Kevin Reimer showed consistency playing at AA Tulsa in 1988, his manager Jim Skaalen told The Los Angeles Times in August. Reimer just had to keep it up. "If he continues this way, there'll be nothing that stops him," Skaalen told The Times . "He hits left-handers very well, he's been consistent and has great power potential. The organization is really looking at him with a lot of interest now. He's opened up a lot of eyes." Reimer opened enough to make the jump from AA Tulsa to the majors that September, playing 12 games for the big club. Reimer would go on to a career that touched six major league seasons , five with the Rangers and one with the Brewers. It was the Rangers who started Reimer's career in 1985, taking him in the 11th round of the draft. That year with Tulsa, in 1988, was Reimer's first above single-A . He showed his power in April 1987, playing for single-A Port Charlotte. He hit five home runs in his team's first ...

In his eighth season of professional baseball in 1993, John Shea could still pitch. And he pitched well enough in a set-up role to get a vote of confidence from his AA manager at New Britain Jim Pankovits, according to The Hartford Courant . "I hope the organization takes a look at him," Pankovits told The Courant . "A serious look." The organization did take a look at Shea, bringing him up to AAA Pawtucket that year. But they looked no further. Shea's latest attempt to make the majors ended like the others, without a call-up. Shea's career began in 1986, taken by the Blue Jays in the 17th round of the draft. Sent to short-season St. Catharines that year, Shea made single-A Myrtle Beach for 1987. He went 11-5 with a 3.47 ERA for Myrtle Beach that year, pitching four shut-out innings in an August game. He made AA Knoxville in early 1988 and AAA Syracuse in 1990 , where he would stay through 1992. With AA Knoxville in April 1988, Shea recorded hi...

Darryl Motley was just trying to hit the ball hard May 25, 1984. He ended up driving in five runs and scoring three in a Royals win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park. "I've had some good games in the minor leagues," Motley told The Associated Press afterward, "but this is definitely my biggest game in the majors. It would be a contender, until Game 7 of the 1985 World Series . Motley was on the road to racking up contenders in 1978, drafted by the Royals in the second round. He made AA Jacksonville in 1980 then AAA Omaha in 1981 . A Motley home run in June helped Omaha to a win . The year he made Omaha was also the year Motley made Kansas City, playing 42 games for the Royals and hitting .232. Motley returned to Omaha for 1982, then played in 19 more games for the Royals in 1983. In 1984, he was in Kansas City to stay . Motley played in 146 games for Kansas City in 1984, hitting .284. He returned for 1985, playing in another 123 games, but hitting just .2...

Doug Strange had been highly thought of by none other than the Tigers manager himself, Sparky Anderson. But that was in spring 1988. His season in 1988 did nothing to live up to the expectations . Strange didn't make the Tigers out of spring training and went on to hit just .201 at AAA Toledo. He even saw time back at AA at Glens Falls . Back for 1989, Strange told The Toledo Blade he'd tried to get away from everything over the winter and refresh. Everything included part-time jobs and lifting weights. "Luckily I was able to gain some perspective," Strange told The Blade . "I learned that the way to play this game is to play hard and everything else will take care of itself." Strange made his major league debut later that year, in July. It was the first of nine major league seasons in which he'd see time. His playing days wouldn't end until 2000, when he began a front office career. Strange was drafted by the Tigers in the seventh round...

The Yankees were still in first place on Aug. 5, 1987 and Brad Arnsberg kept them there. With six innings and gave up no runs against the Indians for his first major league win . "He really showed some poise," Yankees manager Lou Piniella told The New York Times afterward. "When he had to come up with a big out, he did. It was a strong effort." Arnsberg was in his second season with the Yankees, having gotten into two games the previous year. He would see time in four more major league seasons before embarking on a career as a coach , a career that has him currently serving as pitching coach for the Houston Astros . Arnsberg's career began in 1983, taken by the Yankees in the first round of the June secondary draft. He made AA Albany-Colonie in 1985 , going 14-2 with a sub-2 ERA, at 1.59. He then made AAA Columbus and the Bronx in 1986. In August 1986, for Columbus, Arnsberg came within two outs of a no-hitter against Syracuse, retiring 21 batter...

Eddie Dixon was about as nervous as he could be before this game in 1985. It was his first professional outing , for the West Palm Beach Expos. Dixon promptly went out and threw a complete-game shutout. It was the first step in a career that Dixon hoped would go a few steps further , to the major leagues. "All I really want is to get a chance to pitch in the major leagues," Dixon told The Palm Beach Post after the game, "and I plan to make the best of it." Dixon would go on to a career that spanned 11 seasons, but that nervous feeling he felt in his first professional start, he would never get the opportunity to experience it in the majors. He got as high as AAA, but no further . Dixon joined West Palm Beach in 1985, having been signed by the Expos as an undrafted free agent. He split the year between West Palm and short-season Jamestown, his ERA on the year at 3.21. He returned to single-A West Palm Beach for 1986 and 1987, appearing in 43 games each ye...

Karl "Tuffy" Rhodes didn't hit many home runs early in his career. By April 1994, he'd only hit five in 280 at-bats. But in 1994, Rhodes increased that total to eight . By inning five. Opening Day. Facing Dwight Gooden. "I have to tell you I don't try to hit home runs," Rhodes told reporters after his three home run effort , only the second such display ever on Opening Day. "I go up there and try to hit line drives." While he may have tried to hit line drives, Rhodes it would be his home run swing for which he would become better known , just not so much in the United States. Rhodes would take his bat to Japan by 1996 , where he played until last year. Rhodes collected a total of 464 home runs in the Far East, the most of any foreign-born player. He also claims a share of the single-season mark, with 55 hit in 2001. A native of Cincinnati, Rhodes' career began stateside, selected in the third round of the 1986 draft by the Astros. ...

Laddie Renfroe had some important advice for his son David in June 2010, according to The Nashua Telegraph . Professional baseball and college baseball are not the same. "I told him, 'You’re going to be playing every single day,'" Laddie Renfroe told The Telegraph on the occasion of his son, the Red Sox' 2009 third-round pick, starting play at single-A Lowell. “And you’re going to have to battle through slumps every once in awhile, so just work harder.” The father knows, he played professionally for nine seasons, pitching in the majors for a total of four games and 4.2 innings. Laddie Renfroe started his own career taken by the Cubs in the 24th round of the 1984 draft out of the University of Mississippi. He had been a walk-on at OleMiss and, by the time his college career ended, he owned the school's total wins mark, according to The Telegraph . But, whether it was enough to get him drafted, Renfroe wasn't sure . "I waited and waited,...