Chris Padget played seven pro seasons, four at AAA Rochester; Missed bigs

Part of it was burnout, Chris Padget admitted to his hometown Dothan Eagle in 2008. Part of it was he wanted to concentrate on his teaching.

But, that spring, Padget formally left the game he'd played for nearly four decades, resigning as Dothan, Ala.'s Headland High School head baseball coach.

"I started playing baseball when I was 6 years old and I have been in it for 39 years, so it is a tough thing to leave," Padget told The Eagle. "But it was like I was telling a friend of mine the other day, I would love to go watch a Masters (golf tournament) practice. I couldn’t because of baseball. Now some of those little things that you looked at doing, I can do."

"It is a little bit of burn out," Padget continued, "but I just wanted to teach and do more in my teacher's job. I want to concentrate on that."

Of those 39 years in baseball, seven of them came as a professional player, drafted in the seventh round of the 1984 draft by the Orioles. He spent all seven of those years in the Orioles' minor league system, getting as high as AAA Rochester, but never getting to Baltimore or anywhere else in the majors.

Padget was taken by the Orioles out of the University of Mississippi, where he was voted most valuable player on his team his senior year. He hit .353 that season with nine home runs and 31 RBIs. He also had seven triples, according to the Ole Miss Yearbook. He was also a factor earlier, hitting a three-run home run in a March 1983 Ole Miss win.

Padget played his first professional season between rookie league Bluefield and short-season Newark, hitting .332 with 10 home runs between the two.

He made single-A Hagerstown for 1985 then AA Charlotte in 1986, hitting .324 with 22 home runs for Charlotte. In a July game, Padget hit a walk-off, bases-loaded single against Orlando.

It was on the strength of that Charlotte season that Padget made it to spring training in 1987. In one spring training game, Padget put the Orioles ahead late with a two-run single. His performance earned him a promotion to AAA Rochester, where he would stay for four seasons, the remainder of his career.

Padget had an abbreviated 1987, getting into only 47 games with the Red Wings. But he did get two hits in one May win for Rochester. He was back for a full season 1988, but his bat wasn't. He hit just .220 with 10 home runs. He got another triple in late August, sending home a run.

For 1989, Padget hit .245 with nine home runs. His final year, Padget played in just 74 games, improving his average back to .279.

With Rochester in the Triple-A Classic, Padget helped the Red Wings attempt a comeback in the deciding game with a fifth-inning single. But the Red Wings' comeback came up short, as did Padget's effort to make the majors. The championship game was Padget's last as a player.

The Eagle wrote that among the factors helping his career to an end was a knee injury. He went on to coach with Wallace College and then another high school near his home in Alabama. Then he coached eight years at his old high school Headland.

He left knowing what he was giving up. He was remaining a physics and chemistry teacher at the school.

"When I finished playing, I missed the players and the camaraderie and I will face the same thing now — I won’t miss the game as much as the players," Padget told The Eagle. “The kids were wonderful.”

• Dothan Eagle, May 5, 2008: Padget steps away from coaching at Headland

More: 1990 Rochester Red Wings

1990 CMC Tally 

Cards Reviewed: 271/880 - 30.8% 

Players/Coaches Reviewed: 276 

Made the Majors: 187 - 68% 

Never Made the Majors: 89 - 32% 

5+ Seasons in the Majors: 82 

10+ Seasons in the Minors: 80

Chris Johnson, Best Opportunity - 712

Drafted straight out of high school, Chris Johnson started his professional career thinking he was better than he was, he admitted to The Milwaukee Journal in July 1990. But, in his fourth professional season, Johnson relayed he then had a better perspective.

"I couldn't blow past guys like I used to in high school," Johnson told The Journal of his transition from high school to the minors. "I kind of wondered why Milwaukee drafted me, and I'm sure the first couple of years they were wondering the same thing."

"They've given me the best opportunity that anybody ever has," Johnson added to The Journal, "and it was just time for me to do something, especially with the way they've been patient with me."

Johnson had regained his confidence by that time. Johnson spoke after going 12-2 over the first three months of the season, with a 2.34 ERA. But, while Johnson had his confidence back, he also would never make the majors.

Johnson was originally signed by the Brewers in 1987, taken in the second round of the draft straight out of Red Bank High School in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Johnson started his career at rookie league Helena, going 5-0 with a 4.03 ERA. He advanced to single-A Beloit for 1988, keeping a steady ERA at 3.95 with a record of 8-10.

For 1989, Johnson stayed at Beloit, improving to a 3.18 ERA and a 9-9 record. For 1990, it was high-A Stockton. His season-long ERA ended at 2.98, with a record of 13-6. That April, Johnson and another pitcher combined for a one-hitter, The Journal wrote.

By that September, Stockton manager Chris Bando had high praise for Johnson.

"In my mind, he could be pitching AAA ball with the stuff and command he has," Bando said, according to The Journal. "He has a hard sinker, a slider and a change-up, and they're all strikes. He has a good head on his shoulders and keeps his cool in jams. I caught pitchers in the major leagues who had success and had less going for them than Chris."

Johnson made AA El Paso for 1991. He also made the Brewers' 40-man roster. He went 4-4 with a 6.48 ERA before the Brewers, needing roster space, left him exposed to waivers. Montreal quickly claimed him and sent him to Harrisburg.

"The Brewers took a calculated risk," Expos assistant general manager Dan Duquette told The Journal that August. "He had a good year in the California League last year but they obviously felt he wasn't pitching that well in the Texas League.

"Chris Johnson is still a prospect," Duquette continued, adding Johnson was hit on the shoulder by a line-drive at El Paso. "He's been OK for us. We like him as a pitcher."

Duquette also didn't commit to Johnson making AAA for 1992. Johnson played at Harrisburg the full year in 1992, going 9-10 with a 3.98 ERA. By mid-1993, Johnson had moved on to the Cubs' system, at AA Orlando. He got in 15 games for Orlando that year with an ERA of 2.96.

Johnson returned to AA Orlando for 1994 and 1995, the final two seasons of his affiliated career.

Mainly a reliever toward the end, Johnson picked up seven saves his final two years with Orlando. One of those saves came in May 1994, pitching two scoreless innings, according to The Orlando Sentinel.

Johnson also pitched three perfect innings of relief in a game that April, The Sentinel wrote.

"Chris has been working very hard between appearances, and the hard work is carrying over into the games,'' Orlando manager Dave Trembley told The Sentinel. ''He threw the ball very well tonight.''

He played in one more season, with independent Newburgh and his career was over, never having made it higher than AA.

• Milwaukee Journal, July 1, 1990: Joy ride: Pitcher learns mechanics, finds success with Brewers
• Milwaukee Journal, Sept. 2, 1990: Prospect avenue
• Milwaukee Journal, Aug. 9, 1991: Expos happy to get Brewers' prospect
• Orlando Sentinel, April 29, 1994: 4 Lookouts' Pitchers Stave Off Cubs, 5-4

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Reviewed: 270/880 - 30.7%
Players/Coaches Reviewed: 275
Made the Majors: 187 - 68%
Never Made the Majors: 88 - 32%
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 82
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 80

Tim Sherrill, Fishing and Baseball - 122

Asked about his career in his new chosen sport, Tim Sherrill wasn't sure how to respond. He was a fisherman now, one with the title of former major leaguer.

He didn't like to think of the fisherman part as a career, even though he had just won a major fishing tournament. He was just your average weekend fisherman, Sherrill told ESPN 1400, of Springfield, Mo., in a radio interview Oct. 5, 2009 after his win.

"I fish every chance I get," Sherrill told his interviewers. "I like to compete. I guess that goes back to the days I played baseball in college and professionally. It's not as much competing against the fishermen, as it is against the fish.

"You know," Sherrill said, "that's what I'm gonna keep doing, I'm going to keep fishing and hopefully I can win another one of these these days."

Sherrill's time competing against the baseball fish - or sharks - lasted six seasons. It was a baseball career that got him to the majors for brief stints in two seasons and into a total of 18 contests.

Sherrill's professional baseball career began in 1987, taken by the Cardinals in the 18th round out of the University of Arkansas. At Arkansas, Sherrill worked with two other pitchers in March of that year for a combined no-hitter. Before the Razorbacks, Sherrill pitched for North Arkansas, earning himself a spot in the school's Hall of Fame.

With the Cardinals, Sherrill started at rookie league Johnson City, pitching in 42 innings and posting an ERA of 3.00. He hit single-A Savannah and St. Petersburg for 1988, with a combined ERA on the year of just 1.70. In on April game, Sherrill struck out the final six Sumter batters for a Savannah win.

Sherrill returned to St. Petersburg in 1989, showing an ERA of 2.12 with six saves and 48 strike outs. One of those saves came in July at Dunedin with a hitless ninth.

He made AAA Louisville in 1990, skipping over AA entirely. With Louisville, Sherrill had an ERA of 2.49 in 52 games. It was that August that the Cardinals' Bryn Smith was placed on the disabled list and Sherrill got his first call-up to St. Louis.

With the Cardinals that year, Sherrill got into eight games, his first Aug. 14, his last Oct. 3. In a total of 4.1 innings, he gave up three earned runs and struck out three. He gave up two of those runs in a Aug. 25 outing, giving up four hits and a suicide squeeze in an inning of work.

Sherrill returned to the Cardinals in mid-May 1991, getting into another 10 games, the final 10 big league games of his career.

This time, he gave up 13 earned runs in 14.1 innings of work. Four of those came May 27. After being described by The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as neatly extricating himself from a jam in one inning, gave up four runs in the next. Three more runs came as he gave up a home run in June to Hall of Famer Eddie Murray.

Sent back down by late June, Sherrill returned to Louisville. Another year at Louisville in 1992 and Sherrill's playing days were done.

But, years later, as he described standing on the stage, waiting to see if he'd won the Central Pro-Am Association's 2009 fishing championship, Sherrill reached back to his baseball days.

"I hadn't been that nervous," Sherrill told ESPN 1400, "since I was standing on the mound at Busch Stadium in 1990 for my first big league game."

Sherrill ended up winning, bringing in more than 28 pounds of fish over two days that October, besting the second-place competitor's 25-pound haul.

Compare those numbers to the numbers Sherrill put up at Busch that day on Aug. 14, 1990: two-thirds of an inning, no hits, no runs.

• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 28, 1991: Drabek one-hits Cards, wins 8-0, Part 2
• ESPN 1400, Oct. 5, 2009: Tournament Fishing Radio Podcast (Direct link)
• ConservationCafe.com, October 2009: Central Pro-Am Association Championship Results

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Reviewed: 269/880 - 30.6%
Players/Coaches Reviewed: 274
Made the Majors: 187 - 68%
Never Made the Majors: 87 - 32%
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 82
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 79

Greg Fulton, Best Defense - 436

The Vermont Mariners had just defeated the Reading Phillies 5-3 on the strength of a five-run sixth inning, Aug. 25, 1988. But it wasn't the sixth that Vermont manager Rich Morales looked to as the key to the game, it was the second inning and the defensive play of first baseman Greg Fulton, according to The Reading Eagle.

"That was an incredible inning," Morales told The Eagle. "We made a first-to-home-to-first double play. One of the reasons I played (Greg) Fulton tonight was because of his defense with all those left-handed hitters.

"He's the best defensive first baseman in the league," Morales told the paper, "and he did the job when he had to do the job. That was the ballgame for us right there; it really was."

Fulton was the best defensive first baseman in the league - the Eastern League managers voted him so earlier in the year.

But Fulton wouldn't get the chance to show off his defensive skills with Vermont's parent club, Seattle, or anywhere else in the majors. Fulton made AAA for parts of three seasons, but never made the majors.

Fulton's career began with the Seattle organization in 1985, taken in the 29th round of the draft out of the University of Massachusetts.

Fulton played that year at short-season Bellingham, hitting .200 with one home run. He got one of his hits in a July game, adding an insurance run in a 3-1 victory. He got two more hits days later, a double and a triple, both wind-aided.

He played 1986 at single-A Salinas, improving his numbers to 10 home runs and a .272 batting average. Fulton got a hit in June off rehabbing major-leaguer John Candelaria. That same month, Fulton hit a three-run triple, part of a three-hit, six-RBI night.

He first hit AA in 1987, with Chattanooga. The bump up in level came with a bump back down in average to .232 and seven home runs. It was in 1988 that Fulton took his glove and hit Vermont, staying in AA. His hitting, however, dropped again to .213 with a single home run.

Fulton first made AAA in 1989. spending most of the year there at Calgary, hitting .282. He returned for 1990, playing 22 games, hitting .291. But mid-year, Fulton moved on to the Expos system.

With the Expos organization in 1990, Fulton played at high-A West Palm Beach and AA Chattanooga. He had two triples for West Palm Beach in a July win. He had two hits and three RBI in an August game.

Fulton played 1991 at AA Harrisburg, hitting .293. He split 1992 between Harrisburg and a return to AAA at Indianapolis. He hit .216 at Indianapolis with six home runs. Fulton was credited with a single game played in 1993, at Harrisburg, ending his career short of the majors.

• Modesto Bee, June 21, 1986: Fulton's fireworks ends Modesto's title hopes
  
• Reading Eagle, Aug. 26, 1988: Vermont defeats R-Phils

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Reviewed: 268/880 - 30.5%
Players/Coaches Reviewed: 273
Made the Majors: 186 - 68%
Never Made the Majors: 87 - 32%
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 82
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 79

Royce Clayton celebrated bigs call, saw 17 seasons

Royce Clayton had been named the top prospect in the minor leagues by The Sporting News earlier in 1991, but Clayton still didn't expect his call-up to come so soon, The Los Angeles Times wrote that September.

He got the call and it was time to celebrate, The Times wrote. But Clayton was alone.

"No one was there," Clayton told The Times. "I ran out back and celebrated with the dogs. I paced up and down saying to myself, 'I'm going to the show, I'm going to the show.' "

It was a celebration that began a major league career that would span 17 seasons and end on another celebration, watching his teammates win the World Series.

Clayton was originally taken by the Giants in the first round of the 1988 draft, directly out of high school. Clayton had committed to USC, but the Giants' offers proved too much for the 18-year-old, taking the $195,000 and signing, The Times wrote.

Clayton made the Giants in 1991, playing in nine games that September, going 3 for 26. He returned for 1992, spending a good portion of the year with San Francisco, hitting .224.

By 1993, the shortstop was in the majors for good, stealing 11 bases, batting in 70 and hitting .282. In 1995, Clayton stole 24 bases while hitting .244. He also batted in 58, four of those coming in a May game against the Padres.

"I know I don't have to hit the ball out of the park to drive in runs," Clayton told reporters after the game. "The RBIs were out there and I'm aggressive."

But by 1996, Clayton had moved on, traded to the Cardinals. The shortstop was also given the almost impossible task of replacing the aging Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith.

Clayton did an adequate job at short for the Cardinals, hitting .277 with six home runs and 33 stolen bases in 1996. He stayed through mid 1998, but his efforts weren't good enough. Some Cardinal fans even blamed his arrival for forcing Smith into retirement earlier than he wanted to, according to The New York Daily News.

Clayton left St. Louis, traded to Texas, becoming the Rangers' everyday shortstop. That was until it was Clayton who made way for a possible future Hall of Famer, Alex Rodriguez. Clayton was traded to the White Sox for 2001, a prospect Clayton looked forward to.

"Once I found out I was traded to the White Sox, I was basically overwhelmed," Clayton told the Associated Press in December 2000. "I was very positive about going to a place where I could win. That was my first and foremost concern."

Clayton still had seven seasons left in the big leagues. He would spend that time with eight different franchises. There were two years with the White Sox; one each with Milwaukee, Colorado and Arizona; then partial years with Washington, Cincinnati, Toronto and Boston.

Going into what would be his final season, 2007, Clayton felt confident. He signed a one-year deal with Toronto and referenced his durability.

"I know I'm getting up there in age," Clayton told CBC Sports. "But in the past 15-16 years, I've been able to play over 140 games every year."

But Clayton wouldn't last the year. The Blue Jays released him in August. He soon signed on with Boston, coming on in September to play his last eight games in the majors.

Clayton has since gone on to other pursuits, including a small part in the new Moneyball movie. He also has teaches the game and oversees charitable efforts, according to his Web site RoyceClayton.com.

His brief time with the Red Sox appears to have been the high point of his career, featured prominently on his site. He didn't get to play for the Red Sox in the post-season, but he did get to celebrate along side his new teammates as the Red Sox won the World Series, according to The Providence Journal.

Clayton even got doused with champagne by Kevin Youkilis as the Red Sox won the American League Championship Series with Youkilis acknowledging that Clayton made it, The Journal wrote.

''There’s no better feeling in the world,'' Clayton told The Journal. ''I've played a long time to get to this point. I've worked extremely hard and this is what you play for."

• Los Angeles Times, July 28, 1988: College or Pro Ball?: Dream or Nightmare?
  
• Los Angeles Times, Sept. 27, 1991: Clayton Samples Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous
• Lodi News-Sentinel, Associated Press, May 6, 1995: Royce rolls as Giants top Padres
• New York Daily News, Oct. 1, 1998: Rangers' Royce standing tall at short
• Southeast Missourian, Associated Press, Dec. 15, 2000: Texas Deals Clayton after signing A-Rod
• CBC Sports, Nov. 29, 2006: Shortstop Royce Clayton joins Blue Jays
• Providence Journal, Oct. 27, 2007: Royce reveling in Series
• Royce Clayton Web site: RoyceClayton.com

More: The 1990 San Jose Giants

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Reviewed: 267/880 - 30.3%
Players/Coaches Reviewed: 272
Made the Majors: 186 - 68%
Never Made the Majors: 86 - 32%
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 82
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 79

Derek Parks, Slow to Develop - 566

Five years after the Twins took him in the first round of the draft, this was not where Derek Parks wanted to be. He'd made AAA Portland the previous year. But, by 1991, injuries and overall poor play left him back in Orlando, at AA.

''If I stay healthy, I know I can hit,'' Parks told The Orlando Sentinel that May. ''I was angry when they (the Twins) sent me back to Double-A ball this spring. But I'm over that. It doesn't matter where I play as long as I get a full season in and pile up some numbers.''

The catcher would eventually make it to where he wanted to be, the majors. But the former 10th overall pick would make it for three all-too-short stints totaling 45 games in all, his last coming days before the 1994 strike began.

Parks was selected by the Twins straight out of Montclair High School in California as a 17-year-old. Baseball America had ranked Parks as the fifth best prep player going into the draft, according to The Los Angeles Times.

But, that May, Parks was still undecided about going pro.

"The draft has got to beat what the colleges offer," Parks told The Times. "If not, then it's simple: I go to college."

But he soon decided, he signed with the Twins, playing that first year with rookie league Elizabethton. But, after hitting .507 in high school, Parks hit just .237 with 10 home runs in rookie ball.

The next season, at single-A Kenosha, Parks hit a little better, but not much, hitting .247. But he hit home runs, 24.

''Not only does Derek have good power, but he's durable, and has a very strong arm. The Twins' organization is very high on him,'' Orlando coach Steve Comer told The Sentinel in May 1988. ''He was a top prospect last year and was able to jump to AA ball from rookie league, so he is being pushed along.''

That was the year Parks first made AA Orlando, hitting a grand slam in an April game. But he still hit just .235 and just six other home runs. The next spring Parks, still just 20 years old, played in his first major league exhibition game in March 1989 and Parks was a nervous wreck, The Sentinel wrote.

''Here I was catching the Cy Young winner my first time out," Parks told The Sentinel. "I couldn't eat before the game. And then I could only go by instincts. Frank Viola was wonderful.''

He returned to Orlando, his average plummeting to just .189. He also was out for six weeks that year, injuring his thumb in June trying to catch a wild throw, The Sentinel wrote. Still, he was promoted for 1990 to AAA Portland. Still, his average got even worse, .177.

Back in Orlando for 1991, Parks improved, but just a little. He hit a two-run home run to help the O-Twins to a 3-2 victory in April.

"He's been slow to develop, plagued by injuries,'' Orlando manager Scott Ullger told The Sentinel that month. ''This could be the time for him to come along.''

Parks' hitting didn't come along. He hit .215 on the year, with six home runs. He returned to Portland for 1992, improving his average to .245 with 12 home runs. It was enough for Parks to finally make Minnesota as a September call-up. He got into seven games, getting two hits in six official at-bats.

Parks returned to Portland for 1993, getting another September call-up with another seven appearances. This time, he got 20 official at-bats and four hits. He also got his first major-league RBI Sept. 29.

By 1994, Parks landed in the majors from the outset. He played sparingly, getting in 31 games, but he stayed up the full year, until the strike. He got three hits in a June game, his first and only major league home run in another game that month. His final game came Aug. 5.

The strike underway, Parks and the other major leaguers settled into life without big league ball. Parks began work in September as an assistant coach for a girls soccer team. But, while the major leaguers would return in April, Parks wouldn't, his once-promising professional baseball career ending the month the strike began.

• Los Angeles Times, May 28, 1986: Behind Door No. 1...
• Orlando Sentinel, May 29, 1988: O-Twins Catcher Parks Doesn't Want Climb To Stop
• Orlando Sentinel, March 5, 1989: Parks In Debut: 'Nervous Wreck'
• Orlando Sentinel, June 13, 1989: O-Twins Catcher To Miss 6 Weeks
• Orlando Sentinel, April 11, 1991: Sunrays, Ullger Set To Go
• Orlando Sentinel, May 5, 1991: Can't-miss Prospect Isn't Hitting
• Moscow-Pullman Daily News, Associated Press, Sept. 16, 1994: Business of baseball goes on

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Reviewed: 266/880 - 30.2%
Players/Coaches Reviewed: 271
Made the Majors: 185 - 68%
Never Made the Majors: 86 - 32%
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 81
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 79

Darrell Sherman, Scouts Doubted - 719

After speeding his way through college ball, Darrell Sherman had no doubt in 1989 that he eventually would make the majors. It was just that scouts didn't think the same.

Sherman was quick. But he was also small, as in 5 feet 7 inches small.

"I was pretty disappointed, because everything (not being drafted) was based on my height," Sherman told The Spokane Spokesman-Review in August 1989. "(Scouts) didn't think I was a prospect."

But it took one scout to notice and see the potential, convincing the Padres to use their sixth round pick in the 1989 draft on the not-so-tall outfielder from Cerritos Junior College in California.

Sherman repaid that faith by challenging for the short-season Northwest League's stolen base record his first year and making the majors for 37 games in his fifth.

Sherman was certainly speedy. For Cerritos College, Sherman swiped 46 bases. That first year with Spokane, Sherman stole 58. At single-A Riverside in 1990, Sherman took 74, earning league All-Star honors. He even got a brief look at AAA Las Vegas.

He played 1991 at AA Wichita, hitting .295, stealing another 43 bases for the Wranglers. He also got tossed from a game that year for tossing a bat onto the field, prompting an ill-fated promotion the next night, according to The Los Angeles Times.

But it was enough for the Padres to leave him unprotected in the minor league draft, giving the Orioles the opportunity to pick him up.

Baltimore eyed Sherman as their new lead-off hitter. But Sherman didn't show the Orioles what they wanted to see.

"I don't think we've seen Darrell Sherman at his best," Baltimore manager John Oates told The Baltimore Sun as spring training days dwindled. "The way he has swung the bat here, there is no way he hit .300 at Double-A last year. We would like to see the real Darrell Sherman, but the problem is, there are only two weeks left of spring training."

The Orioles soon offered Sherman back to San Diego and San Diego took Sherman back, sending him back minors, splitting the year between Wichita and AAA Las Vegas. But, after that year, they did promote Sherman to their 40-man roster. In 1993, he reached new heights.

That next spring, Sherman was with the Padres, getting advice from future Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn.

"Sherm's been drifting in the batter's box for about two years now," Gwynn said within earshot of Sherman that spring, according to Baseball Digest. Gwynn meant two weeks. "When he takes his stride, he's got to keep his weight back. We got the camera out, filmed him. He's getting better, but we just have to keep talking about it. Keep workin'."

Sherman made the Padres out of the gate that year, getting a lead-off double in the sixth inning of an April 8 game and scoring and getting a sacrifice fly in a 2-1 San Diego win May 7. He also stole just two bases, and hit just .222.

It was back to the minors by late May after 37 games. Those would be the only 37 games Sherman would see in the bigs.

Sherman played 1994 with the Rockies' AAA team at Colorado Springs, 1995 with the Mariners at AAA Tacoma and his time in affiliated ball was done. He went on to multiple seasons in Mexico, his last in 2006, finally ending his playing career.

Sherman made his coaching debut in 2008 with the Padres back in the Northwest League, as hitting coach for Eugene.

• Spokane Spokesman-Review, Aug. 6, 1989: Short Indian reaches new heights, Part 2
• Baltimore Sun, March 25, 1992: Bad habit is bad news for Sherman
• Baseball Digest, September 1993: Baseball's Shop Talk Begins Around the Batting Cage

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Reviewed: 265/880 - 30.1%
Players/Coaches Reviewed: 270
Made the Majors: 184 - 68%
Never Made the Majors: 86 - 32%
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 81
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 79

Kevin Tahan, His Night - 664

Read the May 2015 interview: Kevin Tahan, To Himself

Kevin Tahan had just finished a three-hit performance with a home run to lead his Vigilantes to a comeback win in August 1998.

The win kept the independent Mission Viejo team in position for the playoffs and Tahan's efforts helped take pressure off his teammates, Tahan told The Los Angeles Times.

"If you want to go to the playoffs, you have to step up," Tahan told The Times. "You can't rely on one guy to get you there, and we had been doing that with (teammate) Alan [Burke].

"Tonight was my night."

It was also one of his last. Tahan was in the 10th and final season of his professional baseball career. It was a career where he spent five seasons in independent baseball, all after a career in affiliated ball where he never made it higher than AA.

Tahan's career began a decade earlier, taken by the Cardinals in the 43rd round of the 1989 draft. He was taken out of after grabbing a share of his college's home run record hitting his twelfth that April in a U.S. International win over Cal-State Fullerton.

Tahan spent his 1989 season with the Arizona rookie league Cardinals, hitting .294 in 50 games.

Tahan played 1990 at single-A Savannah, his batting average dropping to .222. In an August game, Tahan helped send his Cardinals into extra innings with a squeeze bunt.

He spent the bulk of 1991 at single-A Springfield in the Midwest League, hitting .263 in 97 games. Tahan also saw time that year at high-A St. Petersburg.

Tahan spent 1992 back at Springfield, hitting .268 with five home runs. That earned him a look at AA Arkansas for 1993, but he only got into 35 games and hit just .154 and ending his time in affiliated ball, short of the majors.

Tahan made one more attempt at the majors, albeit the replacement majors, in spring 1995. He hit a home run off of Oil Can Boyd March 16.

Tahan hit the independent circuit for 1994, spending his first of three seasons with the Texas-Louisiana League's Amarillo Dillas. He set the team record for RBIs in 1995 with 95, hitting .333 on the year.

He played 1997 with the Alexandria Aces, driving in two runs against his former team Amarillo in a game that July.

It was in mid 1998 that Tahan joined Mission Viejo. That was after a stint in Taiwan, according to The Times. By then, Tahan was 31 years old, the oldest member of the Mission Viejo, The Times noted.

His night that August, also came on his birthday, his 32nd.

"This was big for the whole team," Tahan told The Times. "It's nice to do something like this on your birthday - it's nice to do it any time [because] we're still in the hunt for a playoff spot; we don't have much margin for error."

Read the May 2015 interview: Kevin Tahan, To Himself 

• Los Angeles Times, Aug. 12, 1998: Vigilantes Rally to Beat Reno

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Reviewed: 264/880 - 30.0%
Players/Coaches Reviewed: 269
Made the Majors: 183 - 68%
Never Made the Majors: 86 - 32%
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 81
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 78

Vic Rodriguez, Position to Know - 564

The Greatest 21 Days caught up with Vic Rodriguez in August 2011, read the interview: Vic Rodriguez, Something Special

The single A Red Sox affiliate Greenville Drive got a new manager this past year in Billy McMillon and Boston's minor-league hitting coordinator Vic Rodriguez saw good things coming.

"I think he's going to do a good job," Rodriguez told The Sumter Item about McMillon. "He's very knowledgeable about baseball. We already know he can do hitting coach. This is not going to hurt us. It's going to help us a lot."

With more than three decades in baseball under his belt, Rodriguez would be in a position to know.

Rodriguez has spent almost that entire three decades plus in the minor leagues, including 19 seasons as a player and years more as a minor league coordinator. He did get to the majors, his big league resume consisting of all of 17 games.

Rodriguez' baseball career began in 1977, signed by the Orioles as a free agent. He spent his first two seasons in rookie ball, at Bluefield, hitting .293 and then .320.

He made AA Charlotte for the first time in 1980 and full-time in 1981. He made AAA for the first time in 1982 for 87 games with Rochester, starting the year there. He was back at Charlotte by July, doubling and scoring in one game.

Rodriguez made AAA for good in 1984. Save for those 17 games in the majors, Rodriguez would stay at AAA in one organization or another through 1995.

Rodriguez got his first taste of the majors as a September call-up for the Orioles in 1984. Rodriguez debuted Sept. 5, but he didn't get his first at-bat until Sept. 18, his fourth appearance. He went 1 for 2. In all, Rodriguez went 7 or 17 that September, including going 3 for 5 Sept. 20.

A Rodriguez single helped result in a run Sept. 24. He also just missed another single Sept. 21, with the fielder snaring the "scortching liner," according to a wire account.

Rodriguez didn't return to the majors until five years later, in 1989 with the Twins. In between, Rodriguez went through the Padres and Cardinals systems. In 1986, with the Cardinals at spring training, Rodriguez hit two home runs and knocked in five in a 17-9 crushing of Minnesota.

In that 1989 run with the Twins, Rodriguez got into six more games, his final ones in the majors. He went 5 for 11. One of those contributed to a Twins run July 28.

After that last look at the majors, Rodriguez stayed at AAA for the rest of his career, hitting the Phillies system in 1992, the Marlins in 1994 and Red Sox in 1995. He hit a two-run home run in an April 1994 game with the Pacific Coast League's Edmonton Trappers, having earned the title "PCL veteran."
For 1995, the minor league veteran tried replacement ball with the Red Sox. The strike over, he joined AAA Pawtucket, getting three hits in one April game. A month later, he joined the Red Sox as a hitting coach.

Rodriguez has gone through several positions with the Red Sox, making minor league hitting coordinator in 2006, after three years as the organization's Latin American field coordinator.

• Spartanburg Herald-Journal, Associated Press, March 14, 1986: Baseball Offenses In Gear
  
• Sumter Item, April 2, 2010: Managing his way through

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Reviewed: 263/880 - 29.9%
Players/Coaches Reviewed: 268
Made the Majors: 183 - 68%
Never Made the Majors: 85 - 32%
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 81
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 77

Chuck Knoblauch, Time Thinking - 807

Chuck Knoblauch had just had a whirl-wind year in 1991. The year before he was at AA Orlando. He not only made it directly to Minnesota for 1991, he was an integral part of the Twins' championship run.

He also won himself the American League Rookie of the Year award along the way.

"I can't spend too much time thinking about what has happened since last March," Knoblauch told the St. Petersburg Times as the Twins took on the Braves in the World Series. "My head might spin.

"It was good from the beginning this season," Knoblauch added, "and it's kept getting better and better."

Knoblauch stayed with the Twins through 1997, unable to stop thinking about that championship year and the team failures that followed. When he moved on to another contender, the Yankees, his thinking continued, especially about throwing. Some said he was thinking too much.

Years after it was all over, Knoblauch's name showing up in the Mitchell Report, some were thinking other things about him.

It started for Knoblauch in 1989, taken by the Twins in the first round of the draft. He hit his way through single-A that year and then took on AA Orlando for 1990. Then came 1991 and his call-up to Minnesota, bypassing AAA altogether.

That first year with the Twins, Knoblauch played in 151 games, hitting .281 with 50 RBIs and 25 stolen bases. He also received 26 of 28 first place votes for AL Rookie of the Year. "Luckily I was on a winning team, did some things well and had a consistent year," Knoblauch told the Associated Press.

Knoblauch made the All Star team with the Twins in 1992, 1994, 1996 and 1997. By 1997, the Twins had gone through five consecutive losing seasons and Knoblauch was ready to move on.

"There's not one bad thing I can say about the Twins," Knoblauch told the AP that September. "They gave me an opportunity to play major league baseball and they've been very good to me."

"To not have the ability to win," Knoblauch added, "which is everybody's goal, is no fun."

It was that off season that the Twins dealt Knoblauch to the Yankees. It was soon after that his throwing troubles began. He couldn't get the ball to go where he wanted it to, a problem for any fielder, including a second baseman.

And the problems persisted. He first wouldn't talk about it, according to The New York Daily News. He then talked about seeing a hypnotist in 1999.

"I probably won’'t worry about it until the off season," Knoblauch told The Daily News as the Yankees prepared for the Braves in the 1999 World Series. "It's not going to be cured overnight."

But, they continued. In June 2000, Knoblauch had three errors in one game and walked out. By 2001, he was no longer a second baseman, he was a left fielder.

Knoblauch had one more year in the majors, his 12th season, in Kansas City. It was an injury-plagued year that saw him hit just .210.

Then, in 2007, Knoblauch was in the headlines again, named in the Mitchell Report. Brian McNamee told baseball investigators that he injected Knoblauch with Human Growth Hormone in 2001 seven to nine times. Knoblauch didn't respond to investigators for the report.

He later responded to The New York Times. "I have nothing to defend," Knoblauch told the Times. "I have nothing to hide at the same time."

"I've got nothing to do with any of that, I mean, any baseball," Knoblauch told The Times. "And I don't want anything to do with baseball."

He later met with congressional investigators in February 2008. After the meeting, Knoblauch told waiting reporters, "I want baseball to be fair and healthy just like everybody else."

• St. Petersburg Times, Oct. 21, 1991: Knoblauch a big hit for Twins
• Ludington Daily News, Associated Press, Nov. 6, 1991: Knoblauch named AL's top rookie
• Boca Raton News, Associated Press, Sept. 23, 1997: Knoblauch wants a trade
• New York Daily News, Oct. 23, 1999: Mental blauch at the worst possible times, Chuck Knoblauch gets the yips
• New York Times, June 16, 2000: After Three Errors, Knoblauch Walks Out
• MLB.com, New York Times, Jan. 11, 2008: Knoblauch discusses Mitchell Report

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Reviewed: 262/880 - 29.8%
Players/Coaches Reviewed: 267
Made the Majors: 182 - 68%
Never Made the Majors: 85 - 32%
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 81
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 76

Road Trip: Mission Burlington

The first time I was in Burlington, Iowa, for a baseball game, I was on a mission.

The visiting Appleton Foxes, the single-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners, had the top pick in the draft and he probably wasn't going to be in Single-A very long. Or at least long enough to make it to Appleton's visit to Cedar Rapids, where my dad and I usually went to games.

My mission was Alex Rodriguez and his autograph. And my mission failed. He stayed warming up in the outfield too long and the autograph window closed before I could get him to sign. He did hit two home runs that night, before we had to leave. I had school in the morning.

I returned with my dad to Burlington's Community Field at least one more time, the next year. Last month, I returned with my wife, with the Bees a late addition to our vacation back to my home state of Iowa.

It was down the first base line, just beyond the dugout, that I waited in vain for Alex Rodriguez

The main games were Omaha's Rosenblatt Stadium and Cincinnati's Great American Ballpark. But we got off on vacation a day early, and that opened up a slot for Burlington.

We actually got to the game a half hour late. I assumed a 7 p.m. start. The game actually started at 6:30. My wife and I spent the time trying to find Snake Alley, a Lombard Street-like road in downtown Burlington. We finally found it and got to the ballpark just in time to be a half hour late.

But, since my mission this time was to simply add another ballpark to our growing list of ballparks my wife and I have seen games at together, and not getting a future steroid user's autograph, I was fine with being late.

Burlington's Sugar Ray Marimon goes to the plate

We went to the Aug. 23 game, a Monday night with $2 game tickets. Can't beat tickets for two totaling $4. The game pitted the Royals-affiliate Bees with the Twins' affiliate Beloit Snappers. It was one the visiting Snappers won by a score of 6-4.

The stadium was the same stadium my dad and I went to, but it didn't look it. It underwent a renovation for the 2004 season, and it certainly showed it. I don't have any pictures from the games my dad and I went to.

But I did come across this photo in a museum case in the souvenir shop after the game. Compare that shot with the exterior shot up top. It's a big difference and a nice looking difference. Inside, that wing like overhang serves to protect part of the stands from rain and foul balls.

Also in the museum case were several old Bees programs, including one from 1995. I have a copy of the same program upstairs. While I don't have any pictures from the games my dad and I went to, I do have a bunch of programs, rosters and non-ARod autographs.

In the back of the shop was the trophy case, including the Bees' 2008 Midwest League Championship trophy.

To bring this home, since I started this blog, I watch out for coaches and managers being from the CMC set. There were no CMC set members with either the 2010 Bees or Snappers. But I have seen a CMC set member in Burlington before, in 1994, when I was there to see A-Rod.

The hitting coach with Appleton that year? One Delwyn Young, father of the younger Delwyn Young and member of the 1990 Canton-Akron Indians. I'm sure I picked up Young's autograph, maybe not in that visit to Burlington but later in the year when Appleton visited Cedar Rapids. At some point, if it's up in my attic, I'll have to dig it out.

The roster from that game is below, A-Rod under the Appleton infielders and Young at the bottom with the coaches. Click for the larger version.

734 - Delwyn Young, Racing Home, 4/3/10

Chito Martinez tried to keep good focus, saw 3 ML seasons

Into his third season of major league ball, Chito Martinez found himself in a slump in April 1993. There was a line of lefties, whom he didn't face, according to The Baltimore Sun. When he did get into games, he didn't hit. In 19 plate appearances, he got zero hits.

So, in late April, Martinez was sent down - to AA.

"I never wanted to go back to the minor leagues, but I'm here," Martinez told The Sun in late April. "I'm going to try to keep a good focus and do what I can to get back there [the major leagues]."

Martinez didn't spend long at AA Bowie, he spent five games there. He also spent another 43 games at AAA Rochester that year. But Martinez never played another game in the majors.

Martinez, a native of Belize who grew up in New Orleans, got his start drafted by the Royals in the sixth round of the 1984 draft. He stayed with the Royals system for seven seasons, never getting called up to Kansas City.

He started at short-season Eugene in 1984, hitting .301. He made AA Memphis in 1986, hitting 11 home runs and had an average of .304. He hit his first home run that year in May, extending a Memphis lead again later with a two-run single.

Martinez first made AAA Omaha in 1987, for 35 games, but didn't return to AAA until 1990. He spent the interim back at AA Memphis, hitting 13 home runs in 1988 and 23 in 1989. In one April 1988 game, Martinez hit two home runs in a Memphis win.

When 1990 came around, Martinez hit .264 with 21 home runs. But the Royals didn't see him as a prospect anymore, The Sun wrote. The Orioles did.

Signing with Baltimore, Martinez spent a couple months at AAA Rochester, then got his call up in July. He became the first native of Belize to make the majors. He also got off to a quick start.

He debuted July 5, hitting his first home run in his fourth game July 11. On July 15, he hit his second home run, his first game-winner. He broke another tie two weeks later with a seventh-inning homer that proved the game-winner.

In August, Martinez hit two home runs in Mike Mussina's first major league win. He hit a total of 13 home runs for Baltimore that year. His final one on the year was also the final one hit at Memorial Stadium.

By 1992, Martinez was primed for a break-out year, but for a bad shoulder and a bad slump slowed him.

"Other guys tell me that I have a job all wrapped up," Martinez told The Sun in March, "but they aren't swinging my bat. I spent a lot of time in the minor leagues. I've only got a half-season in the majors. There has been a little doubt on my part."

Martinez' slump continued into the season, starting 2 for 25 in his first 15 games, according to The Sun. Still, Martinez played in 83 games in 1992, hitting .268, but only five home runs.

By 1993, Martinez was on his way out, with his dismal performance in April. It was his last season with the Orioles. He hung on for two more seasons in the minors, with the Yankees and with the Rockies, wrapping up his career.

• Southeast Missourian, Associated Press, July 25, 1991: Martinez lifts O's; A's topple Cleveland
• St. Petersburg Times, Associated Press, Aug. 15, 1991: Orioles hammer Rangers 10-2
• Baltimore Sun, March 26, 1992: Martinez struggles to get back in swing
• Baltimore Sun, May 23, 1992: Rare start boosts Martinez's confidence
• Baltimore Sun, April 28, 1993: Down at AA, Martinez disappointed, determined

More: The 1990 Omaha Royals

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Reviewed: 261/880 - 29.7%
Players/Coaches Reviewed: 266
Made the Majors: 181 - 68%
Never Made the Majors: 85 - 32%
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 80
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 76