Interview Part 3: Tim Delgado, Toughest Day

Tim Delgado with the Buffalo Bisons in 1995. He never took the field for the team, injured before the season began. (Photo Provided)

Part 1: A Bit Stubborn | Part 2: Competitive Advantage 
Part 3: Toughest Day

Tim Delgado's elbow was killing him.

He should have been psyched up for his first career start at AAA, but something happened in an exhibition game, just before the team broke for Buffalo in 1995. Instead, he could hardly pitch.

Delgado soon learned that pain was a torn ligament; he was out for the season, and he had perhaps lost his best shot at the majors.

"I tell you what, that was one of the toughest days of my life, right there," Delgado told The Greatest 21 Days recently of hearing the news. "I had done all that work, and fought through all the workings of the baseball system, to get right where I felt like I had wanted to be, and they tell me I'm done for the year. And the season's just a week old."

"There are some tears in the doctor's office," Delgado added. "There's nothing you can do to prepare yourself for that."

All the work Delgado did included playing in Taiwan the previous year, then winter ball. He'd also won his release from the Cubs and then signed with a team that seemingly was going to give him a shot.

Tim Delgado's picture in a Taiwanese newspaper. (Photo Provided)

Instead, Delgado was headed for the operating room. While he would come back from that surgery to take the mound again, returning to winter ball and to Asia, he never got his chance at the majors.

Delgado spoke to The Greatest 21 Days recently by phone from his Houston-area home. He talked of growing up in Michigan, then setting out for Arizona and Florida, believing that was his path to the pros.

When he got there, he impressed enough to play four seasons, and get a regular slot in winter ball. Then came Taiwan, injuries and a post-playing career in real estate development.

Delgado signed with the Indians as a minor league free agent. Out of the delayed spring, Delgado was assigned to AAA Buffalo. Then came the elbow injury, and the rehab.

"You're in a state of shock," Delgado said. "I remember walking around for a while, with a sling on, just feeling like a zombie, not knowing what to do. The ball club is doing their thing without you and you're going to the doctor's office."

Buffalo's Coca-Cola Park in 2010. Tim Delgado was to play there in 1995, before he injured his elbow. (G21D Photo)

After having baseball be his life for the past five seasons, he had to learn to live without it. But he went through his rehab and was eventually well enough pitch another winter.

This time his winter destination was Venezuela. His arm still hurt, but not enough that he couldn't pitch. To deal with it, Delgado moved from starting to closing. Pitching an inning seemed more doable than pitching seven or eight.

"I fought through that and pitched well," Delgado said. "But the pain was still there and I just knew that if I went to spring training in that kind of pain that they were going to know it right away."

By 1998, Delgado was back in Taiwan, this time playing with the Brother Elephants. Delgado thought he could simply pitch there and that his arm would get better.

It didn't get better. It even got to the point where he couldn't throw anymore there. He returned stateside and got the news again: He needed another elbow surgery.

Tim Delgado pitching with San Juan in 1996. (Photo Provided)

"At that point just resign yourself to 'OK, let's do this, let's get it right right and hopefully get the elbow fixed and get back to pitching," Delgado said.

Delgado said he was encouraged in that, even though his arm hurt, he wasn't getting beaten on the mound. He was a control pitcher, using his mechanics.

He recalled his numbers getting better. The reason, he jokes with friends, was because his arm hurt so much, he wanted to keep the innings short.

His winter ball destination after Taiwan was Mexico, playing for Mayos de Navojoa, helping close out close games for a playoff team.

"I was really throwing the ball well there and thought, 'if I can just get this pain to stop, I'll be right where I need to be."

A portion of the back of Delgado's 1994 Taiwan baseball card. (Photo Provided)

Delgado's last attempt at playing came in 1999 in Japan, with the Fukuoka Hawks. Training with the team, though, Delgado realized the last surgery just didn't take. He needed a third elbow surgery.

With this one, he was done.

"There comes a point where your arm doesn't let you do what you love to do and what you want to do," Delgado said, "so you've got to find another way."

For Delgado, his other way was real estate. Setting down roots in Houston, Delgado now runs a real estate firm focusing on hospitals medical buildings and surgery centers. He lives with his wife and daughter.

Looking back on his career, especially his winter league time, Delgado recalled how he got to face top hitters, major league hitters, and hold his own against them.

"I know in my heart that I had what it takes be at the top of the game and be successful at that level," Delgado said, adding, "you can only do what your body allows it to do. If your arm breaks down three times, there's nothing you can do about it."

Part 1: A Bit Stubborn | Part 2: Competitive Advantage 
Part 3: Toughest Day