Russ McGinnis, Up to Him - 598

Russ McGinnis made the Royals roster out of the abbreviated spring training in 1995, a roster temporarily enlarged by three after the strike. By mid-May, the roster needed to be reduced and McGinnis was among the Royals players looked at for possible demotion.

McGinnis hoped he would stay.

"I think they will need some right-handed hitting with some pop," McGinnis told The Associated Press as the decision was being made, "and I definitely can do that."

McGinnis had plenty of pop, he hit 24 home runs the previous season at AAA Omaha. But he was also older, he was 31. He had also, by May 1995, had spent a decade in the minors, broken only by a 14-game trip to the bigs in 1992 and three games played for the Royals that year in 1995.

McGinnis' journey to that point in 1995 began in 1985, when he was taken by the Brewers in the 14th round of the draft. He made single-A Beloit in 1986 and by mid-1987 he was traded. The Brewers sent him to Oakland for Bill Mooneyham.

He arrived in the Athletics' system showing some of that pop. In his first game at single-A Modesto that July, McGinnis hit a home run and drove in four, The Modesto Bee wrote.

McGinnis stayed with the Oakland system through 1990, first making AAA Tacoma in 1988, but he never made the big club.

McGinnis moved on to the Cubs' system in 1991, then the Rangers in 1992. It was that year that the catcher made the majors for the first time, filling in for an injured Ivan Rodriguez.

In 14 games for Texas, McGinnis had 33 at bats. He compiled eight hits, four of those doubles.

For 1993, it was on to the Royals system, McGinnis playing as a non-roster player. He impressed early. In an exhibition against the University of Central Florida, McGinnis hit a two-run home run, a one-run single and a three-run double.

It was enough for Royals manager Hal McRae to look at the catcher a little closer. McGinnis hoped to take advantage of the opportunity.
"There are a lot things I can do to help this ballclub,'' McGinnis told The Orlando Sentinel after the game. "They thought enough of me to sign me. The rest is up to me."
McGinnis hit another home run later in the spring, but he was sent back to AAA. He didn't make Kansas City until April 1995. In three outings and five at bats, McGinnis didn't show the pop that he or the Royals wanted. He went o for 5.
He was also outright released. Picked up by Baltimore, McGinnis was sent back to the level he'd played at the previous seven seasons, sent to AAA Rochester. He played 20 games there, ending his career.

• Modesto Bee, July 3, 1987: Newcomer McGinnis leads Modesto
• Victoria Advocate, Associated Press, June 4, 1992: McGinnis promoted
• Lawrence Journal-World, Associated Press, March 5, 1993: Non-roster catcher impresses McRae
• Orlando Sentinel, March 5, 1993: UCF Gets The Royal Treatment, 14-1
• Nevada Daily Mail, Associated Press, May 14, 1995: Royals' rookies sweat final roster reduction

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Featured: 329/880 - 37.4%
Players/Coaches Featured: 336
Made the Majors: 232 - 69% - X
Never Made the Majors: 104 - 31%
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 99
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 91-X

Dollar Tree Cards: 1989 Fleer, Pack 2

Going through these packs is always a fun exercise, not really for the cards themselves, but for the stories they uncover. Sort of like the main focus of this blog, not the cards themselves, but the stories behind the players on those cards.

The cards just provide the names to be researched.

That's especially so because these 1989 Fleer cards don't seem to have the interesting stuff on the back as other cards do. This is the second 1989 Fleer pack from the Dollar Tree packs I picked up recently for my birthday.

In this pack, there was a player signed out of the sandlots, an alphabetical home run king, a player linked to an unintentionally funny video and just a sad story about a player's career, and later his life, ending.

All of these stories, of course, come courtesy of Baseball-Reference's Bullpen and Wikipedia.

There were also two CMC set members in the pack and a soon-to-be Hall of Famer.

The CMC set members were Paul Kilgus and Don Gordon, both players I've featured previously on the blog.

Kilgus I featured back in June. That's him up top on his CMC card looking at something to his right. I can only assume, by my presentation of the two cards, that he is looking at his 1989 Fleer card. I can only assume, though.

His feature, posted June 9, cites a quote to his hometown paper about how being a lefty was a real benefit for a pitcher. According to the back of his Fleer card, he graduated from college with a degree in biology.

Gordon was notable in that he was the pitcher who gave up the hit that Paul Molitor's 1987 hitting streak to 39 games. Gordon's feature was posted in May.

The soon-to-be Hall of Famer is Roberto Alomar. He was close last year and should get in this year. The card I got in this pack was the dual Roberto-Sandy Jr. card. Incidentally, I got the regular Sandy Jr. card in the first Dollar Tree 1989 Fleer pack.

On to the other highlights of the pack. Among them were Claudell Washington and Kevin Gross. Washington, according to Baseball-Reference's Bullpen, was signed out of the sandlots of Oakland.

Washington and Gross were the longest-serving players in the pack. Washington played 17 seasons in the majors, Gross played 15. Gross also had a no-hitter, in 1992, and gave up Rafael Palmeiro's first home run, according to Wikipedia.

Washington is credited in Baseball-Reference's Bullpen as being discovered playing sandlot ball in Berkely, not having played high school ball. The Los Angeles Times had a good story on Washington after he went to the Angels in spring 1989.

The home run king in the pack was this guy, Willie Upshaw, here with the Indians. Upshaw is a home run king by alphabet. No other player whose name begins with a "U" has hit more, according to Bullpen.

Tom Filer there has his own record, according to Bullpen. Filer went 7-0 with the Blue Jays in 1985, becoming the only player to have such an unbeaten record with one team.


The sad story is Frank Williams. Williams died in 2009 after a life the spiraled out of control from a 1989 car accident. In the end, he was living on the streets. Williams was a native of Seattle. The Seattle P-I's account of his life: Frank Williams: 1959-2009

To end this on a more upbeat note, here's Jim Traber. He played parts of four seasons in the majors, all with Baltimore. But it's not his time with Baltimore that makes him interesting. It's his time with the Kintetsu Buffaloes in 1990 and 1991 that makes him interesting.

His Wikipedia article references one game in Japan, where Traber rushed the mound, chasing the pitcher into center field. The video of the incident is below, set to Yakety Sax.



335 - Paul Kilgus, Throw Strikes, 6/9/10

Joe Skalski, Quick Ending - 455

Home plate umpire Ken Kaiser was quick, Joe Skalski thought he was a little too quick.

His Indians down 6-4 in the bottom of the eighth, a Skalski pitch went inside, hitting the Brewers' Charlie O'Brien. The pitch on this night in April 1989 came after the Brewers' starter hit an Indian earlier in the game. Kaiser tossed Skalski.

"I thought he (Kaiser) jumped the gun a little bit," Skalski told The Milwaukee Sentinel afterward.

The ejection not only made it a quick night for Skalski, it also marked the end of a quicker career. He would play the rest of the season at AAA and return to AAA for one more season. But Skalski wouldn't make it back to the majors.

Skalski's professional career began in 1986, taken in the third round by the Indians. Skalski made AA Williamsport in 1987, taking down the Albany Yankees in a late July game by a 4-1 score. He also made the Eastern League All-Star Team. Skalski then got his first taste that year of AAA at Buffalo.

He returned to AAA for 1988, and had a bad season. He went 10-13 with a 6.55 ERA with the Indians' new AAA affiliate in Colorado Springs.

By spring 1989, Skalski appeared en route to a slot in the majors. He also believed he had figured out what was wrong the previous season. He helped prove it with a good season in winter ball.

"Mentally, I just wasn't making the effort," Skalski told The Associated Press. "I finally realized that after last summer. Now I believe I'm a pitcher. I go in with my game plan and I stick with it."

Skalski's revelation was apparently enough for him to make the majors. But it wasn't enough for him to stick.

Skalski made the Indians that April. He started April 10, going five innings against the Red Sox and giving up three runs. He also got the loss.

Four days later, he came in in relief. He pitched 1.2 innings, giving up three runs, two earned. He also picked up another loss. His game and his major league career, after two appearances, ended on that pitch to Charlie O'Brien.

• Schenectady Gazette, Aug. 1, 1987: Bills Hand Harrison Fourth-Straight Loss
  
• Portsmouth Daily Times, Associated Press, March 17, 1989: Skalski finds it takes more than heat

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Featured: 328/880 - 37.3%
Players/Coaches Featured: 335
Made the Majors: 231 - 69% - X
Never Made the Majors: 104 - 31%
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 99
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 90

Pete Coachman got his callup in 1990, saw 16 ML games

September 1989 was approaching, along with the list of September call-ups. Among those waiting for the call was Angels AAA infielder Pete Coachman.

Coachman was concluding his sixth season in the minors, without seeing the bigs.

"You sit in your room and think about it, you sit on the bench and you think about it, you stand at your position and you think about it," Coachman told The Los Angeles Times of the possibility of making the majors. "You're thinking more about who's going to get called up than the game."

"You try to figure what they're going to do," Coachman added later to The Times, "but you realize you never know and that it's always out of your control."

Coachman kept waiting that year, not getting the call. But, come August of the next year, the wait finally ended. He played in 16 major league games for the Angels in 1990, the extent of his major league career.

Coachman was drafted by the Angels in the 11th round of the 1984 draft out of South Alabama. At South Alabama, Coachman stole 52 bases, he also hit .426. He also got three hits in the conference championship game, and won MVP of the playoffs.

With the Angels system, Coachman started at short-season Salem, hitting .260. He split 1986 between single-A Palm Springs and AA Midland. With Palm Springs that year, Coachman hit three home runs in 68 games. Two of those home runs came in one June contest.

Coachman made AAA Edmonton in 1987. He also hit .309. The Times in its 1989 article on the expected September call-ups to note that a good year is no guarantee of making the majors.

Coachman hit .263 for Edmonton in 1988, then .285 in 1989. Back at Edmonton for 1990, Coachman got the call Aug. 17, he was going to Boston where the Angels were playing the Red Sox.

He arrived in town in time to see the Angels beat the Red Sox 1-0, watching it from the airport, The Times wrote. He got his first hit the next night, in the fifth inning of his first game. He actually got two hits on the game.

"After the hit, I settled down a whole lot," Coachman told The Times of his first hit. "Being here is just a dream."

Days later, Coachman helped the Angels to a 5-3 victory over the Tigers. Coachman knocked in a run in the second with a single.

"A couple of years in the minors I had pretty good years and I thought I'd get called up in September, but I didn't," Coachman told The Times after that game. "That made me put pressure on myself to do a little better. I was having a good season (hitting .291) this year when they called me up, and I wanted to do really well once I got here."

Coachman hit .311 on the 16 games, getting 14 hits in 45 at bats. By 1991, Coachman was in the Oakland system, back at AAA. He divided the next year between the Giants system and back with the Angels system, never getting called back up.

He played 39 games at independent Winnipeg in 1994, his last regular season time.

Coachman then went on to be a coach in college and in high school. In 2009, he was named head coach at Providence Christian School in Dothan, Ala.

"To play sound fundamental baseball, knowing situations before it happens," Coachman told The Dothan Eagle after he was hired of the team he wanted to see. "That is one thing that I will stress more than other things is knowing the game and situations before it happens."

• Modesto Bee, June 19, 1986: Palm Springs homers again bury Li'l A's
• Los Angeles Times, Aug, 27, 1989: Looking Up, Page 5
• Los Angeles Times, Aug. 19, 1990: Angels Take Soft Approach to 4-3 Victory
• Los Angeles Times, Aug. 21, 1990: Waiting Game Pays for Angels
• Dothan Eagle, Oct. 28, 2009: Providence Christian hires Pete Coachman as baseball coach

More: The 1990 Edmonton Trappers

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Featured: 327/880 - 37.2%
Players/Coaches Featured: 334
Made the Majors: 230 - 69% - X
Never Made the Majors: 104 - 31%
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 99
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 90-X

Doug Baker helped Detroit in 1984 as fill-in, saw 7 seasons

Doug Baker was on the bus, headed for Detroit. It was a season after the Tigers won the World Series, Baker helping them get there as an able fill-in, and getting his own ring.

Now, he was ready to help the Tigers try and repeat, and help them from the start. Except Baker, and teammate Mike Laga, didn't make it to the airport. They were pulled off in a last-minute roster cut and rerouted to AAA Nashville, The Orlando Sentinel wrote.

''It was embarrassing,'' Baker told The Sentinel the next spring, hoping against a repeat of the previous year. ''We had to go around and get our luggage. Strange things happen in baseball.''

Baker did make back to Detroit in 1985, for 15 games, including three in April after another injury. That season was after 43 games he played for the series-winning team in 1984. It was part of a career where Baker would see time in seven major league seasons. Only once, in 1989 with the Twins, would Baker match his game total from 1984.

It was in 1984 that Baker made his major league debut, making it with the team that drafted him. Baker was taken two years earlier by the Tigers in the ninth round of the 1982 draft. He started that year at AA Birmingham, making AAA Evansville in 1984.

He debuted with Detroit in July 1984. Star shortstop Alan Trammell was injured with a bad throwing arm. Baker proved an able replacement, mostly through his defense, and a four-hit game, according to The Associated Press.

"He has done a real good job for us by playing steady defense while filling in for Alan," teammate Lou Whitaker told The AP in late July. "You wonder if someone is going to fill in well in those situations, and he has come through."

But Baker ended 1984 hitting just .185. In his 15 games in 1985, he hit the same, .185. In an early September article, The AP argued that Baker could stick in the majors, if only he could hit, even a little. His fielding skills were that good.

Baker got into 13 games in 1986, getting three hits in 24 at bats. In 1987, he got into just eight games, getting to bat just once, without a hit.

That spring in 1987, Baker's goals were the same: stay in the majors, The AP wrote. He also knew where he fit in.

"Everybody has their roles," Baker told The AP in early March. "I do the little things. I'm not paid to hit home runs. Everyone can't be the main ingredient. The way I help the team doesn't show up on paper."

By spring 1988, Baker had been traded, to the Twins. He played in 11 games in 1988, then 43 in 1989. In those 43 games he hit his best, .295, amounting to 23 hits. He saw action in one more major league season, three games for the Twins in April 1990 and his big league career was done.

He played the remainder of 1990 at AAA Portland. He played the next year with the Astros at AAA Tucson and his playing career was done. He has since gone on to be a scout in several organizations, including the Marlins and White Sox, getting World Series rings with both.

About that 1984 win as a player, Baker helped the team in the regular season. He also played an inning in the ALCS. He didn't appear in the series, still, he got his ring.

"Ted Williams doesn't even have a World Series ring," Baker told The Los Angeles Times in 1993 as he worked as a scout for the Braves. "It was just explosive winning the World Series. It was so exciting for me and for the Tigers' fans. That was a dream come true."

About his ring. the 10-karat ring he got that year in 1984? It was later stolen and returned, but not before he had a replacement made. Having a replacement, he sold the original on Ebay earlier this year, The Detroit News reported, for more than $12,000.

• Nashua Telegraph, Associated Press, July 24, 1984: Doug Baker was cooking
• Ludington Daily News, Associated Press, Sept. 5, 1985: Petry to miss start, maybe more
• Orlando Sentinel, March 31, 1986: Tigers' Baker Hopes To Have Seat On Northern-bound Bus
• Ludington Daily News, Associated Press, March 2, 1987: Up-and-down Baker hopes to stick with Tigers
• Los Angeles Times, July 17, 1993: The Season a Journeyman Measured Up

More: The 1990 Portland Beavers

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Featured: 326/880 - 37.1%
Players/Coaches Featured: 333
Made the Majors: 229 - 69% - X
Never Made the Majors: 104 - 31%
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 99-X
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 89

Cooperstown Cards: CMC Finds in a Box

When I got looking through a big box of cards, it would probably be helpful to have a big CMC checklist right there with me, preferably searchable.

Considering there are 880 cards in the CMC set, with closer to 900 total players, that's a lot of names to remember. Especially when I'm searching a box for those players in other sets.

I, of course, knew a few by name. There are the more famous ones, like Frank Thomas and Bernie Williams. Those actually are probably the most likely to show up in random dealer's box. But sometimes there's some extra ones, and sometimes there's ones I pick up by accident.

I mention this because I'm getting back to our October trip to Cooperstown and the cards I picked up then. There's still a few cards I haven't gotten to yet. These are the CMC players I dug out of of a big box in a shop on Cooperstown's main drag, just down the street from the Hall of Fame. And I dug through this box all while my wife patiently waited outside. Thankfully, it was a nice day.

Probably one of the easiest players to find in a box like that is Thomas, the White Sox' first pick in the 1989 draft. He made the CMC set as a member of the AA Birmingham Barons and he took off from there. He ended up with 521 major league home runs by the time he was all done in 2008.

The Thomas card I pulled from the box is that 1997 Score offering with Thomas "Goin' Yard." There isn't much information on the card. According to the card back, Thomas played first base, a very interesting piece of information.

Then there was a run down of Thomas' home runs by year up to that date. He hit seven in 1990, the year he started with Birmingham. He had 222 through 1996.

The Williams card I pulled from the box was his 1992 Topps offering. There wasn't much in the way of extra details on the back. But, of course, there was Williams' full stats up to that point, dating back to 1986 when he played for Sarasota.

He played both 1989 and 1990 at Albany, hitting .281 with eight home runs at Albany in 1990. In 1991, Williams played his first games with the Yankees in the Bronx, 85 of them. He hit just .238, but would be a fixture with the Bombers for years to come. (Just a quick note, I wrote this up last Monday, but didn't get around to posting it until today. Just after I wrote it, the randomizer picked Williams' card. His feature went up Tuesday.)

I knew Vinny Castilla was in the CMC set because I'd profiled him here back in April. When I spotted his 1992 Fleer Prospects card, I snapped it up. The back describes Castilla as "not your typical Minor-League player, many of whom are barely out of high school or college. Castilla is 30 years old ..." That was unusual, especially being considered a prospect at that age.

Problem is, it appears Fleer had a wrong date of birth for Castilla. Sometimes that's understandable, sometimes players shave a year or two off to appear younger. But with Castilla, it appears Fleer had Castilla six years *older* than he actually was. It wasn't just his date of birth they had as 7-4-1961, they actually pointed his wrong age out in the text, as the reason he wasn't a typical minor leaguer.

According to listings on Baseball-Reference, Baseball Cube and Wikipedia, they all have his date of birth as 7-4-1967.

"Last season," the card back reads, "he achieved a dream that must have seemed impossible just a few years before: he played in the Major Leagues, coming up to the Braves in September."

For the record, the back of Castilla's CMC card does has him actually a year younger, born in 1968.

The last CMC member card I pulled was this Kevin Maas card, his 1990 Fleer card. Maas burst on the scene in 1990, playing 79 games for the Yankees, hitting 21 home runs. I remember everyone going nuts looking for his cards in 1990. He was the next big thing.

Of course, that never worked out. He played almost all of 1991, hitting 23 home runs, but he also struck out 128 times with a batting average of .220.

The accidental CMC player card was actually that Maas card. It was accidental because of the other player on the card. I'd never heard of him, George Canale. But, since this was a 1990 Fleer prospects card, I figured I'd run him through my master CMC checklist.

Sure enough, he was right there with the Brewers' AAA team in Denver. I just haven't gotten to him yet. That meant this card not only had one CMC set member, it had two. It was a dual CMC set member card.

Canale made it to the majors himself, but for a much briefer stint. He was there in 1989 with the Brewers for 13 games. He returned for another 10 in 1990 and 21 games in 1991, his final appearance in the majors.

727 - Vinny Castilla, Fan Favorite, 4/5/10
789 - Bernie Williams, Fans Know, 11/23/10

Lou Thornton made an impression over five major league seasons, saw 95 ML games

The talk was that Lou Thornton might stick around, even when everything was over. The former major leaguer was 31, and he was a replacement player for the Mets.

Thornton, though, didn't think so.

"I've been out of the game for four years. Am I their guy? No way," Thornton told The New York Daily News. "My expectations haven't changed. The guys (Mets GM Joe McIlvaine) is looking at for the fifth outfielder's job, he knows who they are. They aren't me."

The strike over, Thornton wouldn't stick around. It was finally the end of a career that appeared over years before. It was a career that began in 1981, when Thornton was taken by the Mets in the 19th round of the draft.

He ultimately played in parts of five major league seasons, his last coming five years before the strike.

Thornton spent his first two professional seasons in rookie ball with the Mets, at the Appalachian League's Kingsport team. The next two seasons, Thornton spent at single-A Columbia and Lynchburg. He hit .268 at Columbia in 1983, then .275 with Lynchburg in 1984.

It was enough for the Blue Jays to select Thornton in the Rule 5 draft, meaning he had to make the major league club and stay there the full year or the Blue Jays would have to offer him back to the Mets.

That spring in 1985, Thornton made an impression, hitting a game-winning home run in a late March game. Thornton stuck around in the majors, making the rare jump all the way from single-A.

He played in 56 games hit one home run and hit .236 in a year where the Blue Jays won the division. Thornton hit that one home run in a July game, a game in which he started. In three at-bats, Thornton got two hits, according to The Associated Press. With that performance, Thornton was looking to start more.

"I don't think I'm the kind of player who can produce when I'm playing once every two or three weeks," Thornton told The AP after that game. "I know that statistics will tell you that I always do better when I start."

But he also made mistakes. In June, Thornton hit one to the wall and made it to third. But the Brewers appealed, arguing he had missed first base. He did and he was called out, according to a wire account.

Thornton made it the entire year with the big club. He spent the entire next year at AAA Syracuse. He stayed with the Blue Jays system through 1988, getting back to the majors for 12 games in 1987, then 11 games in 1988. He got four at bats between the two years, getting one hit.

After spending brief stints with the Brewers in spring training, then the Pirates, Thornton returned to the team that drafted him for 1989, the Mets. He got into 13 games for the Mets in 1989, getting 13 at bats and four hits.

He returned for three more games in April 1990, not getting to bat. He spent the remainder of the year at AAA Tidewater, ending his professional career.

Until 1995. Called by the Mets, Thornton signed up to be a replacement player. The regiment was a little bit more than he anticipated, however. He left camp in early March, upset at the team's training routine, according to The AP. He would soon return.

Come April, however, with the strike over, Thornton wasn't invited to stay on. The Daily News found him in the team hotel lobby with a mixed drink.

"It's been nothing but a picnic," Thornton told The Daily News. "It was just like going to the bank to get a home-improvement loan. Everything for me was a positive. I raise a cocktail to the whole idea of this spring."

• Montreal Gazette, Gazette news services, March 28, 1985: Jays' Thornton makes bid to stick
  
• Lawrence Journal-World, Associated Press, July 28, 1995: Thornton powers Jays in rare start
  
• New York Daily News, March 24, 1995: Replacement may be a keeper
• New York Daily News, April 3, 1995: Another 5G replaces dreams for Met subs

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Featured: 325/880 - 36.9%
Players/Coaches Featured: 332
Made the Majors: 228 - 69% - X
Never Made the Majors: 104 - 31%
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 98-X
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 89

Floyd Rayford, Known For, Then and Then

Floyd Rayford had waited more than nine years to get a shot at starting regularly in the majors and he came through in 1985, hitting over .300 for the Orioles, and 18 home runs.

"I always knew I could play in the big leagues," Rayford told reporters in spring 1986. "I don't know if I would have waited in the minors for 10 years, that's a long time in the minors. But I've been up to the big leagues every year since 1980. I always thought things would turn out my way."

Rayford played parts of seven seasons in the majors, six of those seasons with the Orioles. It was a career where Rayford was known for playing multiple positions, including third base, catcher and, the last two decades, as a coach.

Rayford, given the nickname "Sugar Bear," was also a player known for his weight, as much as his bat. At one point topping 240 pounds and was sometimes described as "rotund" and having "dough-boy legs." Speaking to those reporters in spring 1986, Rayford even mistook a question about his "wait" to become a starter, as a question about his "weight."

Then there was the day Rayford didn't play at all.

Rayford's playing days began in 1975, taken by the Angels in the fourth round of the draft. He landed in the Orioles system in a mid-year trade in 1979 and made his major league debut for Baltimore in April 1980.

Rayford played eight games for the Orioles that year, spending the next year back at AAA Rochester, returning for 34 more games in 1982.

He hit just .132 in 53 at bats in 1982. Four of those at bats, and none of the hits, came in the second game of a double-header on May 29, 1982. Rayford manned third base that game. Taking third base duties in the next game was another player, who had that last game off, Cal Ripken Jr. It was the first of 2,362 straight games played for Ripken.

Rayford saw time with Baltimore in each of the next six seasons, playing in 86 games in 1984 and 105 in 1985 and becoming a fan-favorite. He hit a two-run, pinch-hit home run in 1983 helping the Cardinals to a July 1983 win, his one year not playing with the Orioles.

In 1984, the Orioles began looking at Rayford as a starter. He rewarded them with two hits in a June game, including hitting in the game-winning run.

"When I first came up here, I said I just wanted to try and do good," Rayford told reporters later. "I'm doing alright."

Rayford had his career-year in 1985, but failed to follow that up in 1986, hitting just .176 in 81 games. He was described as struggling by August, leaving the bases loaded early in one game. But he came up again with loaded bases later in the game, doubling in two runs. "It was just nice to get something in there," Rayford told The Associated Press after the game.

That season his weight became more of an issue. By October, the 5-foot, 10-inch Rayford weighed in at 244 pounds, The Washington Post wrote.

Rayford spent two weeks that off-season at a diet center, learning how to eat better, according to The Post. By spring 1987, Rayford had dropped that weight to 214. He played in 20 games for the Orioles that year, hitting .220, ending his major league playing days.

Rayford played through 1991, the last three years at AAA Scranton with the Phillies organization, the final two of those years as a player-coach. He's served since as a minor league coach and manager.

Rayford played mainly third base and catcher, but he could also play elsewhere. Years later, Rayford recalled to The Baltimore Sun having some nerves on the field, something that was helped when he was catching.

"I never had a great body, but it was suitable to play everywhere," Rayford recalled to The Sun in 2009. "I liked catching best. I was too busy back there to be nervous. It wasn’t like playing third base. There’s no time to get butterflies when you're catching."

Go to the feature on Rayford's coaching career: Floyd Rayford, Opposite Field

• Spokane Spokesman-Review, Washington Post, July 29, 1982: Rayford uses head to stay with Birds
• Milwaukee Journal, wire services, June 23, 1984: Rayford delivers as Orioles beat Yankees
• South Florida Sun-Sentinel, March 31, 1986: Rayford Gives Orioles Heavy Hitting
• Miami News, Associated Press, Aug. 22, 1986: Orioles' Floyd Rayford redeems himself
  
• Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, March 22, 1987: Rayford Hoping to Handle a Diet of Curveballs
  
• MASNSports.com, Oct. 22, 2009: Sugar Bear

Floyd Rayford, Opposite Field - 248

It was May 2007 and New Britain Rock Cat Felix Molina had just won a game on a ninth-inning single, The Hartford Courant wrote, putting the Rock Cats over .500 that late in the season for the first time in three years.

Contributing to their success, New Britain manager Riccardo Ingram told The Courant, was hitting coach Floyd Rayford.

"Floyd always tells these guys to go to the opposite field and use the whole field to get clutch hits," Ingram told The Courant, "especially with guys in scoring position [and] especially Molina, who can get pull-happy."

Rayford was well into his coaching career in 2007, a career that began 17 years earlier as a player-coach with AAA Scranton. It's also set to continue into 2011, marking his second season as coach for AAA Rochester.

Rayford started his coaching career after a playing career that spanned more than a decade, including parts of seven seasons in the majors. Six of those major league seasons were with the Orioles. He also spent parts of seven seasons with the Orioles AAA team in Rochester.

As a coach, Rayford stayed with the Phillies system through 1997. He stayed at AAA Scranton through 1992, then moved to short-season Batavia, serving as hitting coach there. He moved to managing Batavia for one season, in 1996.

He also served briefly as a bullpen coach for Philadelphia in 1995, as Cal Ripken Jr., closed in on the consecutive games record. It was Rayford whom Ripken replaced at third base, starting the streak.

"Hey, it's gotten me a little mention," Rayford told The Allentown Morning Call days after Ripken broke the record.

Rayford joined the Brewers system in 1998 as a coach at single-A Beloit, then rejoined the Orioles in 1999 as coach at Frederick. He joined his current system, the Twins, for 2000, coaching that year at single-A Quad City.

He returned to AAA in 2010 with the Twins, coaching at Rochester, where he'd played as a player. He is slated to return to Rochester for 2011.

Rayford took over as manager briefly in June 2010, as manager Tom Neito attended his son's graduation. Rayford's Red Wings lost one contest 5-4, according to The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. The Red Wings weren't hitting, he had work to do.

"It's starting to be a little trend," Rayford told The Democrat and Chronicle, "we’re not coming out and hitting the ball the way we should."

Read about Floyd Rayford's playing career: Floyd Rayford, Known For.

• Hartford Courant, May 5, 2007: Rock Cats Rally In Ninth On Molina's RBI Single
• Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, June 5, 2010: Toledo Mud Hens hold off Rochester Red Wings
• Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Oct. 30, 2010: Rochester Red Wings re-sign Tom Nieto and staff for 2011

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Featured: 324/880 - 36.8%
Players/Coaches Featured: 331
Made the Majors: 227 - 69% - X
Never Made the Majors: 104 - 31%
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 97-X
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 89-X

Thanksgiving Floyd Rayford

Tonight's Thanksgiving feature isn't really Thanksgiving-related, it's Floyd Rayford. Rayford was beginning his two-decade-long coaching career in 1990, serving as a player-coach for Scranton.

He was also concluding his lengthy playing career, one where he spent parts of seven seasons in the majors, six of those with the Orioles.

In researching Rayford, I ended up in a similar position as I did with Dick Bosman. There was a lot available on both his playing and his coaching careers. So I've again decided to split up my research into a feature on his playing days and one on his coaching career.

Of course, to do this, my rule is I have to have a card from his playing days. His CMC card wasn't enough, he's listed on there as a coach.

I looked through my box of cards I've gotten in the last couple years, nothing. He's in the 1987 Topps set and I got a box of that from my wife two Christmases ago. But Rayford was not one of the cards in the box.

Then I remembered over the summer, when I interviewed Jim Pankovits. I was motivated to answer a burning question from Night Owl about the 1988 Topps Pankovits, but I had to have the card to show him. On short notice, I remembered I had the unopened set from when I was a kid.

Needless to say, I opened the set, tracked down the Pankovits and got Night Owl's question answered.

How this relates to Rayford is, he was also in the 1988 Topps set. I ran upstairs, pulled out the opened and unsorted set. Starting at one end, I quickly found Rayford's card.

So, with Rayford's playing days card in-hand, I'll cover his playing days tomorrow afternoon. His coaching days are scheduled for tonight.

By the way, my wife and I visited New Britain, Conn., in 2006 to see the AA Rock Cats play. Turns out, Rayford was coaching New Britain while we were there.

I had a similar revelation with CMC member John Russell, Russell was managing AAA Ottawa when we visited in 2007.

With Russell, I was able to go back to our pictures of the game and find him in a photo. With our New Britain trip, I took a bunch of photos, as well. I just checked for Rayford, but he wasn't in any of them.

By the way: Happy Thanksgiving.

John Gibbons, Player's Coach - 236

Mets manager Davey Johnson was coming off a world championship in spring 1987, looking for a way that his Mets could repeat.

One of Johnson's young catchers vying for a big-league job, John Gibbons, believed Johnson had the temperament to ensure the Mets didn't lose their edge, according to The Miami News.

"He's not a real, loud vocal manager," Gibbons told The News. "He's more of the type who lets you do your own thing. He has a different style. It's nice to play for someone like that rather than a guy who's always screaming at you."

Gibbons ended up not playing for Johnson that year in Flushing. After a career where he began as a first round pick, and saw him play in just 18 major league games, Gibbons wouldn't make the majors again as a player.

But he did make it back, as a manager in his own right. Seventeen years after Gibbons gave his assessment of the Mets manager, Gibbons was named manager of the Toronto Blue Jays. He would also be assessed himself in similar terms, described in one wire account as a laid-back skipper, "a player's manager who mostly tried to stay out of his team's way."

Gibbons playing career was spent largely as a catcher in the minors. He was selected by the Mets as a compensation first-rounder in 1980, the same year the Mets took Darryl Strawberry No. 1 overall.

Gibbons hit AA Jackson briefly in 1982, then AAA Tidewater in 1984. He also debuted with the Mets in 1984, playing in eight April games and two more in September. Between them, he got 31 at bats, but just two hits.

Gibbons didn't return to New York until August 1986, playing in another eight contests. He got 9 hits in 19 at-bats, bringing his career average up to .220.

In one game, Aug. 26, the Mets backstop helped turn a game-ending double play, off a single. Gibbons took the 11th inning throw, tagged out the runner at home, then fired it to third to cut-down the aggressive base runner, ending the game with a 6-5 Mets win, according to the Associated Press account.

But those games with the Mets in 1986 were his last in the majors. He didn't make it after that spring in 1987, spending the year back at Tidewater. By 1988, Gibbons grew frustrated, something that was obvious in comments to The New York Times.

''I made it plain I'm not going to rot in Triple-A again,'' Gibbons told The Times. ''I've been up and down since 1984. I won't do it again. I hope somebody sees me and likes me, if I'm not going to play here.''

Gibbons did return to AAA, but not Tidewater. He was traded April 1 to the Dodgers and sent to Albuquerque. Gibbons went on to play two more seasons, with the Rangers system in 1989 and the Phillies system in 1990, without getting back to the majors.

His playing career over, Gibbons began his coaching career as a minor league instructor back with the Mets. By 1995, he was managing the rookie league Kingsport Mets. In 1998, he helmed the AA Binghamton Mets, 1999 he was with AAA Norfolk. He joined the Blue Jays system in 1992 as Toronto's first base coach.

In August 2004, Gibbons was named Toronto's interim manager, a job he would win full-time by year's end. Gibbons told The New York Daily News that August he wasn't going to change his style.

"They would probably say I am a players' coach," Gibbons told The Daily News. "That doesn't mean being one of the boys or a doormat; I am not that. I am someone who wants to be in the foxhole with you."

Gibbons spent three full seasons with the Blue Jays, his best an 87-75 mark in 2006. Going into 2008, however, his grip on the job was shaky, The Canadian Press reported. A 4-13 stretch in June sealed his fate.

"You never really anticipate it, there's always that possibility," Gibbons told reporters after he was fired. "We were struggling, there's no question about that. Hopefully change is good. I'm still a big fan of these guys and I want to see them succeed."

• Rock Hill Herald, Associated Press, Aug. 27, 1986: Mets turn two the hard way
  
• Miami News, March 28, 1987: Johnson is taking it easy
• New York Times, March 16, 1988: Johnson Taking a Look at Mets' Bench
• New York Daily News, Aug. 10, 2004: Gibbons' 2nd New York Debut is a Hit
• Fan590.com, Canadian Press, June 20, 2008: Blue Jays fire manager John Gibbons, name Cito Gaston replacement

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Featured: 323/880 - 36.7%
Players/Coaches Featured: 330
Made the Majors: 226 - 69% - X
Never Made the Majors: 104 - 31%
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 96
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 88

Bernie Williams, Fans Know - 789

The Yankees had the semblance of a rotation and relief corps going into 1990, thanks to two winter meeting pickups from the Pirates. But they had no closer. To remedy that situation, the White Sox offered up their own, Bobby Thigpen.

Chicago just needed a couple prospects in return, one of them being the young Bernie Williams.

"They're looking for pitching. They just got some, and they're still looking for it," White Sox manager Jeff Torborg told The Chicago Tribune. "There's no hiding the fact that we're interested in Bernie Williams."

That deal, of course, never got done. Nor did any other deals get done as Williams never left the Yankees, then or ever. He ended up spending 16 seasons manning Yankee Stadium's center field, becoming a five-time All Star and a cornerstone on four world championship teams.

Williams' career with the Yankees began in 1985, signed as a free agent out of Puerto Rico. His first playing time came in 1986 in the rookie Gulf Coast League. He made steady progress, hitting .335 at single-A Prince William in 1988, earning some trade attention from the Braves that next spring. He also earned a spot on the Yankees' 40-man roster.

''He's a quality-looking athlete,'' Yankees hitting coach Frank Howard told The New York Times in February 1989. ''He has fantastic bat speed, he can sting the ball and he has great reflexes.''

That year, Williams got his first look at AA Albany and AAA Columbus. He made the Bronx in 1991, playing 85 games there, debuting July 7.

"I was nervous out there at first," Williams told the Times after his debut. "I didn't expect this many fans."

There would be many more fans to come. By 1993, Williams was playing every day as the Yankees' every day center fielder. He even reluctantly made his first curtain call that year, in June.

"It's tougher mentally than physically when you know you're playing everyday," Williams told The South Florida Sun-Sentinel in April 1993, "but the good players and the great ones are separated by how they approach the game mentally. I believe I'll make my mark in this game."

He won his first World Series with the Yankees in 1996, hitting .345 on the post season, with six home runs. He hit four of those home runs in one six-game stretch. One of those home runs led-off the ALCS with a game-winning home run.

Williams made his first All Star team in 1997, the first of five-consecutive appearances in the mid-summer classic. He also won a batting title in 1998 with a .339 average. In 1999, he started off the postseason with a six-RBI game against the Rangers. Later, he started the ALCS the same way he did in 1996, with another game-winning home run.

''Bernie is that type of player,'' the Yankees' Darryl Strawberry told The Times after that early-October performance. ''He's a complete player. "He can do just about anything he wants on the baseball field. Nobody in here is surprised by what he did. Bernie has a tendency to step up in the post-season. He's real quiet, but we know what he can do.''

Williams turned 35 in 2003 and his age started to show. He misplayed a some balls and some started wondering if his days in center field were numbered, MLB.com wrote in October.

Among the mistakes was a Game 1 ALDS drop that the Yankees recovered from and another in Game 3.

"As long as the coaching staff and the manager have confidence in my ability and they keep throwing me out there, that's all I'm concerned with," Williams told MLB.com after the third game. "Hopefully better times will come and I'll have more chances to do a better job."

By May 2005, Williams time as the Yankees' everyday center fielder ended. By spring 2007, his days as a Yankee ended. The Yankees invited him to spring training without a guaranteed roster spot. Williams chose to stay home.

As 2007 began without Williams on the Yankees roster, fans in the outfield chanted his name: "We want Bernie," The Times wrote.

Addressing Williams' impact on the team after the game was the closer the Yankees got years after their chance to get Thigpen, the closer that came through the Yankees system just like Williams did, Mariano Rivera.

"The job Bernie did for this organization, this city, was tremendous," Rivera told The Times. "Those fans out there, they know."

• New York Times, Feb. 26, 1989: Spring Phenom a Yankee Perennial
• Schenectady Gazette, June 24, 1989: Williams, A-C Yankees Throttle Suns
• Chicago Tribune, Dec. 5, 1989: Yanks Look To Sox For Pitching Aid
• New York Times, July 8, 1991: Another in Columbus Crew Gets to Discover Stadium
• South Florida Sun-Sentinel, April 2, 1993: The Center Of Tradition
• New York Times, Oct. 6, 1999: Williams Catches Fire As Texas Folds Tent
• MLB.com, Oct. 4, 2003: Williams moves past the mistakes
• New York Times, April 3, 2007: On Opening Day, Williams Can Only Watch and Wish

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Featured: 322/880 - 36.6%
Players/Coaches Featured: 329
Made the Majors: 225 - 68% - X
Never Made the Majors: 104 - 32%
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 96 - X
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 88