Greatest 21 Days Baseball Profiles

Geovany Miranda was eager playing infield for the short-season Eugene Emeralds in July 1990. The Panama-native was on his third season of professional baseball. And he knew what he needed to improve, that was to play, according to The Eugene Register-Guard . "I want to play baseball," Miranda told The Register-Guard that July. "I want to play every day. I do not want to rest." Baseball is what brought Miranda to the United States, signed by the Royals as an undrafted free agent in 1988. Years later, long after his playing career was over, it was baseball Miranda turned to stay in the United States . Miranda's first stop with the Royals was in the rookie Gulf Coast League . He played there his first two professional seasons. He hit .231 his first season there and .311 his second. He moved to single-A Appleton in 1990, getting into 55 games there, but hitting only .227 . By mid-year, he moved back to Eugene, hitting .338 the rest of the way. Mir...

Wilfredo Cordero was still a few years away from the majors in 1988. At the age of 16, he was still a few years away from a lot of things. But the Expos saw big things for their young Puerto Rican prospect, according to The Houston Chronicle . "He has so much athletic ability about him," team assistant director of scouting Frank Wren told The Chronicle that September. "He's got great physical tools, good hands, a good arm, he's big and strong and he handles the ball away very well." Cordero ended up making Montreal less than four years later, at the age of 20. He didn't stop playing in the majors until 2005, seeing time in 14 big league seasons and making an All-Star team. Cordero was signed by the Expos in 1988 as an amateur free agent out of his native Puerto Rico , playing his first year at short-season Jamestown. Cordero got a look at AA Jacksonville in 1989, then made AAA Indianapolis in 1991. It was then in July 1992 that Cordero ...

Larry Shikles hung a slider to a Clearwater Phillie the Phillie hit it out, Shikles explained to The Lakeland Ledger after that April 1987 game. After that, Shikles saw a change in his approach, though he still recorded the win, he told The Ledger . "After the home run," Shikles told The Ledger , "I started to try to over-throw and I started to get behind and used my fast ball more. Earlier, when I was ahead of a hitter, I used my slider and curve more." Shikles was in his second season using his different pitches as a pro. He went on to use his fast ball, slider and curve in a total of eight seasons . But he never did get to use them in the majors. Shikles' career began in 1986, signed by the Red Sox as an undrafted free agent out of Western Kentucky University. Shikles started that year at single-A Greensboro , going 12-10, with a 4.74 ERA. He moved to single-A Winter Haven in 1987, going 12-11 there, with a 3.63. For 1988, Shikles made AA New...

In one September 1991 game, Ray Lankford single-handedly won the contest, knocking in the Cardinals' only runs and cutting down the potential game-tying run for the final out, The Associated Press wrote . The next night he just went out and hit for the cycle . "He's had some kind of 24-hour period," Cardinals manager Joe Torre told The AP after the second game. Lankford was completing his first full season in the majors that year, a season where he came in third in the Rookie of the Year voting. He went on to have some kind of career, becoming a regular in the Cardinal outfield for a decade and seeing time in 14 total big league seasons . Lankford's career began in 1987, taken by the Cardinals in the third round of the draft, out of Modesto Junior College. Lankford started at rookie Johnson City, making AA Arkansas in 1989, then AAA Louisville in 1990. In August 1990, Lankford debuted in St. Louis. In 39 games for the Cardinals that year, Lankfor...

Jim Weaver wasn't surprised the Twins didn't protect him for the winter draft, he told The Associated Press in spring 1985. The career minor leaguer hadn't played well the previous year at AAA Toledo, he was only hitting .230 and he wasn't playing every day . "See, that's not my strength," Weaver told The AP as he worked to make the Tigers and debut in the majors. "I've always been an every day ballplayer." Weaver did make the Tigers out of spring 1985, and he stayed up for nearly two months. But he hardly played . Over his two months with the team, he only got into 12 games, eight plate appearances and one hit, a double. By June, he was back with the Twins. Weaver went on to play a total of 11 seasons as a pro . He would only make the majors twice more, seeing action in just 19 more big league contests. Weaver's career began in 1980, taken by the Twins in the second round of the 1980 draft, out of Florida State University...

Eddie Zosky told himself to drive the ball up the middle, Zosky told reporters later in a wire account . Or maybe he should hit it to the right side. What he ended up doing in this September 1991 game, was hit it to center for a single and his first two major league RBIs . "It was the first time I didn't look back to see if they were going to put in a pinch hitter," Zosky, his big league career barely two weeks old, told reporters in the wire account . "I felt like I was going to be hitting and they let me. It was a real confidence builder." Zosky took that confidence and ended up playing in five different big league seasons. His big league time in those seasons, though, would be limited. The 18 games he saw with the Blue Jays in 1991 would be the most he would see in any one campaign. Zosky's career began in 1989, taken by the Blue Jays in the first round of the draft, 19th pick overall, out of California State University Fresno . Zosky start...

It was Pat Kelly 's first managerial stint in the Carolina League in 2010, with Lynchburg. But he was still familiar with the league, and minor league baseball. The player Kelly had spent a summer in the league back in 1979, with Kinston. The player and later manager Kelly in 2010 was also nearing four decades spent in the game's lower levels. "That was what minor league baseball was 30 years ago," Kelly told North Carolina's Jacksonville Daily News in April 2010, recounting the changes in minor league parks over that time. "Now, with the improvements to the stadiums, I think our players don't realize how good they've got it." Kelly's job, though, hasn't been necessarily to get them to realize how good those stadiums have become. His job over the his three decades as a minor league manager has been got get those players to realize their true potential, and see them off to the major leagues. It was a potential that the playe...

Called on to get the final out - and save - Dave Pavlas gave up a single to load the bases in this August 1996 game against the Athletics, The Hartford Courant wrote . Then, facing Oakland's Jason Giambi, Pavlas threw three pitches for three strikes, setting Giambi down and picking up his first-career save . "It seemed like there were a million fans," Pavlas told The Courant afterward. "It felt like I better get him out or I would have to check my car on the way out. That's a load off my mind. I was so excited afterwards I couldn't remember my name or where my locker was. I want to keep that feeling." It was a feeling for Pavlas that was likely similar to the feeling six years earlier, when he picked up his first major league win, an accomplishment, Pavlas told The Chicago Tribune , that ranked "right up there with being born." It was also a feeling that was likely a world away from the one he'd felt just a year earlier, in 1...

The Braves had just returned home from a West Coast swing and reliever Rick Luecken chose that as the time to go to manager Bobby Cox and question his role with the team, the story went, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution . Those who over heard the ensuing 4 a.m. conversation remembered it as one-sided, according to the story relayed at a 2011 luncheon where Cox was inducted into the Braves Hall of Fame, according to The Journal-Constitution . "You know what that [bullpen] phone rings and I tell you to warm up?" Cox was recalled as saying at the luncheon, according to The Journal-Constitution . "That’s your role." Luecken had been with the Braves in Atlanta for much of the year, getting into 35 games to that point in early September. After that, though, he got just two more outings , the second after being picked up off waivers by the Blue Jays. Luecken came back for just one more season, five outings played at AAA , and his nine-season pro c...

In his eighth pro season, Dave Masters looked to make his first jump to the majors in 1992. And he pitched well enough in one spring game to get noticed, according to The South Florida Sun-Sentinel . In one spring outing, Masters pitched to 13 Padres batters, getting 12 of them out . "He was a long shot before the game," Giants manager Roger Craig told reporters after the game, according to The Sun-Sentinel , "but not now." Masters, though, didn't end up making it that year, or any year. A former first-round pick, Masters played that year back at AAA and just one more year after that. Master's career began in 1985, taken by the Cubs as the 24th overall selection in that year's draft, out of the University of California, Berkeley. Masters played his first two seasons at single-A Winston-Salem , going just 1-11 his first year there and 8-9 his second. Masters made AA Pittsfield in 1987, then AAA Iowa in 1988. With Iowa in 1988, Masters went...

Manny Hernandez sat in the visitors locker room before his major league debut at Dodger Stadium and stared at the clock. It seemed like the minutes to his first start just wouldn't pass, he told The Houston Chronicle later. But what were a few minutes compared to how long it took for him to get there? "My dream came true tonight," Hernandez told The Chronicle . "I've spent seven years waiting for this night. I never got discouraged though. I kept working hard, no matter where I was sent, to realize my dream." And with that waiting, Hernandez was ready for that debut, throwing 5.2 innings of three-hit ball, giving up a single run. Hernandez went on pitch in nine games for the Astros that year and, in a career that spanned 13 professional seasons , he would see time in two more big league campaigns. Hernandez' career began in 1978, signed by the Astros as a free agent out of his native Dominican Republic. Hernandez played his first two s...

Terry Taylor delivered the pitch in this September 1988 game and Danny Tartabull took advantage . He took advantage by hitting a grand slam . "With the bases loaded, I'm just trying to keep the ball in the middle of the field so we can score some runs," Tartabull told The Associated Press afterward. "When a pitcher makes a mistake though, I'll hit it out." While this Sept. 20 outing was just his fifth, in a professional career that lasted a decade, Taylor ended up making that mistake in a big league game that turned out to be his last . Taylor made it to that point in his seventh season as a pro. Taylor turned pro in 1982, taken by the Mariners in the fourth round of the draft, out of Crestview High School in Florida. He started at short-season Bellingham, going 6-4 in 14 starts. Taylor moved to single-A Wausau in 1983 and then single-A Salinas in 1984. Taylor made AA Chattanooga in 1985, but went just 4-15 in 28 starts. He returned to AA ...

Jimmy Williams was all set to go to the University of Alabama, The Newport News Daily Press wrote years later. Then the Dodgers came calling, taking him in the 10th round , offering a $28,000 signing bonus, which Williams accepted, The Daily Press wrote . "Growing up, we never had a lot of money," Williams told The Daily Press . "The scout who signed me said, `You won't be in the minors for long. You'll be in the majors in three years.' Guess he lied." Williams spoke to The Daily Press 12 years after he signed. He had yet to make the majors. And, in a career that saw time in 18 professional seasons, he never would. Williams' professional career began back in 1984, when he accepted that offer from the Dodgers . Williams started that year in rookie ball, making single-A Vero Beach in 1986. After moving to the Twins system for 1987, Williams first made AA in 1989, at Orlando. Williams also got 16 games in 1989 at AAA Portland, postin...

Jim Adduci made the Brewers out of spring training in 1988, but he hardly saw any action. By late-May, Adduci had been in all of nine appearances, getting four at bats, The Milwaukee Sentinel wrote . Then Adduci's manager Tom Trebelhorn thought he'd try something different and give Adduci a start, at designated hitter . "He deserves a chance now to see if he can be a good left-handed bat for us," Trebelhorn told The Sentinel . "It could have been a mistake on my part not to play him more. We'll find out." Adduci ended up going 2 for 4 that game. He also ended up having the best season of his four with time in the bigs, seeing time in a total of 44 contests for the Brewers, knocking in 15 and getting his only home run. Adduci's career began in 1980, taken the Cardinals in the seventh round of the draft out of Southern Illinois University. Adduci started at rookie Johnson City, first making AA Arkansas in 1981. He then made AAA Louisville...

Bo Kennedy first made AA Birmingham in 1990, his fifth season as a pro. He made it there after a season where he posted an ERA barely over 3 at single-A Sarasota. That compared to an ERA that first year at Birmingham of 4.73. "If you make a mistake in Double A, the hitters are going to capitalize on it," Kennedy explained to author George Gmelch in Gmelch's 2001 book "Inside Pitch: Life in Professional Baseball." "If it's 2-0 and you throw one down the middle, they are going to hit it hard somewhere. Down in A ball you might get away with it, but not here. Not often." Kennedy did make the adjustment to AA, the next year, then earning a promotion in the White Sox organization to AAA Vancouver. Kennedy, though, never had a chance to adjust to pitching the next step above that, in the majors. Kennedy's career began in 1986, taken by the White Sox in the sixth round out of Flat River Central High School in Missouri. Kennedy played ...