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Thursday, March 31, 2011

Rocket Wheeler, Lengthy Trip - 676

The major leagues weren't so far away for Ralph "Rocket" Wheeler and his high-A Myrtle Beach Pelicans.

And for Jason Heyward, who started 2009 with Myrtle Beach, the majors weren't, WMBF.com wrote.

"It's part of the speech I tell these guys every year, you don't know how close you are to the big leagues," Wheeler told WMBF. "Guys think, ‘here I am in Myrtle Beach, I have to go to Double-A and Triple-A before I get to the big leagues.' Believe me: your trip may be quicker than you think."

Wheeler's trip is still continuing, more than three decades in. After a playing career that lasted six seasons, all in the minors, Wheeler has gone on to a lengthy coaching and managing career, all in the minors.

Wheeler's career in the minors began in 1977, taken by the Blue Jays in the 13th round of the draft, out of the University of Houston. In his six seasons as a player, Wheeler got as high as AA, but no higher.

His playing career over by 1983, Wheeler went right to work in the manager's office, taking the top job at rookie league Medicine Hat, returning there in 1988 and 1989.

With Medicine Hat in 1988, Wheeler told of having to protect his young pitchers.

"You don't want a kid throwing 150-200 pitches and blowing his arm out," Wheeler told The Los Angeles Times. "A kid will tell you he's feeling fine, but you know when he's tiring. You have to protect them."

Wheeler served as hitting coach at AAA Syracuse for four years through 1993. By 1995, he was managing again, with the Blue Jays Gulf Coast League team.

He also soon started collecting awards. In 1996, with St. Catharines, Wheeler won league Manager of the Year honors. He did the same with Dunedin in 1999 and Myrtle Beach in 2008. He also managed his Rome Braves to the South Atlantic League title in 2003.

Among the players on that 2003 Rome team was catcher Brian McCann. Wheeler told MLB.com in 2009 that when he first saw McCann, Wheeler knew he had talent.

"He had a good year that year," Wheeler told MLB.com of 2003. "He knew what he wanted to do at the plate. Usually, you get a young kid coming up like that, they just want to hack. ... As an 18-year-old, he drew a leadoff walk in the game we won for the championship."

Wheeler stayed with Rome for three seasons, moving to Myrtle Beach for five seasons. For 2011, Wheeler was promoted, to the managing job at AA Mississippi.

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Featured: 430/880 - 48.9%
Players/Coaches Featured:
438
Made the Majors: 297 - 68%
Never Made the Majors:
141-32%
-X
5+ Seasons in the Majors:
122
10+ Seasons in the Minors:
110-X

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Brian McRae, Relaxed and Confident - 829

Read the February 2012 interview: Brian McRae, Call Up

Brian McRae had had a down year in 1992, his second full year in the majors. He hit just .223, that was after hitting .261 in 1991.

But, preparing for 1993, he worked through the winter and started 1993 hot and hit .282 on the year.

"He's relaxed. He's confident," McRae's manager with the Royals, and also his father, Hal McRae told The Associated Press after that hot start. "Last year, he fought it all year long, and you can't fight it like that and be relaxed. He's learned to stay inside the ball."

McRae was still just 25 at the start of 1993, but he'd been playing as a professional since the age of 17, taken by the Royals in the first round of the 1985 draft.

He was taken by the same team that his father Hal McRae played for. Brian McRae didn't make the majors in time to play along side his father, but he was there waiting when his father was named manager in 1991.

Brian McRae first made the majors in 1990, called up directly from AA Memphis. He tripled in his first big league at bat.

"To tell you the truth, I couldn't really hear the crowd," Brian McRae told The AP afterward. "My heart was pumping a little and I was just happy to have that first AB over with. After a while, I relaxed and I think I was able to get into the flow of the game."

McRae was a regular in the Royals outfield through 1994, hitting .282 in 1993 and .273 in 1994.

But it wasn't McRae's improved batting average that he was satisfied with in 1994, it was his RBI total of 69, he told The AP that June.

"RBI's are more important to me than hitting .300," McRae told The AP. "I don't think you can find many No. 2 hitters who are driving in 69 runs. I just like being a clutch hitter. I like driving them in when they're out there."

McRae signed with the Cubs for 1995, where he started hot, and was responsible for the winning run in an late April game through shear hustle, The Chicago Tribune wrote. McRae stretched a single into a double, stole third and came home on an errant throw.

"That was not a team thing, that was all Brian McRae," Mark Grace told the Tribune. "He single-handedly got that insurance run for us. I don't think I've ever played with anybody that exciting."

McRae arrived with the Mets in an August 1997 trade, debuting with the Mets with three hits and two runs scored. He stayed with the Mets into 1999, spending time late that year with the Rockies and the Blue Jays, ending his big league career after 10 seasons and more than 1,300 games played.

McRae has stayed in baseball since his retirement. He currently serves as the hitting coach on the USA Baseball's 18U team.

Read the February 2012 interview: Brian McRae, Call Up
1990 CMC Tally 
Cards Featured: 429/880 - 48.8%
Players/Coaches Featured:
437 
Made the Majors: 297 - 68%-X
Never Made the Majors:
140-32%

5+ Seasons in the Majors:
122-X
10+ Seasons in the Minors:
109

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Otis Green, Arm Strength - 68

Otis Green's Carol City High baseball team won the Florida state championship in 1982, according to The Miami News.

And they did so with no small contribution from Green. He was the team's top pitcher and a pretty good outfielder, too.

"Otis is our No. 1 and we had to win or lose it with him," Carol City coach Pete Hertler told The News after Green hurled them to the championship. "I was confident he'd come through. He's done it so many times in the last two weeks and I knew he'd do it again."

In high school, players like Green are not uncommon, players that both pitch and play a position. Professionally, though, the the list of players that go from one to the other is much shorter. But it's a list that includes Green, starting his professional career using his outfield and hitting skills and ending it using his pitching skills.

And, while Green did well enough between them to last more than a decade in pro ball, he didn't do well enough with either of them to make the majors.

Green's professional career began in 1983, taken by the Blue Jays in the secondary phase of the draft. After Carol City, Green went to and stared at Miami Dade North Junior College, hitting .318.

The outfielder Green played his first year at rookie league Medicine Hat, hitting .315 with 10 home runs. He split 1984 between single-A Kinston and single-A Florence, hitting .261 on the year.

With Florence in April 1984, Green went 7 for 12 in one three-game stretch against Charleston.

"He's really hurt us in these three games," Charleston Royals Manager Duane Gustavson told The Charleston News and Courier. "He's got a lot of ability. Somewhere along the way, we're going to have to reckon with him."

Green hit AA Knoxville in 1985, then AAA Syracuse in 1986. Then his rise stalled. He played at Syracuse for four straight seasons. His best year was his first, hitting .281. Signing with the Expos for 1990, Green played the year at AAA Indianapolis.

Then the outfielder turned pitcher. He signed with the Brewers for 1991 and they let him try pitching. Green started back at high-A Stockton, then moved to AA El Paso. Between them, he went 12-4 with a 2.43 ERA.

Green made the move, he told The Milwaukee Sentinel in February 1992, because he thought pitching would finally get him to the majors. His first year was good enough to get him onto the Brewers' 40-man winter roster.

"We were impressed with his arm strength," Milwaukee farm director Bruce Manno told The Sentinel after the switch. "Each time we saw him we were more impressed."

But, while it got Green on the 40-man roster, switching to pitching didn't get him to the majors. He returned to AAA with Denver for 1992, going 11-8, with a 4.61 ERA.

Green played 1993 with the Angels at AAA Vancouver, then 1995 with the Mariners at AAA Tacoma, ending his career, short of the majors.
1990 CMC TallyCards Featured: 429/880 - 48.8%
Players/Coaches Featured:
437Made the Majors: 296 - 68%
Never Made the Majors:
141-32%
-X
5+ Seasons in the Majors:
121
10+ Seasons in the Minors:
110
-X

Monday, March 28, 2011

Rich Miller, Ins and Outs - 686

Rich Miller knew the bus rides, he knew the plane trips. He'd been through all that, he told The Newport News Daily Press in August 1990.

The Tidewater Tides third base coach also knew what it was like to be a young player in the minors with hopes of getting to the majors.

"I know what they go through," Miller told The Daily Press, "the ups and downs, the ins and outs. I've done it for 18 straight seasons."

He'd done it as a player, as a manager and as a coach. He'd also done it without making the majors. In the two decades since, Miller has continued as a coach and coordinator. He's also continued to relay those lessons to players on their way to the majors, never getting there himself.

Miller's minor league baseball career began in 1973, taken by the Mets in the sixth round of the draft out of West Chester University. He made AA Victoria in 1974, then AAA Tidewater in 1976.

With Victoria in 1974, Miller knocked in the winning run in an August game. In August 1976, Miller hit a two-run home run to help Tidewater to a win. But, for Miller's efforts, he wasn't called up to Queens. His playing career ended after 1980, back at AA Jackson.

That's when his coaching career began. For 1981, Miller took the helm at short-season Little Falls, then single-A Shelby for 1982. For 1984 and 1985, Miller managed at single-A Columbia, all in the Mets system.

He returned to Little Falls for 1986 and 1987. He then turned hitting coach for Tidewater in 1988, the same time he'd played for a decade earlier.

In 1990, Miller served as the Tides' third base coach, sending signs to his hitters. In one June game, Miller gave the sign to hitter Mike DeButch, calling for a bunt. The squeeze was on, and it worked.

"It was a beautiful bunt, just a beautiful bunt," Miller told The Daily Press. "I'm just glad he got the sign. You don't use it that often. You just hope they recognize the sign."

Miller stayed with the Mets into the 1990s, serving as a roving instructor. In 1998, as the Mets' minor league outfield coordinator, Miller tried to teach Todd Hundley to play outfield.

''I told him there's a good chance of him becoming an adequate outfielder,'' Miller told The New York Times in June 1998. ''He's a good athlete and this is a new challenge. He just doesn't have his legs or his wind yet.''

Miller joined the Twins and the Rochester Red Wings in 2004 as hitting coach, staying there for four seasons. In 2009, he moved to single-A Beloit.

For 2010, Miller joined the Blue Jays as Toronto's minor league outfield and baserunning coordinator. The Blue Jays were looking to work on their speed on the base paths, GM Alex Anthopoulos told MLB.com that February.

"We added a baserunning coordinator this year," Anthopoulos told MLB.com, referring to Miller. "We're excited about him - someone to spend a little more time to focus solely on that."

1990 CMC TallyCards Featured: 428/880 - 48.6%
Players/Coaches Featured:
436Made the Majors: 296 - 68%
Never Made the Majors:
140-32%
-X
5+ Seasons in the Majors:
121
10+ Seasons in the Minors:
109
-X

Interview: Hugh Kemp used lessons from father over 8 seasons

Hugh Kemp pitching for the AAA Nashville Sounds. Kemp pitched in Nashville three seasons in the Reds organization, from 1987 to 1989 without getting a call up to Cincinnati. (Photo Provided)

Hugh Kemp autographed 1990 Buffalo Bisons cardOn the mound for DeKalb College, Hugh Kemp knew a coaching visit to the hill was more than enough to draw ragging from the opposing dugout.

That's because the coach coming to the mound was his father, Bill Kemp. The taunts came as Kemp's supposed plea to his dad to leave him in the game.

"It really just made me mad," Kemp recalled to The Greatest 21 Days recently, referring to the taunts. "Then he'd make me madder because he would come out there and get after me, kind of like how you might grab your son by the arm when he'd done something wrong."

Kemp credits his father's help with making him into the pitcher he became. Kemp went on to pitch for the University of Georgia and play eight seasons in the minors with the Reds and the Pirates. He never made the majors, but stayed one step away from the ultimate goal for five seasons.

It was a fate, staying at AAA, that Kemp would later attribute to lack of consistency. But, while he didn't make the majors, he did make the 40-man roster once. It was an event he recalled learning about like everyone else: through the newspaper.

When his career finally ended, Kemp, a religious man, credited God with helping him get as far as he did - and ending it when it ended. Away from baseball, Kemp and his wife helped tend to her ailing father and start his post-playing career.

Kemp spoke to The Greatest 21 Days by phone from his Charlotte-area home. He's spent much of the last two decades there with his wife Carol and their family that grew to include three children.

And it's a sports loving family. His daughter Alexandria, now 22, played softball through high school. Daughter Amy, 18, ran track. Kemp recalled his son Ross, now an eighth grader, banging on the back door with a bat as an 18-month-old, wanting to go out and play.

It was also with his son Ross that Kemp recalled going to Cooperstown for the first time last year, with Ross' youth team. They got tour the Hall of Fame itself. Their three-hour trip through the museum could have easily been double that, he recalled.

Hugh Kemp's father, Bill Kemp, center, takes part in the Georgia Perimeter Alumni Day. Bill Kemp coached baseball and his son at DeKalb College, which later became Georgia Perimeter. Photo courtesy of Georgia Perimeter's Alumni Day Gallery.

But for Kemp, it was his own father, now 80, who taught him the fundamentals of the game, the fundamentals that he is now teaching to his own son.

"One thing my dad taught me more than anything was how to be a winner, how to be tough and never to give in, which is important," Kemp said. "You might have talent, but if you don't have heart, desire and a will to never quit or give in, your talent will probably take you only so far."

"I probably wouldn't have done near things I was able to do," Kemp said later, "if it hadn't been for the lessons he taught me."

Kemp's heart and desire took him on to the University of Georgia, where he struck out 11 Florida Gators in an April 1983 game and earned a selection by the Reds in the 13th round of that June's draft.

He would go on to have an even more impressive strike-out game later that year, one where he struck out 20 for the legendary Billings Mustangs.

Hugh Kemp in the Nashville bullpen. Kemp played for Nashville from 1987 to 1989. (Photo Provided)

Taken by the Reds in the 13th round, Kemp was sent to short-season Billings, in Montana.

Coming from college, he'd already been away from home. He'd even spent a summer playing in Alaska. So the transition from college to the pros was a smooth one.

On the field that smooth transition showed. He recalled that 20 strikeout game, a number that was one off the league record.

It was a feat even Kemp was surprised he'd reached.

"I think the strike zone expanded pretty well that night," Kemp said with a laugh.

He'd never struck out that many in a game in his life. The most he recalled setting down was 17 at DeKalb College. But, here he was, just short of the Pioneer League record.

"I wasn't really a strike out pitcher," Kemp said. "I just happened to have good stuff that night and I could throw anything at any time, and kept them guessing."

He went 9-3 that year, with an ERA of 2.21. He was also credited with a total of 138 strikeouts in 110 innings. And, with a team that included the likes of Rob Dibble, Jeff Montgomery and Kurt Stillwell, along with Kemp, the Mustangs won the 1983 Pioneer League title.

For 1984, Kemp moved to single-A Cedar Rapids. He also kept up his Billings pace. He went 11-9, with a 2.79 ERA. He also struck out another 143 in 164 innings.

Kemp made the next step for 1985, to the Florida State League. By the time the year was out, Kemp would make two more steps up - just one more step and he'd be in the majors.

Along with those two jumps, Kemp got some advice from a Hall of Fame pitcher, Sandy Koufax. Just after being told he'd been promoted to AA Vermont, Kemp's Tampa team was playing the Dodgers at Vero Beach. A teammate and former Dodger farmhand saw Koufax and introduced the two.

Kemp recalled the Hall of Famer telling him to simply work hard and not run his mouth as he moved up. And Kemp tried to do what he was told.

Starting 1985 at single-A Tampa, Kemp jumped to AA Vermont, then, by the end, he was at AAA Denver.

His first game at Denver was an away game, he recalled, at Buffalo's War Memorial Stadium. It was a stadium steeped in history, something Kemp appreciated. The Natural was filmed there, Kemp noted. O.J. Simpson also ran for 2,000 yards in that stadium.
He went five innings that day. "I was nervous from the first pitch, until they took me out," Kemp recalled.

Kemp started seven games for Denver that year, going 2-3 with an ERA of 3.12.

He also did well enough that year to get promoted to the Reds' 40-man winter roster in November.

It was news that would be welcome by any player. And, for Kemp, it was welcome - after he learned of it from the newspaper. Looking at the sports section one day, there he was in the transactions list.

"I hadn't even been called by the Reds at that point and told anything, which was OK, I didn't care," Kemp said. "I was pretty excited."

Kemp was student teaching that off season, he recalled his teacher making a huge deal out if it. The talk, though, made Kemp uncomfortable. He wasn't one to talk about his accomplishments. Even after he met his wife, he recalled, she didn't know he was a baseball player until maybe three weeks in. They met as he finished up at Georgia.

Still, it was good news.

"I was very humbled by it," Kemp said. "I was excited and I knew I had to work that much harder to have that chance."

And he did. He ran, he threw, all the things he needed to do, coming into camp in good shape, he said.

But he never made that final jump to the majors. Looking back, Kemp believes what held him back was his consistency, or lack there of.


Kemp rapidly made it to AAA, making it there in 1985. But that quick ascent didn't continue.

Over the next five seasons, he remained in AAA, without a call up. And Kemp believes he knows why.

"It boils down to consistency," Kemp said. "I had some real good years, but I had some years that weren't too good either. Talent wise, maybe I had enough. But, when you look at it, it's all about consistency in any sport, but really in life. I guess i wasn't consistent enough.

"But, hey, that's the way it goes."

Kemp also played in the Reds system, a team that had some good pitchers in the majors. Kemp realizes that, had he been with another team, like his hometown Braves, he might have gotten that chance.

"It's all about timing, it's all about being in the right place at the right time," Kemp said, "but, most of all, it's all about consistency."

But, while Kemp didn't get to go to the majors, he did get to go to a lot of other places. One winter, he went to Venezuela and played there. He also played in the Venezuelan league All-Star Game, picking up the win.

Kemp went to South America after a 1987 season where he went 6-10 with a 4.64 ERA. He hadn't been consistent enough. Coming back, Kemp returned to AAA and pitched in another All-Star game, the AAA All-Star Game.

It was during that time that Kemp's manager told him that Kemp had been recommended for promotion to the majors, twice, Kemp recalled. But the Reds didn't go along with that recommendation.

Kemp, though, also quickly added that the players who went up instead were deserving of the promotions.

"I understand it," Kemp said. "They still wanted me to prove that I could still be consistent. It just didn't work out.

"God had his plans for my life," Kemp added. "You don't know it at the time. I wanted it to be baseball, and, for a time, that's what it was. ... but it's the way it is."

Kemp stayed with the Reds through 1989, signing with the Pirates for 1990. But it was his last year playing ball.

Kemp could have extended his career into 1991, he recalled, by going to Mexico. Other matters, however, were more pressing.

The plan had changed.

Speaking with Pirates general manager Larry Doughty that spring, Doughty was honest about Kemp's chances. Doughty, someone Kemp had known from the Atlanta area, almost apologized for his assessment that Kemp didn't really have a chance then to make the big club.

No apology was needed, Kemp recalled responding. "I said, 'you earn what you get," Kemp recalled. "And obviously at that point, I hadn't earned it."

Shortly after that, Kemp was released. He had that chance to go to Mexico with the Braves. But the Braves couldn't guarantee that Kemp would be in AAA Richmond by June. Kemp also just didn't want to extend his career by going to Mexico.

It was time for him to get out.

But it also came at a time when Kemp and his wife could go to Virginia and help her mother tend to her father. His wife's father was dying of cancer. They stayed with him until he passed away that June.

Shortly after that, Kemp's post-baseball career began, getting a job offer with a national fund raising company.

"I look back on those things," Kemp said, "and there's a bigger plan that was for me and Carol, my wife, then for me playing baseball.

"Would I have loved to play? Sure. I loved the game and I miss the game to this day, that pro ball side of it. But, you know what? I get to coach my son, but I also coach some high school ball."

"The timing of everything is all on Christ," Kemp added later.

Kemp has gone on to work with the Charlotte-area consulting firm NouvEON, for a boss that encourages him work around his coaching commitments.

He's also got his wife and three children, his children going through school to pursue their own dreams.

"I look back on it," Kemp said of his playing days, "and a lot of times, I was very fortunate and very blessed to do something I truly loved to do out of college.

"I got to do something that I loved, that most people don't get to do for one day. So I know how fortunate and lucky I am and I'm thankful for that."

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Dale Plummer, Close Calls - 360

The Greatest 21 Days caught up with Dale Plummer in April 2011, read the two-part interview: Dale Plummer, Good Thing

Taken in the 23rd round of the 1988 draft by the Mets, University of Maine product Dale Plummer was pleased he was taken, he told The Bangor Daily News.

He did wish he would have been taken higher, if only for the better bonus, Plummer told the paper.

"But I've worked my tail off," Plummer told The Daily News, "not too many people have this opportunity, and I want to take advantage of it. This is something I've always wanted to do."

Plummer took advantage of it enough to play seven seasons professionally. It was also enough to get him tantalizingly close to the ultimate goal, the major leagues. He finally got his call, but he couldn't go. An injury two days before that call dashed those hopes.

Earlier, he'd had another close call, with cancer.

Taken by the Mets that year in 1988, Plummer started at short-season Little Falls and he did well. He went 5-1 in 25 appearances, all in relief. His ERA was a sterling 1.33.

For much of 1989, Plummer played at AA Jackson, going 5-0 with a 2.03 ERA. For 1990, it was AAA Tidewater for Plummer. But an injury, suffered in bunting drills, held his totals and his prospects down.

In late April, Plummer broke a bone in his pitching hand after being hit by a pitch during bunting practice, according to The Newport News Daily Press. He didn't return until July. The injury was perhaps enough for the hurler to hide his injured right hand behind him when a baseball card photographer snapped his photo in May.

After he returned, Plummer pitched four games back at AA Jackson, his last time below AAA. He played in the Mets system through 1993, continually at AAA, with ERAs of 3.99, 3.57 and 5.16, all without a call up to Queens.

Late in his 1992 season, though, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, according to The Bangor Daily News. After surgery and chemotherapy, Plummer was back on the mound for 1993.

"There's nothing you can do," Plummer told The Daily News in October 1993 of his reaction and his wife's reaction after hearing the news. "We put everything in the Lord's hands. We consider ourselves very blessed."

Out of baseball for 1994, Plummer returned to the game for spring 1995, as a replacement player with the Red Sox. Plummer's uncle, the Red Sox new pitching coach John Cumberland. invited him to camp, according to The Daily News. Plummer had played for Cumberland before, in 1990 at Tidewater.

The strike over, Plummer stayed on at AAA Pawtucket. He went 9-9, with an ERA of 5.19. It was also that year that Plummer got his call to Boston. But he was injured.

"I knew I couldn't pitch because of my groin," Plummer told The Kennebec Morning Sentinel years later, upon his induction into The Maine Baseball Hall of Fame. "I would have made my debut in Yankee Stadium."

Plummer has gone on to become a coach in the college ranks. In November 2006, Plummer was named interim coach at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. He lost the interim tag a year later.
He continues in that post for 2011.

1990 CMC Tally
Cards Featured:
427/880 - 48.5%
Players/Coaches Featured:
435Made the Majors: 296 - 68%
Never Made the Majors:
139-32%

5+ Seasons in the Majors:
121
10+ Seasons in the Minors:
108

Fifth Interview Coming Monday

I've had this blog going for over a year now and every so often, somebody who happened upon it will leave a comment or send me an e-mail.

Those e-mails helped me complete my CMC set. Others had quick questions or comments about the site.

As far as players go, the only response I'd had came early on. A woman posted to my first feature on Joe Bitker last February, saying the subject of the post was her brother. Hopefully she's seen my revisited feature, posted in February.

Now I can add to that list an actual subject of a post - a player. And it's led to my fifth interview.

Earlier this month, I got an e-mail from a man saying he'd come across the site, and my post on him.

The e-mailer was Hugh Kemp. I'd featured Kemp back in October. Kemp played professionally for eight seasons, with five full seasons at AAA. He also never made the majors.

Always a little skeptical, I did a few quick searches with the information from the e-mail and things seemed to check out.

After a few e-mails back and forth, and subsequent interview, there was no doubt: This was Hugh Kemp, member of the 1990 Buffalo Bisons and CMC set member.

My four previous interviews have all been in person, either locally or on trips. I like the in person interviews because I can get some pictures, easily use my recorder, and get the CMC card signed right there.

But Kemp is currently based in North Carolina. My wife and I aren't planning a trip there anytime soon. So I did my first phone interview for the site. And Kemp was great, offering some great stories about his playing career, what led up to it and what he's done since.

He also agreed to send some pictures, and I sent him his CMC card to sign. I've gotten the card back. I'm hoping to have a follow up post later with some pictures from his playing days and maybe some more recent ones.

As for the interview, I think I'll break it up into multiple posts, like I did last month for Rick Lancellotti. The first one should go up Monday afternoon.

With the season starting, I'm hoping to pick up some more interviews, including a few in the coming weeks. Of course, there's no guarantees with these things, but hopefully things will fall into place.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Steve Davis, Working Lefty - 406

Steve Davis had had an impressive year in the minors in 1985. Between AA Knoxville and AAA Syracuse, Davis had gone 20-8 with 2.46 ERA.

Now, at the end of August, he found himself in Toronto. And he knew his work was just beginning.

"I can't come up here and sit on it (20 wins)," Davis told The Associated Press after his first major league win in his second appearance. "I want to be here next year."

Davis' work for the Blue Jays that year totaled all of 10 games for the Blue Jays. And he did return to the Blue Jays for 1986, but it was only for three unspectacular games.

Twelve more appearances in 1989 with Cleveland and Smith's work in the major leagues would end, with a big league record of 3-2. His professional career would end a year later, after nine seasons in professional ball.

Davis' professional career began in 1982, taken by the Blue Jays in the 21st round out of Texas A&M University.

He played that year at short-season Medicine Hat, going 5-1 with a 3.44 ERA. He played much of 1983 at single-A Florence, getting into the South Atlantic League All-Star Game, and picking up the win.

Davis also got his first four-game look at AA Knoxville in 1983, returning for all of 1984. He went 9-6 with a 3.49 ERA, getting one of those wins in a June game.

For 1985, Davis had his big year. At Knoxville, Davis went 17-6 with a 2.45 ERA. At AAA Syracuse, he was just 3-2, but his ERA held strong at 2.50.

That August and September, Davis pitched in a total of 28 innings for the Blue Jays with a 3.54 ERA, as the team worked its way to the playoffs.

Davis started 1986 with the big club, serving as Toronto's only left-handed reliever. He got into three games that April. In his third and final outing, Davis worked two innings and gave up five earned runs.

Davis spent the rest of 1986, all of 1987 and all of 1988 back in the minors. For 1989, Davis signed with the Indians, getting his third and final major league win Aug. 24. In 12 games, Davis got two starts and posted an ERA of 8.06.

His final season came in 1990, pitching with the Dodgers at AAA Albuquerque. He went 7-8 with an ERA of 4.31. His efforts did not earn a call up to Los Angeles.

Of his three total major league wins, Davis got his first in his second appearance, his third and last in that August 1989 game for Cleveland.

His second came in his fourth big league appearance, at Toronto's Exhibition Stadium. And he had to work against unusual obstacles to get it: gnats and flies, according to The Ottawa Citizen.

He went five innings, gave up three runs and struck out six Twins. In the third inning, he encountered the insects.

"I don't (know) what they were," Davis told The Citizen, "but I swallowed a couple."
1990 CMC Tally
Cards Featured:
427/880 - 48.5%
Players/Coaches Featured:
435Made the Majors: 296 - 68%-X
Never Made the Majors:
139-32%

5+ Seasons in the Majors:
121
10+ Seasons in the Minors:
108

Friday, March 25, 2011

Jim Leyritz, Second Chances - 211


The home run hero of a divisional series game a year before, the Yankees' Jim Leyritz now found himself in 1996 in a similar spot, only on an even grander stage: The World Series.

His Yankees down 6-3 in the eighth inning of the crucial Game 4, Leyritz launched a game-tying home run in a contest and series the Bombers would go on to win.

"Never thought I'd get a chance to hit another big home run," Leyritz told The New York Daily News.

Leyritz would go on to get plenty of chances to hit big home runs in his 11-season major league career, and he would take advantage of those chances.

Leyritz is now looking to take advantage of another, much different, second chance, one given to him by an independent league team to get back into baseball after a tumultuous three years that began with a Florida drunk driving accident in which a woman was killed.

Leyritz first chance at baseball began in 1985, when he was signed by the Yankees as a free agent out of the University of Kentucky. He played at short-season Oneonta in 1986, then single-A Fort Lauderdale.

He made AA Albany-Colonie in 1988, staying there for two seasons. With Albany in 1988, Leyritz showed some of the clutch hitting that would show years later in the majors, hitting a two-run double and a game-tying single in a May win.

"I pride myself on being able to make contact in a situation like that," Leyritz told The Schenectady Gazette after the game. "Maybe subconsciously I bear down or adjust, but that's my job, to get RBIs."

Leyritz made AAA Columbus in 1990, then the Bronx that June. He played 92 games for the Yankees that year, hitting .257 with five home runs. "It's been everything I expected and more," Leyritz told The Gazette that August of his time in the majors.

Leyritz, however, didn't match his playing time that year until 1993, getting into 95 games that year. He only got into 32 in 1991 and 63 in 1992.

In 1995, the year of his first playoff heroics, Leyritz got into 77 games and hit .269. Those heroics came in Game 2 of the Division Series, a game-winning, 15-inning home run. Leyritz was mobbed at the plate.

"When I saw the ball clear the fence, you can't describe how elated and exhausted I was," Leyritz told The Associated Press after the game. "I could have floated around the bases."

After his heroics the next year, the Yankees traded him. After spending time with the Angels, Rangers and Red Sox, Leyritz landed with the Padres in mid-1998.

He arrived with the Padres in time to resume his playoff exploits and power them to the World Series against his old team, the Yankees. The Padres advanced to the National League Championship Series on Leyritz home runs in three consecutive games.

"He's just got a history of being big in the postseason," Padres pitcher Sterling Hitchcock told The AP of Leyritz after the Padres advanced to the NLCS.

Leyritz returned to the Yankees for 1999, hitting another World Series home run that October, his final postseason appearance. His final major league appearance came the next year and his final credited minor league appearance came in 2003.

The car accident Dec. 28, 2007. Leyritz was driving drunk, when his car collided with a second car. The driver of the second car was also drunk, she was killed. Leyritz faced a drunk driving charge, along with a DUI manslaughter charge in the woman's death.

A jury in November 2010 convicted Leyritz of the drunk driving charge, but acquitted on the manslaughter charge. Jurors told reporters later their decision came on evidence that the woman was also drunk. Leyritz received one year of probation.

"I said it from the very beginning, there would be no winners in this case," an emotional Leyritz told the court at his sentencing. "This was a horrible, horrible tragedy."

In February 2011, Leyritz returned to baseball, named as pitching coach for the independent Newark Bears, a team he briefly played for in 2001.

"It's all about second chances in a league of second chances," Leyritz said in a statement issued by the team upon hiring him. "I'm fortunate to get the chance to get back on the field. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time."
1990 CMC Tally
Cards Featured:
426/880 - 48.4%
Players/Coaches Featured:
434
Made the Majors: 295 - 68%-X
Never Made the Majors:
139-32%

5+ Seasons in the Majors:
121
10+ Seasons in the Minors:
108

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Roger Smithberg, Any Other Game - 503

Coming in for his major league debut in September 1993, Roger Smithberg settled in. He went three innings, giving up just two hits, all against the eventual repeat champions, the Blue Jays.

"It was just like any other game," Smithberg told The Associated Press afterward, "until later when one of the guys said I had just pitched against probably three future Hall of Famers. Then I got nervous."

Those future Hall of Famers - and there were three in the Blue Jays lineup - went 0-for-4 against the young right-hander.

Smithberg, however, would get only 14 more chances to face future Hall of Famers, or major league hitters for that matter. His big league career would end by July 1994 with a total of 15 appearances and 22 innings pitched.

Smithberg's professional career began in 1987, taken by the Padres in the second round of the draft out of Bradley University.

He started at single-A Riverside in 1988, then jumped to AAA Las Vegas in 1989. At Las Vegas that year, Smithberg went 7-7, with a 4.47 ERA. He also had a complete-game, five-hitter in a May win.

For 1990, Smithberg was someone the Padres were watching.

"We really think a lot of him," Padre director of player development Tom Romenesko told The Los Angeles Times that April. "We felt enough for him last year that we moved him from Riverside to triple A, and he held his own."

Smithberg split 1990 between Las Vegas and high-A Riverside, pitching 79 innings between them. Part of that limited workload was a strained ligament in an elbow, according to The Chicago Tribune. It was the Padres goal to get him healthy for 1991.

"He's a big, strong kid with a good arm. He's a second-round pick and obviously, we've got money invested in him," Padres minor league director Ed Lynch told The Tribune. "He's 6-foot-3 and 195 (pounds). We want to make sure he is ready to give us a year that will get him to the big leagues."

But Smithberg wouldn't make the big leagues for nearly three more seasons, until September 1993, but not with the Padres, with the Athletics. Smithberg was released by the Padres at the start of the 1992 season, signing with Oakland later that year.

Smithberg made the majors early that September, soon making his debut against the Blue Jays and their three Hall of Famers.

On Sept. 20, Smithberg finished out a Todd Van Poppel 2-1 win. He came in with fans wanting Van Poppel to finish it himself, The AP wrote.

"I heard the boos," Smithberg told The AP. "I knew they wanted Todd to finish it. I was just glad I was able to end it with us still ahead."

Smithberg pitched two more games for Oakland in 1994, giving up four earned runs in 2.1 innings, ending his major league career by July. His professional career ended that year, playing out the season back at AAA Tacoma.
1990 CMC Tally
Cards Featured:
425/880 - 48.3%
Players/Coaches Featured:
433Made the Majors: 294 - 68%-X
Never Made the Majors:
139-32%

5+ Seasons in the Majors:
120
10+ Seasons in the Minors:
108

My (CMC) Fantasy Team

I finished up my fantasy baseball draft last night and I think I have a decent team. Though, I believe I think that every year. That feeling, as I'm sure is the case with a lot of fantasy baseball players, is usually proved wrong by about two weeks into the season.

I usually follow my team pretty closely, even in the down years, picking up pitchers here and there. Wholesale changes, however, are rare.

Anyway, I bring up my fantasy team because, while difficult, several of my draftees do have connections to this blog. As far as I've been able to tell, no actual CMC set members are still playing in the majors.

Those connections are either directly through CMC set members, or simply because their names are similar.

There are actually six members of my team that fit that bill, a couple of them were intentional. Others just worked out that way. My top pick just worked out that way: Ryan Braun.

My limited research before the draft pointed at picking up Braun, if he was available. I was down enough in the first round to pick him up.

Braun, as I wrote in November, was scouted and signed by scout and former minor leaguer Larry Pardo. Pardo was a member of the CMC set while playing for the Palm Springs Angels in 1990.

My fourth-round pick, Ubaldo Jimenez also falls into the Braun category. Jiminez was the lead on a February post on the coaching career of Jim Wright.

Wright was a Rockies minor league pitching instructor in 2004, watching over Jimenez. Wright knew then that a shoulder injury wouldn't keep Jimenez back.

My fifth round pick I'll save for later. He was one of the name guys. But, jumping down to the 17th round, I picked up Manny Ramirez. Ramirez, as I wrote about last June, was given some early advice by CMC set member Harry Spilman.

Spilman, an Indians traveling hitting coach by 1991, spotted the first-round pick in a nervous slump at rookie-league Burlington. Manny was homesick. Spilman, in a scene recounted by The New York Times that year, told Ramirez to call his mom.

Jim Thome I picked up in the 23rd round. He wasn't in the CMC set, but he could have been. He was actually in a ProCards wood-style set that year, for the rookie Burlington Indians. The card is one that I recently became aware of and recently wanted. But apparently it's rather rare, and expensive, at least for this graded one on ebay.

The other CMC connections were the name ones. I'll let you figure out who they were by their CMC doppelgangers. I took one in the fifth round, the other in the 22nd:

100 - Brian McCann, Trainer's Goal, 4/15/10
249 - Jim Wright, Good Tip, 2/16/11
616 - Harry Spilman, Calling (Manny's) Mom, 6/18/10
710 - Larry Pardo, Fiercely Proud, 11/16/10
769 - Derek Lee, Going Up North, 6/3/10

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Shane Turner stayed positive after demotion, then got his call to bigs; Saw time in three ML seasons


Shane Turner started 1988 at the Phillies' AAA team in Maine, then he got moved back to AA Reading. That was after playing the entire previous season at Reading.

Turner, however, tried to stay positive, according to The Los Angeles Times.

"I had mixed emotions about it," Turner told The Times of the seeming demotion. "I think I proved I could play at this level. I felt I should have had the opportunity to spend all season there (in Maine). But I'm not going to sulk or show anger. I'm just working on my hitting."

Whatever the reason for Turner returning to AA, ended up closer to Philadelphia, both literally and figuratively. It was less than a month after that interview with The Times that Turner made his major league debut.

Turner debuted in the majors in his fourth season of pro ball, and with his second organization. Turner was drafted by the Yankees in the sixth round of the 1985 draft, out of Cal State Fullerton.

Turner spent his first two seasons in the Yankee system, playing at short-season Oneonta and single-A Fort Lauderdale. He got his first look at AAA in 1987, at Columbus. He was traded that June to the Phillies in a three-player deal.

And he started off well with his new team, getting two hits before recording an out at AA Reading, according to The Reading Eagle.

"I'm just trying to feel my way, be a part of the team, and do anything to help," Turner told The Eagle. "So far it's worked out well."

For 1988, Turner got 38 games at AAA Maine, then 78 more at AA Reading. He also got 18 in Philadelphia. In those 18 games for the Phillies, Turner got six hits in 35 at bats, for an average of just .171.

Turner arrived in the Orioles system after another mid-season trade in 1989. He didn't make the majors that year, playing his time after the trade at AAA Rochester, returning there for 1990.

He didn't get back to the majors until 1991, playing four games with the Orioles in July and getting just one at bat. Back in Rochester that September, Turner and teammate Tommy Shields made history by each playing an inning at every position.

Turner's biggest major league stint was still ahead. He signed with the Mariners for 1992, getting into 34 major league games that year.

He also hit .270 for the Mariners. Called up in July, Turner subbed for Edgar Martinez July 7, doubling and scoring. Manager Bill Plummer didn't tell Turner he was playing until just before infield practice, Turner told The Associated Press. "Not knowing helped me stay relaxed," Turner told The AP.

His success that year came after thoughts of retiring, Turner told The Times late that July. He had a family to look after, minor league baseball wasn't doing it. But his wife Beth told him to continue.

"She said she'd rather I play one year too long than quit a year too soon," Turner told The Times. "With expansion coming, we figured I'd play one more year and evaluate the situation at the end of the season. My love for the game and the support from my wife kept me playing."

Turner continued playing for three more seasons after 1992. But, after that run with the Mariners, he never returned to the majors. He last played for the independent Long Beach Barracudas.

He's since gone on to a lengthy career as a minor league manager, last credited managing at AA Connecticut in 2007. In 2002, Turner served as the Giants' roving hitting instructor, after six seasons managing.

But Turner returned to managing for 2003. That's where he believed he belonged.

"I enjoyed what I did last year; partly because it gave me a chance to be home more," Turner told The New London Day in January 2003. "But I missed being on the field and being a factor in the players' careers on a day-to-day basis."
1990 CMC Tally
Cards Featured:
424/880 - 48.2%
Players/Coaches Featured:
432
Made the Majors: 293 - 68%-X
Never Made the Majors:
139-32%

5+ Seasons in the Majors:
120
10+ Seasons in the Minors:
108