Greatest 21 Days Baseball Profiles

Originally published Dec. 5, 2011 Randy Knorr didn't play every day. But when he did play, he was ready . That showed in September 1993, when the catcher came in for the resting starter Pat Borders and hit a three-run home run, The Associated Press wrote . "I talk to a lot of the guys as much as I can to be ready when I get to play," Knorr told The AP after that Toronto win. "You're anxious and you want to do well." It was a role Knorr played throughout his career, one that spanned 11 major league seasons , with Knorr having to be ready for whenever his team needed him. In those 11 seasons, Knorr never got into more than 45 major league games in any one year. More recently, Knorr has made himself ready to be a major league bench coach, after a post-playing career spent as a manager in the minors . It has also even been suggested he may already be ready for a career as a manager in the majors . Knorr's playing career began in 1986, take...

Mike Maksudian was a valuable player to have, not only for his contributions on the field, but off the field, as well, his coach at AAA Portland told The Associated Press . "He keeps everybody on their toes," Portland coach Paul Kirsch told The AP . "We're together every day for five months, and life can get monotonous pretty quickly. Mike is one of those guys that keeps everybody loose. You need players like him in the clubhouse and on the field." The way Maksudian went about keeping everybody loose was through his stomach . In exchange for cash, or even a simple dare, Maksudian would eat everything from beetles to cockroaches, to the horror and entertainment of his teammates. Maksudian's value on the field showed itself in his call-ups to the majors in three separate seasons, the Blue Jays, Twins and Cubs finding his skills were worthy of a total of 34 games in the bigs. Maksudian's professional career began 1987, signed by the White Sox a...

Originally published June 18, 2012 Bernie Nunez stepped to the plate in the ninth inning, his team down by a run with one on . With one swing, Nunez' Bend Bandits went from being down a run to the Mission Viejo Vigilanties to being up one and winning the game . "I don't even know what [pitch] I hit," Nunez told The Los Angeles Times after that June 1997 contest. "I just went up there wanting to make contact. I wasn't sure if it was out of the park, but when I saw the center fielder give up I knew I had it." Nunez was playing in the independent Western League, a decade after he played his first pro season in the Blue Jays organization. He was also playing independent ball after an affiliated career that only saw him make AA, but never the majors. Nunez' career began in 1997, signing with the Blue Jays out of his native Dominican Republic. Nunez is also known by his full name Bernardino Nunez . He started at short-season St. Cat...

There was talk that September in 1991 that Jerry Schunk might get his first call to the bigs, according to The Toledo Blade . His manager at AAA Syracuse Bob Bailor just wanted him to continue doing what he'd been doing . "He's going to have to keep convincing people he's legitimate," Bailor told The Blade . "If it wasn't for his drive, he wouldn't have made it this far - he would have been pushed out of the way a long time ago." While Schunk's drive got him that far, to AAA, the talk of a call-up never materialized into reality. In a career that spanned 10 seasons , Shunk's drive wouldn't get him any farther. Schunk's pro career began in 1986, taken by the Blue Jays in the sixth round of the draft, out of the University of Toledo. With Toledo, Schunk won second-team All-Mid-American Conference honors that year, hitting .333, according to The Blade . With the Blue Jays, Schunk started at short-season St. Catharines...

New Dodgers addition Darren Hall started off hot in spring 1996, going six outings without giving up an earned run, according to The Los Angeles Times . And he was doing it after coming back from arthroscopic surgery on his elbow the previous August, The Times wrote . "I thought I'd be pitching OK if I was healthy," Hall told The Times . "But I never thought I'd be pitching like this. I feel like I'm pitching even better than I was in '94 with Toronto." With the Blue Jays in 1994, Hall saved 17 games, all in his rookie season. His season with the Dodgers in 1996 wouldn't go as he'd hoped. He got into just nine regular season games . Returning to his 1994 form would have to wait until his 1997 campaign, and after a trade request was denied . Hall's career began in 1986, taken by the Blue Jays in the 26th round of the draft, out of Dallas Baptist University. Hall started at rookie Medicine Hat, moving to single-A Myrtle Be...

The ball off Shawon Dunston's bat took a bad hop in this 1994 game, The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote . But sticking with it and making the game-saving play was Phillies third baseman Tom Quinlan . "He played a heck of a game for us," Phillies manager Jim Fregosi told The Inquirer of Quinlan. "That ball Dunston hit really came up on him." In describing Quinlan's defense, which included a second good play an inning later in the ninth, The Inquirer also referenced , Quinlan's past - as a fourth-round draft pick for the Calgary Flames. Given the choice between baseball and hockey, though, the Minnesota-native and right-winger Quinlan chose baseball. He also went on to a career that spanned 16 seasons, got him to the majors for brief parts of four and even took him to Korea. Quinlan's baseball career started in the 1986 draft, taken by the Blue Jays in a far lower round than he was taken in the hockey draft, the 27th round. Quinlan, thoug...

When Paul Rodgers started his pro baseball career, there was another sport that was also on his mind, football, he told his hometown Oklahoman newspaper in 1988. That's because Rodgers had a choice before going pro : Signing with the Blue Jays, or going to the University of Oklahoma to play football. "I'm happy now," Rodgers told The Oklahoman in his third pro season that May, playing for single-A Dunedin, "because I'm sure that baseball is my game. I don't think about playing football for OU anymore. Baseball was what I wanted to do, and I feel now that I pretty much made the right decision." Baseball may have been Rodgers' game, but it wasn't one where he would reach the ultimate goal, the majors. He went on to play in a total of seven pro seasons, but he would never make it higher than AA. Rodgers' career began in 1985, when he signed that contract with the Blue Jays out of Grant High School in Oklahoma City. Out o...

Julian Yan got his team off to a fast start in this June 1989 game. He did so with a first-inning home run . "He threw me a screwball, away and I hit it well," Yan told The South Florida Sun-Sentinel afterward. "I was looking for a fastball." For Yan, it wasn't much different than he'd been doing the entire season, except this home run was hit in the Florida State League All-Star game. Yan was in this fourth season as a pro that year at single-A Dunedin. He went on to get credit for 22 professional seasons , many of those in Mexico and even one in Korea. With all that time as a pro, though, Yan would never get credit for time in the bigs. Yan's professional career began in 1986, signed by the Blue Jays as an undrafted free agent, out of his native Dominican Republic. He started that year at short-season St. Catharines, hitting .273 in 73 contests . He moved to single-A Myrtle Beach in 1987, hitting .231 there, with 17 home runs. Yan pla...

Nate Cromwell made the Florida State League All-Star team in 1989 with the Dunedin Blue Jays, earning the start and the win . Cromwell showed he deserved that All-Star selection by going on to post a 12-6 record and striking out a league-record 161 batters. With that success at Dunedin, Cromwell made AA Knoxville the next year. But, in a career that spanned 11 seasons, Cromwell couldn't replicate that success. He only got brief looks at AAA years afterward and never got a look at the majors . Cromwell's career began in 1987, taken by the Blue Jays in the 11th round of the draft, out of Las Vegas' Chaparral High . Cromwell played that first season at rookie Medicine Hat , going 4-6, with a 4.31 ERA, along with 47 strikeouts in 54.1 innings. He moved to single-A Myrtle Beach in 1988, going 8-8, with a 2.90 ERA. He also struck out 86 in 124.1 innings. In August, Cromwell and two relievers combined for a shutout . Cromwell hit Dunedin in 1989, then Knoxvi...

Bob MacDonald got his start with the Blue Jays. But the Blue Jays didn't offer that regular role he was looking for, he told The Associated Press in 1993. The Tigers, though, saw potential in the lefty, purchasing him from Toronto and Tigers manager Sparky Anderson put him right to work . "I have to thank Sparky for the opportunity to do that," MacDonald told The Associated Press in 1993. "I got here and Sparky threw me right in. It gave me the confidence I needed." By the end of the year, MacDonald took that confidence to a total of 68 appearances for the Tigers, picking up three wins and saving three. But he couldn't keep it going, getting time in just two more big league seasons, ending his career in Japan . MacDonald's career began in 1987, taken by the Blue Jays in the 19th round, out of Rutgers University. With the Blue Jays, MacDonald started at rookie Medicine Hat, also getting time that first year at short-season St. Catharines a...

Centennial Field in Burlington, Vt., in 2011. Paul Wilmet played at Centennial as a member of the visiting Harrisburg Senators in 1988. (G21D Photo) Part 1: So Focused | Part 2: Roster Filled | Part 3: Made It Part 3 Paul Wilmet always got up early. On this morning, his Oklahoma City 89ers visiting Indianapolis, that practice helped him at least get something to eat. Mid-way through his morning meal, Paul Wilmet's manager at Oklahoma CIty Jim Skaalen found him. The team was on the road in Indianapolis. Wilmet, Skaalen relayed, needed to hurry up. Wilmet needed to get on a plane. It took some back and forth for Wilmet to get what Skaalen was telling him: The Rangers minor leaguer was headed to Texas. "That," Wilmet recalled recently, "was really exciting. I don't even know if I finished my breakfast. That night, I was pitching in the big leagues." And he was. Wilmet, eight years removed from his pro debut, also arrived in time to take...

At Community Field in Burlington, Iowa, in 2010. Paul Wilmet played at Community Field from 1984 to 1986 as member of the visiting Springfield Cardinals. (G21D Photo) Part 1: So Focused | Part 2: Roster Filled | Part 3: Made It Part 2 Whether it was Paul Wilmet 's talent, or that he was a warm body who could fill a roster, Wilmet finally had not just one scout looking at him, but he had two. Wilmet was 21 years old and four years out of high school. He was also coming off a semester of college, but he'd spent the rest of that time on the road, pursuing his other dream, music. Now, he was pursuing his baseball dream, playing summer ball in his home state of Wisconsin. He was pursuing it after failing to get much interest from scouts earlier, even after an energetic letter-writing campaign. He finally got that interest as his summer league team visited Beloit this summer in 1981. The two scouts, one from the Dodgers and one from the Mets, Wilmet recalled, were ...

Oneonta's Damaschke Field in 2009. Paul Wilmet played at Damaschke in 1981 in his first year as a pro at short-season Little Falls. (G21D Photo) Part 1: So Focused | Part 2: Roster Filled | Part 3: Made It Part 1 Paul Wilmet worked hard to get back into baseball twice, first after scouts passed him over out of high school and later returning from injury. Now, in spring 1987, Wilmet had more hard work to do, getting himself clean of alcohol and drugs. That winter, the career minor leaguer played ball in Venezuela, using the time in between outings to drink and abuse prescription drugs, all activities he had become familiar with in the years previous. Returning to the states, and undergoing his team physical, Wilmet was given the stark news: If he continued with his drinking and drugging, it wasn't just his career that would be in jeopardy, it was his life. In fact, the doctors even put a timeline on it: If he didn't stop, in two years, he'd be dead, ...

Florence Blue Jay pitcher Chris Jones had some good company on the mound that day in Charleston, S.C. in 1986. But that company wasn't his opponent in the game - it was the guy who took the mound before him . That good company was Hall of Famer Warren Spahn , who was scheduled to take the mound in a pre-game home run contest between the two teams, according to The Charleston News and Courier . That night, Jones did his best not to give up home runs, trying to pitch his Blue Jays to victory. In the end, though, Jones' best wasn't enough to pitch himself to the major leagues, seeing time in eight seasons, but only getting as high as AAA . Jones' career began in 1985, taken by the Blue Jays in the fourth round of the draft out of Ohio State University. At Ohio State,Jones posted a 3.47 ERA in 1983. He played for the Buckeyes from 1983 to 1985. With the Blue Jays, Jones started at rookie Medicine Hat, getting 10 starts, but no wins. For 1986, he moved to sing...