Mike Birkbeck's role went from ML pitcher to college coach

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 look at the majors, with the Mets, and a trip to Japan.

Birkbeck first made the majors with the team that drafted him, the Brewers. Milwaukee selected Birkbeck in the fourth round of the 1983 draft, out of the University of Akron. He made AA El Paso in 1985 and AAA Vancouver and Milwaukee in 1986.

The Greatest 21 Days caught up with Mike Birkbeck in April 2012, read the three-part interview: Always A Dream

Birkbeck pitched in seven games in that first look at the majors, starting four. He got his first major league start Aug. 30. He lasted just 1.1 innings and gave up six runs.

Going into that start, Brewers Manager George Bamberger heaped praise on Birkbeck, telling The Sentinel Birkbeck had "one of the better curveballs in baseball."

Birkbeck returned to Milwaukee in 1987, starting 10 games. He went 1-4 with a 6.20 ERA. One of his losses came in a May game, continuing a long Brewers losing streak.

"It's a humbling game," Birkbeck told The Associated Press after the loss. "You're going to win and you're going to struggle. But things will turn around. We'll be back."

With the Brewers in 1988, Birkbeck made it to the beginning of June, then was sent down. By that time, he was 2-5 with an ERA north of 6.

He returned in early July, after getting in regular work at AAA Denver, and won six-straight decisions. Birkbeck first win upon his return came July 5 against Kansas City, going 8.1 innings and giving up just one run. Birkbeck got win No. 8 Sept. 1, not giving up a hit in his first 4.2 innings of work.

That Sept. 1 win was the final win of Birkbeck's season. Despite pitching in three more major league seasons, it was also his final major league win. Over the next seven major league seasons, Birkbeck started a total of 14 games. Between them, he went 0-6.

He went 0-4 with a 5.44 ERA for the Brewers in 1989, then returned for one game three seasons later with the Mets, giving up seven runs in seven innings. After two seasons with 13 wins apiece at AAA for the Braves, with no call-ups, Birkbeck returned to the Mets for 1995.

He got four starts for the Mets, going 0-1. But, in 27.2 innings of work, Birkbeck gave up just five runs. On May 29, he threw seven innings of shutout ball, well enough for a no-decision.

By mid-June, Birkbeck was on his way to Japan, sold to the Yokohama Bay Stars.

"This allows me to provide something for the family that I haven't been able to do," Birkbeck told The New York Times of the move to Japan. "The Mets have some wonderful pitching down below and I was basically a fifth starter. Whenever a move is made, that is the position that is impacted."

Birkbeck played parts of two seasons with Yokohama, ending his professional career. He has gone on to coach in college, serving as associate head coach for the Kent State Golden Flashes. Among the pitchers he's overseen was Andy Sonnanstine, who topped the Kent State rotation in 2004.

Sonnanstine credited Birkbeck's help with getting him to the majors, The Ravenna Record-Courier wrote in 2007, citing a 2005 Sonnanstine journal.

"Birky, as we called him," Sonnanstine wrote, according to The Record-Journal, "taught me not only a great deal about pitching mechanics, but also about life."

The Greatest 21 Days caught up with Mike Birkbeck in April 2012, read the three-part interview: Always A Dream

• Milwaukee Sentinel, Aug. 30, 1986: News & Quotes
• Washington (Pa.) Observer-Reporter, Associated Press, May 19, 1987: Losing side of the Brewers has not been a pretty sight
• Milwaukee Sentinel, April 23, 1988: Rainout makes Birkbeck loser, Part 2
• Pomeroy Daily Sentinel, UPI, July 6, 1988: Cleveland, Toronto, Brewers post American League wins
• New York Times, June 14, 1995: Mets Call Up Pulsipher, And Future Is Now
• Ravenna Record-Courier, July 2, 2007: Kent State fans remember Andy Sonnanstine
• Kent State Baseball Camps: Mike Birkbeck, Associate Head Coach

More: The 1990 Denver Zephyrs

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Featured: 385/880 - 43.8%
Players/Coaches Featured: 392
Made the Majors: 264 - 67%-X
Never Made the Majors:128-33%
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 112-X
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 101

Kevin Maas, High Expectations - 217

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 22nd round out of the University of California. He also joined his brother Jason Maas in the Yankees system. Jason Maas signed with the Yankees the year before.

By 1997, Kevin Maas, playing at single-A Fort Lauderdale, was already eying the Bronx. But the first baseman knew off in the distance was Yankee stalwart Don Mattingly was in the way.

Maas was just trying to do his best, he told The South Florida Sun-Sentinel in June 1987. Fort Lauderdale Manager Buck Showalter saw him doing just that.

"When he makes contact with the ball, good things happen to us offensively," Showalter told The Sun-Sentinel. "He plans to play in the big leagues and he is going about that job."

Maas made AA Albany-Colonie in 1988, then AAA Columbus in 1989. He returned to Columbus for 1990, then got his call that June. Mattingly was having injury problems.

It took Maas into his fifth game to hit his first home run. He had his first two home run game July 14. He had another two home run game Aug. 2.

Asked then by a reporter if he was surprised by his power, Maas said he wasn't, according to The New York Times. ''Not by the power, but by the frequency. To think I could keep up a pace of a home run for every nine at-bats surprises me.''

Maas ended the season with 21 home runs, and expectations that he would do even better in 1991 with 35 to 40. With Mattingly healthy, Maas became a reluctant DH. He hit .220 on the year with 23 home runs.

Pitchers had adjusted to Maas, he'd also picked up bad habits in his stance. Yankees Manager Stump Merrill told The Times that October he believed it was a phase.

"It's part of the maturation process," Merrill told The Times. "A young kid comes in and takes the city over in his first year and then gets slapped in the face. Getting to the majors is not the tough thing. Staying there is."

And it would prove tougher for Maas. In 1992, Maas increased his average to .248 in 98 games. But his home run total dropped to 11. In 1993, his last year with the Yankees, Maas hit just .205 in 59 games, hitting nine home runs.

By the end of spring training 1994, Maas' career with the Yankees was over. He was released.

"As far as what happened to Kevin," then-Bronx manage Showalter told The Times, "that's a puzzle."
The Times also quoted Maas: "Maybe the expectations were too high."
Maas played just 22 more games in the majors, in 1995 with the Twins, hitting just one more home run. He played 1996 in Japan with Hanshin and returned to the U.S. for one more season in the minors, ending his career.

Speaking to The New York Daily News in 2009, Maas looked back on his time with the Yankees fondly.

"I'm proud of what I did," Maas told The Daily News. "I came up on a roll from the minor leagues. My bat was ringing pretty loud, and the Yankees put me in the lineup right away. That early success gave me confidence. It wasn't any magic or pixie dust or anything like that, it was just a lot of hard work and it was almost a yearlong groove for me.

• South Florida Sun-Sentinel, June 7, 1987: Maas Could Be Yankees' Man On First
• Youngstown Vindicator, Associated Press, July 26, 1990: Ryan's 300th bid foiled by Yankees
• New York Times, Aug. 3, 1990: Lemon's Triple in 14th Lifts Tigers Past Yanks
• Bangor Daily News, Aug. 22, 1990: Maas already a big hit with Yankees
• New York Times, Oct. 4, 1991: Yankees' Sophomore Sphinx May Have Answer to Riddle
• New York Daily News, June 6, 2009: Home-run hitter has blast after baseball
• New York Times, March 30, 1994: Maas Sees a Silver Lining in His Release

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Featured: 384/880 - 43.6%
Players/Coaches Featured: 391
Made the Majors: 263 - 67%-X
Never Made the Majors:128-33%
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 111-X
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 101

1986 Topps: Good Times

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 sixth and seventh 1986 Topps packs. Among the other cards was one Hall of Famer, three CMC set members, a checklist and a couple with interesting Topps facts.

This is the Hall of Famer, Tony Perez. Perez was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000, after a 23-season major league career. The photo shows Perez appearing to have a good time with Eric Davis at the plate.

I've been waiting for this card to come up because Bo over at Baseball Cards Come To Life! had a great interview in December with Topps photographer Michael Ponzini where he discusses this card. Apparently the Topps art department thought it was confusing. The sports department just thought it was a great shot. The sports department won. The full interview: Interview with former Topps photographer Michael Ponzini.

Two out of the three CMC set members I've covered. The third, this guy Rich Thompson is yet to come. Thompson pitched in 57 games for the Indians in 1985. He didn't get back to the majors until 1989, for 19 games with the Expos. His major league career ended the next season with one more game with Montreal.

Johnny Grubb was covered back in May. In 1990, he was a coach for the Richmond Braves. On his 1986 Topps card he was nearing the end of his 16-season major league career. Covered in his May feature was his two-run double in Game 2 of the 1984 ALCS, sending his Tigers to a 2-0 series lead. It was his first post-season game and he was 36 years old.

Greg Walker came back in April. In that feature Walker's 1988 collapse with a life-threatening seizure. He came back from that, playing two more seasons in the majors with the White Sox and the Orioles.

Here's my first checklist from the box. I post it because checklists rarely get any run. Maybe I should start keeping track of the cards I've gotten so far. Or maybe not. I was never a checklist checker. The card is No. 394, the third to last card on the checklist. Note on the front, it's constructed "Checklist." On the back, however, it's "Check List," two words.

And, by the way, you'd think they could have gone ahead and prechecked that one. Because I would think it's assumed that you have the checklist card, if you're holding it.

These last two cards are here, not because of the players themselves, but for the "Talkin' Baseball" anecdotes on the backs.

Billy Hatcher's card cites the last Cubs pitcher to steal home. That was Hippo Vaughn. He did it against the New York Giants Aug. 19, 1919.

Tom Niedenfuer had the infinitely more interesting piece of trivia. The player cited was Dick Nen, a first baseman who played seven games for the Dodgers in 1963.

The piece of Trivia? Nen was "the first player in Dodgers history with a palindrome name."

A palindrome, according to Wikipedia, is "a word, phrase, number or other sequence of units that can be read the same way in either direction."

I assume the name Topps is referring to is not Nen's entire name, just his last name.

Nen went on to play for the Senators and the Cubs, according to Baseball-Reference. No word is given on if those teams previously had players with palindrome names.

• Beaver County Times, June 27, 1985: Khalifa steals spotlight again

318 - Greg Walker, Warm Ups, 4/21/10
278 - Johnny Grubb, Done Everything, 5/9/10

1986 Topps Pack 6
46 Billy Hatcher; 72 Shawon Dunston; 123 Greg Walker; 150 Joaquin Andujar; 172 Jerry Reed; 188 Bob Dernier; 214 Randy Bush; 243 Johnny Grubb; 266 Keith Moreland; 316 Sammy Khalifa; 426 Brewers Leaders; 456 Braves Leaders; 507 Steve Ontiveros; 595 Dave Parker; 729 Jim Beattie

1986 Topps Pack 7
56 Tom Niedenfuer; 71 Ken Schrom; 85 Tony Perez; 138 Mark Davis; 182 Bobby Brown; 242 Rich Thompson; 264 Darren Daulton; 271 Dave Collins; 353 Keith Atherton; 394 Checklist; 396 Red Sox Leaders; 457 Mickey Tettleton; 526 Charlie Lea; 598 Jim Presley; 610 Ron Guidry

Julian Martinez, Old Friend - 111

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 rookie league Johnson City, hitting .194 in 21 games.

He moved to single-A Savannah in 1986, staying there for 1987. He hit .258 and then .227 for the single-A club over the two years.

Martinez scored the go-ahead run in an April 1987 contest with Sumter. That June, against Sumter again, Martinez knocked in the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth of a 1-0 game, The Sumter Daily Item wrote.

For 1988, Martinez stayed in single-A, playing at St. Petersburg, hitting .251, getting a game-winning single in an April against Lakeland. He won his promotion to AA Arkansas in 1989, playing the season there, maintaining his average at .255, and hitting nine home runs. He also made the Texas League All-Star team.

Martinez hit AAA Louisville for 1990, hitting just .213 and two home runs for the Redbirds. He scored the game-tying run in an April game and in a July game. Martinez returned to Louisville for 1991, then finished out his playing career in 1992 back at AA with Arkansas.

Martinez joined Sosa and the Cubs in 1999, paid by Sosa and serving as Sosa's assistant, but also helping other players, The Tribune wrote.

His future with the team and Sosa was in doubt in 2004 when baseball cracked down on non-baseball people in the clubhouse, The Tribune wrote. The Cubs were trying to get around the order by giving Martinez a more formal title.

Sosa and Martinez eventually parted ways professionally, but remained friends. When Sosa returned to baseball in 2007 with the Rangers, Martinez was with the Nationals as a bullpen catcher. That was also the year that Martinez' old friend hit his long-delayed 600th home run.

"I'm really happy for him, especially after what he went through," Martinez told MLB.com that June after Sosa hit his milestone. "He has 600, so now he is going to be more relaxed. I'm going to celebrate for him."

• Sumter Daily Item, June 9, 1987: Cards edge Braves
  
• Chicago Tribune, Oct. 10, 2003: The mystery of No. 80
• Chicago Tribune, news services, March 2, 2004: Clubhouse crackdown
• MLB.com, June 21, 2007: Notes: Ayala activated from DL

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Featured: 383/880 - 43.5%
Players/Coaches Featured: 390
Made the Majors: 262 - 67%
Never Made the Majors:128-33%-X
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 110
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 101

Marlin McPhail, Utility Man - 645

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 catcher, McPhail caught a young Dwight Gooden in Gooden's first pro start. McPhail lasted 1.2 innings before suffering a broken thumb on a Gooden fastball.

McPhail, a native of New London, Conn., started working on his versatility from the start, The New London Day wrote in February 1983. He told The Day he felt he could handle left field, right field, third base, second base or catcher.

"Maybe that's the way I can fit in with this organization," McPhail told The Day. "If I could make it as a utility player, help the club and advance, I'd be very happy."

McPhail played that year at single-A Lynchburg and single-A Columbia, hitting .302 between them. He returned to Lynchburg for 1984, but got a 30-game look at AA Jackson.

That spring, it was Jackson that was McPhail's goal. And to fit in wherever he could.

"If they said left field was my permanent position, I'd take it, but I'm not trying to force it," McPhail told The Day in March 1984. "That's foolish. That's the surest way for them to say get in a car and drive north, and not to a baseball club."

McPhail got his first look at AAA in 1985, 10 games at Tidewater, a promotion helped because he could come off the bench, The Day wrote. He returned to Tidewater in 1986, his last with the Mets system as a player.

By 1987, he was with the White Sox system, back at AA, at Birmingham. He returned to AAA, at Vancouver in 1988, his first of three seasons there. One more season, at AAA Indianapolis with the Expos, and McPhail's playing days were done.

But his baseball career continued.

"I got as close as I could with three different teams," McPhail told The Day in December 1992, "and in doing so I made some good connections."

McPhail has spent many of the years since as a scout for the Mets, signing a series of players. McPhail scouted the Mets' 2010 top pick, seventh overall, Matt Harvey.

"He's a good person, a hard worker, the type of quality person that you look for and the type of talent you look for," McPhail told MLB.com of Harvey. "We're excited to have somebody that's quality on the field and quality off the field."

• New London Day, Feb. 28, 1983: Versatility, Part 2
• New London Day, March 21, 1984: Utility man, Part 2
• New London Day, Dec. 16, 1992: Coach's hat fits McPhail just fine, Part 2
• Hartford Courant, May 16, 1993: Coach McPhail Has No Regrets
• MLB.com, June 8, 2010: Mets draft workhorse with their first pick

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Featured: 382/880 - 43.4%
Players/Coaches Featured: 389
Made the Majors: 262 - 67%
Never Made the Majors:127-33%-X
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 110
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 101-X

Jeff Richardson looked out for family, saw 3 majors seasons

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 made AAA Nashville and then Cincinnati in 1989.

He made his major league debut in July 1989, after Reds shortstop Barry Larkin went down with an elbow injury. Larkin was among a string of Reds injuries, requiring multiple AAA call-ups that summer.

"I know a lot of people, at least," Richardson told The Associated Press of his fellow call-ups. "That's one good thing about it."

Richardson went on to play in 53 games for the Reds that season, hitting two home runs but his batting average was just .168.

The next April, Richardson was traded to the Pirates. He spent the full season at AAA Buffalo, hitting .207 in just 66 games. He returned to the majors in 1991, playing six games that May for Pittsburgh.

Richardson was also looking forward to 1993, and the expanded playing opportunities that came with expansion.

"I think everyone at this level has to at least think about it," Richardson told The Beaver County Times in August 1991. "No one would be here if they didn't have at least some hope of making the major leagues. It's given a lot of guys in our situation hope that we can be one of the 50 extra guys they're going to need in 1993."

Richardson was still looking at expansion in spring 1992. Pittsburgh was set on its infield. Richardson was just working to be ready if the call came.

"If you're playing well (in the minor leagues), there's a chance you'll get called up," Richardson told The Post-Gazette that March. "My goal this year was to come to camp, take advantage of all the coaches and just improve."

Richardson's chance that year never came. He spent it back at AAA Buffalo. Traded to the Red Sox for 1993, did get back to the majors in the expansion year. Richardson's last chance came that April and May. He played 15 games for the Red Sox, going 5 for 24.

His last game came before he was put on the disabled list for back pain. He'd had the back pain for a while, but it had worsened, he told The Hartford Courant. He got nine games in at AAA Pawtucket, but his year and major league career were done.

Richardson returned for 1994, playing AAA ball with the Cardinals. He then returned for replacement ball with the Pirates. He played seven games that year at AAA for Pittsburgh, ending his playing career.

Richardson went on to a coaching career, managing 1997 at single-A Augusta. He then went to coach at the school he once played for, Louisiana Tech. He has since returned home to Grand Island, Neb., owning two sports bars.

At Louisiana Tech, Richardson, known as Whitey, served as head coach for four years, The AP wrote. He left the school then because he had a desire to return home to Nebraska.

"It's family, 100 percent family," Richardson told The AP. "That's the bottom line. My wife, her brothers, aunts, uncles, my parents all live in Grand Island, Nebraska."

• Bowling Green Daily News, July 16, 1986: Barry Larkin to be out for six to eight weeks
• Beaver County Times, Aug. 4, 1991: Buffalo's field of dreams, Part 2
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 17, 1992: Pirate prospects know their time has not come
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 30, 1995: Roster set, Pirates wait, Part 2
• McCook Daily Gazette, Associated Press, July 26, 2002: Louisiana Tech baseball coach Richardson resigns post

More: The 1990 Buffalo Bisons

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Featured: 381/880 - 43.3%
Players/Coaches Featured: 388
Made the Majors: 262 - 68%-X
Never Made the Majors:126-32%
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 110
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 100

Ron Jones, Sense of Competitiveness - 245

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 Maine, including a 4-for-5 outing in July, knocking in three runs.

Jones got his call-up in August, debuting with Philadelphia Aug. 26. He quickly hit a two-run single, helping the Phillies to a win Aug. 30. He also got three hits in the Sept. 12 game.

"The whole key is staying back; I can't go wrong if I do that," Jones told The Associated Press after that three-hit game.

Jones made the Phillies going into 1989. He hit .290 in April with two home runs. Then came the April 18 game against the Mets. In the eighth inning, Jones made a great catch, but also banged his knee.

Jones went on the disabled list. He didn't play again that year.

"Losing Ronnie is going to hurt us a lot," Phillies Manager Nick Leyva told reporters. "He was a big part of our club. He was going to get a lot of playing time."

His season in 1990 didn't go much better. He played 44 games at AAA Scranton, then got 24 games with Philadelphia. He hit .276 for Philadelphia.

His 1990 season ended that June 30, when he tore a ligament in his knee tracking down a line drive. Phillies physician Dr. Philip Marone was confident Jones would come back.

"As far as timetable, I can't really say at this time," Marone told The AP days later. "Knowing him and how hard he worked last year, he'll work as hard this time around."

Jones came back, playing 28 more games for the Phillies in 1991, ending his major league career. He played two more seasons in the minors. His last credited time playing was in 2000 with the independent Texas Louisana League Rio Grande Valley White Wings.

Jones went on to be partners in the Big League Baseball Academy in Tomball, Texas, with former major leaguer Charlie Hayes. Jones continued with that until his death in June 2006 of natural causes.

• Allentown Morning Call, Sept. 13, 1988: Phils Rise From The Dead To Pound Cubs, Moyer
• Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, Associated Press, Sept. 13, 1988: Phils hand Cubs fifth straight loss
• Reading Eagle, wire services, April 20, 1989: Ron Jones to be out 3 months
• Schenectady Daily Gazette, Associated Press, July 2, 1990: Phillies' Jones Has Surgery, Out for Season
• MLB.com, June 12, 2006: Ron Jones, former Phillies outfielder, dies

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Featured: 380/880 - 43.2%
Players/Coaches Featured: 387
Made the Majors: 261 - 67%-X
Never Made the Majors:126-33%
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 110
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 100

1987 Donruss: Kings Wild

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 the Giants. He also went on to manage the Mariners in 2003 and 2004 and the Diamondbacks from 2005 to 2009.

Two other future managers in the packs were Bob Boone and Kirk Gibson. Boone managed the Royals from 1995 to 1997 and the Reds from 2001 to 2003. Gibson took over the Diamondbacks in 2010.

Speaking of Kings, there were two Diamond Kings in the packs, the Angels' Wally Joyner and the Cubs' Keith Moreland. Joyner, Donruss noted, replaced Rod Carew "and played the game like few rookies ever have.." He was also the first rookie voted into the American League All-Star starting lineup. "He is a young, vibrant, exciting Diamond King."

Donruss called Moreland a "consistent workhorse" for the Cubs. "He comes to play, makes the plays, is an excellent clutch hitter, and has the versatility to play right field, third base or catch."

The two Hall of Famers in the packs were Rickey Henderson and Wade Boggs. Henderson was with the Yankees. Donruss noted he had eclipsed his own Yankee stolen base mark in 1986 with 87 stolen bases.

Boggs, Donruss noted, tied Hall of Famer Chuck Klein's record for most games in a season with at least one hit in 1985.

Of the two CMC set members in the packs, I've covered one, but haven't covered the other. The one I've covered is Terry McGriff. I covered McGriff back in April. At one point, he was among those looked at to replace Johnny Bench.

The other CMC set member, Dennis Powell, I haven't gotten to yet. He was a member of the Dodgers in the Donruss set, pitching in 27 games in 1986, going 2-7 with a 4.27 ERA. Donruss noted he was used as a spot starter. He made Los Angeles in 1985 after going 9-0 at AAA Albuquerque.

This last card is of Oil Can Boyd. I'm including it because Donruss gives its answer to the question about where Dennis Ray Boyd's nickname came from: "Picked up his unusual nickname in college where beer was called 'oil.'"

• Toledo Blade, Associated Press, June 19, 1986: Rookie Says It's Not Easy, But Tigers' King Unbeaten

1987 Donruss Pack 5
24 Keith Moreland Diamond King; 50 Kirk Gibson; 51 Oil Can Boyd; 119 Shawon Dunston; 153 Rich Gedman; 164 Eric Show; 184 Jim Deshaies; 185 Steve Bedrosian; 196 Frank Viola; 208 Greg Mathews; 252 Wade Boggs; 343 Rudy Law; 477 Jim Traber; 499 Dennis Powell; 512 Terry McGriff; Puzzle 43-45

1987 Donruss Pack 6
1 Wally Joyner Diamond King; 143 Billy Sample; 161 Oddibe McDowell; 228 Rickey Henderson; 233 Bob Boone; 239 Bob Melvin; 240 Billy Jo Robidoux; 250 Eric King; 277 Mike Easler; 366 Mike Morgan; 367 Willie Upshaw; 384 Craig Reynolds; 385 Greg Gross; 412 Ron Reonicke; 501 Chris Bando; 520 Scott McGregor; Puzzle 37-39

Mike Arner hit his spots, made AAA with Rangers

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 ERA of 2.03. He also earned a promotion to high-A Charlotte. At Charlotte, Arner went 3-3 with a 2.97 ERA, including a no-decision in that Baseball City game.

Arner returned to Charlotte for 1991, Arner went 8-8 with a 3.17 ERA. He got one of his losses in an April game. Arner went four innings, giving up two runs before hitting his pitch count, The Herald Tribune wrote.

"He walked the leadoff man in two innings, and fell behind a number of hitters," Charlotte Manager Bobby Molinaro told The Herald-Tribune, "but they didn't hit him at all."

Arner got another one of his losses in an August game, giving up three runs in two innings. By 1992, the starter was now a reliever. He was also moving up. At Charlotte in May, Arner got a win in relief with 3.2 innings of one-hit ball.

He also made AA Tulsa and AAA Oklahoma City that year. At Tulsa, he posted a 3.54 ERA in 15 appearances. At Oklahoma City, Arner appeared in four games, starting three. He went 2-1 with a 6.55 ERA.

Arner returned to Tulsa for 1993, his last year in affiliated ball. In spring 1995, he signed with the Blue Jays for replacement ball. In 1997, he was playing at independent Canton.

At Canton, Arner had a performance remembered by The Washington (Pa.) Observer-Reporter. In the Frontier League playoffs, Arner pitched a complete-game shutout, over 14 innings.

Since 1997, Arner has coached with the independent Sioux Falls Canaries and for the Rockies at single-A Asheville. In 2009, Arner still coaching, in high school at Tampa's Plant High.

• Sarasota Herald-Tribune, July 4, 1990: Rangers Hang On To Beat Royals 4-3
• Sarasota Herald-Tribune, April 13, 1991: Molinaro, Rangers Manage A Split, Part 2

More: The 1990 Gastonia Rangers

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Featured: 379/880 - 43.1%
Players/Coaches Featured: 386
Made the Majors: 260 - 67%
Never Made the Majors:126-33%-X
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 110
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 100

Small-Town Heroes: Cards and Autographs

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, I bring it up because I have that card, autographed later that summer, along with 21 other cards in the team set.

That's it right there. Maybe Donati was smiling because he was emulating the his photo on the card.

Speaking of Donati, I also got his Fleer Excel card autographed. I had to have gotten it autographed at a different time, the pens used are different.

Donati played in Cedar Rapids that one year in 1995. He ended up playing eight seasons professionally, never getting higher than high-A.

Davis also mentions other players. Jason Dickson, Nick Skuse and Aaron Iatarola.

Aaron Iatarola. Also has a nice view of old Veteran's Memorial Stadium.

Nick Skuse

Jason Dickson

Davis also writes about snapping a picture of a player on the visiting Quad City River Bandits holding a thermometer. It was hot that day and the thermometer showed the temperature at the mound.

Here's the guy who held that thermometer for Davis: Tony Shaver.

It's Shaver's 1995 team set card, signed the next month in August, on a trip to Quad City's home in Davenport, Ia.

Small-Town Heroes:
Part 1: Cool Connections | Part 2: I Was There
Part 3: Cards and Autographs

Jose Castro played 13 pro seasons, made bigs as coach

Jose Castro didn't start playing baseball until he was 13, he told The Chicago Tribune as spring 1985 wound down. That was seven years after he and his family came to the United States on a boat, fleeing Cuba.

"Ever since then," Castro told The Tribune of the time he started playing the game, "it's been my dream. I used to go to the stadium in Miami to watch the Orioles. Tonight, I get to go on the same field and play against them. Unbelievable.

"My dad is more excited even than I am," Castro told The Tribune. "It was hard on him and my mom, starting a new life in the States, not knowing the language. But if we hadn't left Cuba, I would never have this chance. I would never have met my wife, an American girl. I would never have done a lot of things."

Castro spoke to The Tribune, one of the candidates for the White Sox' final roster spots. Castro didn't make it that year. He didn't make it in any of his 14 minor league seasons. But he did make it, years later, in one brief stint as hitting coach for the Seattle Mariners.

Castro's career began in 1977, selected by the Phillies in the 27th round out of high school. He played that year at short-season Auburn, the next at single-A Spartanburg. At Spartanburg, Castro hit .280 with nine home runs.

Read the October 2014 interview: Jose Castro, The Maximum

His fifth home run came in a June game, a three-run shot. He also had a two-run double. He only had one home run in his first campaign, The Spartanburg Herald-Journal noted.

"I've been waiting more on the pitch and holding my hands back a little. I've got some power in me," Castro, then 5-feet, 9-inches and 155 pounds, told The Herald-Journal laughing, "but with my size, I've just got to hit it right."

The next year, Castro got his first look at AA, at Reading. He had three hits and three RBIs in one August 1980 game for Reading.

In 1981, Castro got his first look at AAA, at Oklahoma City, hitting his ninth of 11 home runs in a July game. Through five different organizations, Castro would stay at AAA the rest of his playing career, amounting to 10 seasons at the doorstep to the majors.

He hit a two-run single in a June 1982 game for he White Sox' Edmonton AAA team. In an August 1983 game, Castro hit two home runs for the White Sox' Denver AAA team.

In 1984, Castro made the All-Star team with Denver, hitting .316 with 12 home runs. The next spring, he made it to the end of camp with a shot to make the White Sox roster, The Tribune wrote. But he didn't make it.

There was even talk May 17 that Castro would be brought up, if infielder Julio Cruz went on the DL, The Tribune wrote. Cruz didn't return until June 4. But Castro never got the call.

Instead, it was back to the White Sox' AAA team, then in Buffalo. Castro's numbers dropped that year at Buffalo. He hit just .240 with eight home runs. It was his last of four seasons with the White Sox system. He went on to spent two seasons at AAA for the Blue Jays, then two more at AAA for the Royals.

For 1990, the 32-year-old signed on with the Expos, playing at AAA Indianapolis. Castro played 19 games before being released in May.

"I've played this game for 14 years," Castro told friend Steve Fireovid after his release, according to Fireovid's diary of that season The 26th Man. "I always knew someday it'd be over. I guess that's today."

That's when Castro's next career started. Castro was given the option to coach the Expos' rookie league team in West Palm Beach, Fireovid wrote. He went on coach AA Portland in 1994, AAA Ottawa in 2002 and, in 2008, serve as hitting coach for the Seattle Mariners.

In 2010, Castro served as manager for the Mariner's AAA club in Tacoma, gauging how long other players might be away from the majors.

"(Dustin) Ackley is a true professional, in all the meaning of that word," Castro told The Seattle Times of the Mariners' prospect. "He comes to the park, prepares himself — and the boy can hit. He's going to be a good one at the major-league level."

Read the October 2014 interview: Jose Castro, The Maximum 

• Spartanburg Herald-Journal, June 5, 1978: S-Phillies' Rallies Frustrate Braves
  
• Chicago Tribune, April 3, 1985: He May Give Sox A New Complexion
• The 26th Man: One Minor League Pitcher's Pursuit of a Dream, 1996: Page 83
• Seattle Times, Sept. 10, 2010: Hope in air again at Safeco

More: The 1990 Indianapolis Indians

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Featured: 378/880 - 43.0%
Players/Coaches Featured: 385
Made the Majors: 260 - 68%
Never Made the Majors:125-32%-X
5+ Seasons in the Majors: 110
10+ Seasons in the Minors: 100-X