Greatest 21 Days Baseball Profiles

Mike Birkbeck made the Brewers' starting rotation in 1988, but it was slow going, according to The Milwaukee Sentinel . Birkbeck was the Brewers' fifth starter and, by April 23, rainouts meant he'd only gotten into one game. In that one game, he went just 1.1 innings, giving up six runs. "I knew this would be my role," Birkbeck told The Sentinel after the latest rainout that April. "I just have to make the best of it. It's frustrating, but there's not much you can do about it." Birkbeck was in his third major league season that year, having pitched in seven contests in 1986 and another 10 in 1987. After that slow start, and a trip back to the minors that year in 1988, Birkbeck went on to start 23 games for Milwaukee. He compiled a 10-8 record in 1988, along with a 4.72 ERA. It would be Birkbeck's best season of a total of six where he'd see time in the majors. His career wouldn't end until seven years later, with one last...

Nolan Ryan went for his 300th, Kevin Maas and the Yankees in July 1990 held him at 299. Maas knocked a home run off the future Hall of Famer, making Ryan wait for his milestone win . "Just to bat against a Hall of Famer is an honor," Maas told The Associated Press after the game, "and to hit a home run off him is the greatest feeling I've had in my life." That home run off Ryan was Maas' third in three games and his seventh since his debut a month earlier. Maas would go on to hit 21 home runs for the Yankees that year in just 79 games, prompting overheated comparisons between Maas and other Hall of Famers and hopes for a long career swinging the bat for the Yankees. But Maas never did meet those overheated expectations. He spent just four seasons in the Bronx, slowed by inconsistency and an inability to quickly adjust. After stops in Minnesota and Japan, his career was over by 1998. Maas' career began in 1986, taken by the Yankees in the 22n...

Sammy Khalifa had just finished his second major league game in June 1985, and he was showing every bit of the promise he did when the Pirates drafted him seventh overall in the 1982 draft. In his debut, Khalifa collected three hits . In this second game, he collected two more. "I was a little more relaxed tonight," Khalifa told The Beaver County Times . "I'm having a good time." It was probably one of the bests times of Khalifa's short career. Khalifa went on to get 71 more hits that season in 95 games, according to the back of his 1986 Topps card. That meant his batting average came back down to Earth at .238. It was the best average of his three-year major league career. Khalifa is also likely watching the events in Egypt right now. He lives in Arizona, but his late father was from Egypt and Khalifa was the first player of Egyptian heritage to make the majors, according to Baseball-Reference's Bullpen . Khalifa's card was among those coming in my...

Julian Martinez helped Sammy Sosa , but he helped others on the Cubs, too, Sosa told The Chicago Tribune in October 2003. Martinez certainly wasn't Sosa's valet. "I want people outside the lines to understand why he's here," Sosa told The Tribune of Martinez. "He's not here for me. He's here because he helps everybody. Anything he can do to help a player get ready to play the game, he'll do it." Martinez began working with Sosa in 1999, but their relationship dated back much further, to 1986 when the Dominican natives playing in the minor leagues, The Tribune wrote . While their playing careers began in similar fashion , they would quickly diverge, with Sosa going on to star in an era of big home runs. Martinez would play eight seasons professionally, a career played exclusively in the minors . Martinez' playing career began in 1985, signed by the Cardinals out of the Dominican Republic. The infielder played that year at roo...

Marlin McPhail always saw his path to the majors was through being as useful as he could be. He was a utility player, he could play almost any position. But, in a career that spanned a decade, McPhail got as high as AAA, but no higher . "I got myself into a position where I could have been called up by the White Sox," McPhail told The Hartford Courant in 1993, two years after playing his last game. "[The White Sox] didn't go that way, but at least I worked myself into that position. I was happy with my career." McPhail spoke to The Courant that year having already started his post-playing career. McPhail was in his second year coaching in the Mets system. He has gone on to a long career as a scout , scouting top Met picks. McPhail's baseball career began in 1982, when he was signed out of Cornell by the team he would later scout for. He played that season at rookie league Kingsport and short-season Little Falls. At Kingsport, playing catche...

As March closed in 1995, Jeff Richardson told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he never told anyone to participate or not to participate in replacement ball. He also wasn't one to judge. "As for me," Richardson told The Post-Gazette after making the Pirates' replacement roster, "without a doubt, the No. 1 thing in my life is my family. This is the right thing to do for my family. They're most important, so that made it kind of an easy decision." Also helping Richardson in his decision was that he knew he was at the close of his 10-year professional career, a career where he saw time in three major league seasons. A Nebraska native, Richardson's career began in 1986 , signed by the Reds in the seventh round of the draft. He signed after playing college ball at the University of Arkansas and Louisiana Tech. He started that year at rookie league Billings, hitting .315 for the Mustangs . He made single-A Tampa and then AA Vermont in 1987. He ...

Ron Jones made his major league debut in late August 1988. By mid-September, he was hitting .311 overall and .365 in his last 11 games. He was also impressing Phillie brass . "Ronnie continues to open some eyes," Phillies Manager Lee Elia told The Allentown Morning Call . "He's making it a healthy situation for us. One thing this team has lacked is a sense of competitiveness for a position on this club. It ought to be interesting for Opening Day 1989. Jonesy and Ricky Jordan are making a strong impression." For Jones, he would return to Philadelphia for 1989. But his stay would be shortened by knee problems. Those injuries would linger, cutting Jones' major league career short after parts of four seasons and 97 major league games. Jones' professional career began in 1984, signed by the Phillies as a free agent. He played 1985 at short-season Bend. The next year, he got a look at AAA Maine . In 1988, Jones hit .267 with 16 home runs for Mai...

Eric King played the last season with the Giants at AA Shreveport, The Associated Press wrote in 1986. An off-season trade sent him to the Tigers. He started the season at AAA Toledo. He then started his major league career 3-0. "I don't know why they traded me," King told The AP that June, "but I'm sure happy about it." King went on to finish the season 11-4 with an ERA of 3.51. He also became "the big surprise of the Tigers' '86 season," according to the back of his 1987 Donruss card. King went on to play seven years in the majors , only matching that 1986 campaign once. King's card came in my sixth 1987 Donruss Christmas pack. The fifth and sixth packs yielded a total of two Hall of Famers, three future major league managers, two Diamond Kings and, most importantly, two future CMC set members. Among the future major league managers was a player that was involved in that Eric King trade, Bob Melvin . Melvin went the other way, to t...

Mike Arner pitched well for the first five innings of this July 1990 game, The Sarasota Herald-Tribune wrote . He also only gave up two hits. But, in the sixth, he gave up four consecutive hits, losing a 3-0 lead on the Baseball City Royals. "I don't know what happened," Arner's Charlotte Manager Bobby Jones told The Herald-Tribune afterward. "I don't know if he (Arner) got tired out there or not. But he was hitting spots and he pitched pretty well." Arner was in his second professional season in 1990, playing at high-A Charlotte. He went on to see time at AA Tulsa and AAA Oklahoma City in 1992. But Arner would never see time in the majors . Arner's career began in 1989, taken in the 13th round by the Rangers out of high school . He played that season at the Rangers' rookie league team in the Gulf Coast League. He also went 7-0 with a 1.71 ERA. The next year, Arner moved to single-A Gastonia . In 14 starts there, Arner went 8-2 with an ...

Small-Town Heroes: Part 1: Cool Connections | Part 2: I Was There Part 3: Cards and Autographs In Hank Davis' Small-Town Heroes , he described a scene from his 1995 visit to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to see the Kernels. The scene is in the clubhouse, with the general manager going around to the players, confirming information. The information the GM is confirming is the particulars for their baseball cards that year. The main card companies weren't printing sets that year, so teams had to do it themselves. The GM took around proofs of the cards. Davis had just spoken to Kernel John Donati. Donati didn't like to look at his stats . Now, he was looking at a proof of his card. "Donati tries to look businesslike as he surveys the front and back of his card," Davis wrote , "but a smile is creeping across his face." I point that out, not only because it brings this back to baseball cards, the big companies had stopped making team sets that year. But...