Greatest 21 Days Baseball Profiles

The Oakland Athletics added some veterans to its pitching staff for 1992, Oakland general manager Sandy Alderson told The Fort Worth Star-Telegram that March. The aim, Alderson told The Star-Telegram , was to protect younger pitchers in the Oakland system from being rushed. "We don't want to be in position where we have to rush anybody," Alderson told The Star-Telegram . We saw enough of that last year (when youngsters Bruce Walton, Johnny Guzman and John Briscoe were force-fed because of injuries) that we don't want to see it again." One of those pitchers, Johnny Guzman , saw his major league debut the previous June at the young age of 20. But, in five relief outings, totaling five innings of work, Guzman gave up five earned runs and 11 hits. Guzman got just two more major league outings in 1992, marking the end of his brief big league career . Guzman's professional career began in 1988, signed by the Athletics as a free agent out of the ...

Ron Witmeyer arrived in the majors in August 1991. His thoughts quickly turned to the next step, he told author George Rose years later. "I don't think about how much I'm going to play," Witmeyer told Rose . "While I'm here, I'm going to bust my butt and see what happens." Witmeyer spoke to Rose for his 2003 book "One Hit Wonders. " His stay with the Athletics produced just a single hit. He never got back. Witmeyer's career began in 1988, taken by the Athletics in the seventh round of the draft out of Stanford University. Witmeyer helped Stanford to the 1988 College World Series title . A Witmeyer home run against Fullerton sent Stanford two wins from the title . The title was the school's second-straight . "No one thought we would come back for a second title," Witmeyer told reporters afterward. "So this one's probably more satisfying than the first one. Everyone said we couldn't do it,...

Serving as a coach under Yankees manager Stump Merrill, Clete Boyer never got the credit he deserved, Merrill told The New York Daily News in 2007. "He was the most perceptive baseball man I ever knew," Merrill told The Daily News after Boyer's passing that June, "and he was tireless in teaching the rudiments of infield play to our kids in the organization." Boyer passed away then at the age of 70, known as the Yankees' sure-handed third baseman of the early 1960s. He then took what he learned and showed on the playing field and use that for a long career in both the majors and minors as a coach and manager. Boyer's playing career lasted 16 seasons, starting with Kansas City, them moving on to the Yankees. His major league career ended with five seasons with the Braves. Boyer then moved to Japan for four final seasons there . His coaching career began by 1980 , with the Athletics. Boyer served as Oakland's third base coach throu...

The score tied late in this April 1994 game, Jim Waggoner tried to get something going . He did so with a home run, breaking that tie and sending his AA Huntsville Stars on to a win, according to The Orlando Sentinel . Waggoner hit that home run to start his sixth season as a pro. He went on to be credited with a decade in the game. He recorded just a single game at AAA and never got higher . Waggoner's career began in 1989, taken by the Athletics in the 44th round of the draft out of Austin Peay University. At Austin Peay, Waggoner hit two home runs in three days in April 1989, a two-run home run in one and a solo shot in the other . Overall in his two years there, Waggoner came in with a .335 batting average . With the Athletics, Waggoner played his first year at short-season Southern Oregon . He hit .270 in 54 games. The infielder then played between single-A Madison and high-A Modesto in 1990, hitting .210 between them. He returned to Modesto for 1991, ending w...

Pete Richert 's Orioles swept into the 1970 World Series. With the sweep, though, they didn't really celebrate . They hoped to do that after winning four more games. "You'll see a celebration like you never saw before in your life if we win the World Series," the top Orioles reliever Richert told UPI after the team moved on. "The World Series is what we want." The Orioles eventually beat the Reds 4 games to 3, coming back from a 1969 series defeat to the Mets. In that previous year's series, Rickert ended up in the middle of a pivotal play , one that ultimately sent the Mets to an insurmountable 3-1 series lead. Richert returned to the World Series that year in his 10th major league season. A strikeout pitcher, he went on to make it back to the series with the Orioles in 1971. By the time his career was over, he had 13 seasons in the books and 925 total strikeouts. His career over, Richert eventually returned to the minor leagues, getting...

The Albany-Colonie Yankees were celebrating sending eight players to the Eastern League All-Star Game in 1986. Four of them were set to start . Among the reserves was future Yankee Roberto Kelly. But the A-C Yankees were also sending others to the AA mid-summer classic. Two A-C Yankee coaches were going. Trainer Mike Heifferon also went, according to The Schenectady Gazette . Heifferon served as trainer for the AA Yankees that year and into the next. He would also stick with the Yankees system at least through 1992 . Heifferon stayed with Albany-Colonie through 1988 . He then made the jump to AAA Columbus for 1989. That year, he also served in the all-star game . He was also the hometown trainer - the game was held that year in Columbus. Heifferon remained watching over Clipper injuries until 1992. After that season, new trainer Darren London took over . Schenectady Gazette, July 1, 1986: Four A-C Yanks to Start In EL All-Star Game

Kevin Lofthus gained national attention for his hitting at UNLV. He knocked 26 home runs to lead the nation . He made the Sporting News All-America team as a designated hitter. With that kind of show, Lofthus told his school paper The Rebel Yell he was looking forward to that June's draft. "I know if I'm given the opportunity I will produce," Lofthus told The Rebel Yell that April. "'I've been able to adjust everywhere else so there should be no reason why I can't turn it over to the professional game." Lofthus had to adjust because a cyst that developed in his left wrist prevented him from fielding properly. It was too painful. The top college hitter went late in the draft. He also got just 31 games in the pros. Lofthus ended up being taken by the Athletics in the 47th round of that June's draft out of UNLV. He went to UNLV out of the College of Southern Idaho. At Southern Idaho in May 1986, Lofthus knocked three home runs ...

Handed a 2-0 lead in the eighth Bill Taylor held it. Taylor finished out that game for the single-A Madison Muskies in August 1990, giving up two hits and no runs for his second save of the year, according to The Madison Capital Times . Taylor was in his third season as a pro that year. It was also his last. Taylor made AA briefly, but he never made it higher . Taylor's career began in 1988, signed by the Athletics as an undrafted free agent out of Eastern Illinois University. He is also known by his formal name, William Taylor. At Eastern Illinois, Taylor picked up eight wins in 1988, still tied for seventh all-time at the school. He also won conference Pitcher of the Year honors that year, as well as first-team all-conference, according to the school's record book . With the Athletics, Taylor started in the rookie Arizona League . He went 2-4, with four saves in 17 outings, two starts. Taylor moved up to three levels in 1989, getting 49 outings in all. He go...

Originally published April 12, 2010 Baseball had lowered the pitching mound five inches for 1969 and the debate was on about whether it would make a difference and hitting would pick up. Reading's scrappy catcher Carl Merrill was emphatic with The Reading Eagle . He didn't think it would pick up . "It won't help the hitters a bit," Merrill told The Eagle in an April 1969 story. "I haven't detected a change all spring." The consensus, as the years went by, was that the change did help hitters. Twenty-two years later, as manager of the New York Yankees , Merrill was looking for some other way to help his hitters - or pitchers. But it was something that never came. Merrill's playing days lasted six seasons, through 1971, never making the majors as a player. He got as high as AAA for the Phillies, but a leg injury forced him out . Merrill, then known as "Stump," started 1990 as manager of the Yankees' AAA club, the Colum...

Read the August 2014 interview: Ted Kubiak, Loved Baseball Ted Kubiak made it to the majors and he stuck around for a decade. His role, though, wasn't the one he had envisioned for himself . His role was as a utility infielder . "The first couple of years I was angry being a utility player," Kubiak told reporters after helping the Padres beat the Cubs in 1976. "Then I calmed down. I decided to excel at different positions and to do the best I could to help a team. Being angry never helped anyone." His playing days soon over, Kubiak took the lessons he learned as a player on to a long career as a coach and coordinator with the Indians and Athletics organizations. It's a career that continues in 2014, with Kubiak serving as manager of the short-season Mahoning Valley Scrappers. Kubiak's long career in baseball began in 1961, signed by the Athletics as an amateur free agent out of his native New Jersey. Kubiak started at Class-D Sarasota. He...

Originally published Dec. 9, 2010 The Brewers starter put one right into the Rockie batter, hitting him. After the ensuing brawl at Denver's Coors Field, starter Jeff Juden was ejected. Coming in to replace Juden, Brewers Manager Phil Garner directed, was Bronswell Patrick , The San Francisco Chronicle wrote the next year. It was May 12, 1998, and this was Patrick's major league debut . "It was very, very nerve-racking for me," Patrick told The Chronicle as he tried to make the Giants the next spring. "I ran out onto the field because I thought there was going to be a brawl, and I wanted to protect my teammates. The next thing I knew, Garner tells me to get into the game and pitch." Getting into games and pitching was something that Patrick was used to, not exactly in the majors . It was also something he didn't easily give up, prolonging his career playing in Mexico and even China. Patrick made his debut that May after a decade i...

Originally published April 11, 2011 After his third season as a player in the minors, Trey Hillman had the choice between returning as a player for a fourth year, or taking a job as a scout, The Hartford Courant wrote in 1997. Hillman chose to become a scout . "It was probably one of the toughest decisions I've ever made," Hillman told The Courant . "I was very realistic about what my opportunity and chances were to play at the big-league level. As far as the physical tools go, I was a good defender, but I never got an opportunity to develop as a hitter because of limited playing time." While he never got to the majors as a player, Hillman did get to the majors, as a manager. He served just over two seasons as the manager of the Kansas City Royals. It was part of a more-than two decade post-playing career for Hillman that includes stints managing in the minors, and in Japan. His brief playing career over by 1987, Hillman spent two seasons ...

Rod Correia picked up three hits off future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson on this day in 1993 and Johnson seemingly decided to make Correia pay, according to The Los Angeles Times . The result was Correia got a fastball to his leg and ultimately had to come out of the game . "If that ball had come four inches lower, it would have caused some serious damage to my knee," Correia told The Times afterward. "But I'll remember this, and you're damn right I'll get even." Correia's team got even by coming back and knocking around the Mariners the next day - and throwing behind some batters. Correia never faced Johnson again after that game, but he did come back and play in two more major league seasons, trying to take advantage of the opportunities as they came. In all, he played professionally for 10 seasons, getting into a total of 84 big league contests . Correia's career began in 1988, taken by the Athletics in the 15th round of the dra...

Mario Diaz helped his new club beat his old club in this May 1991 game, and he did it with a home run . Diaz had played 11 seasons in the Mariners organization, getting major league time in three of those. With the Rangers in 1991, though, he got into a career-high 91 games . "I was upset at not getting a chance with the Mariners," Diaz told The Seattle Times after helping beat the Mariners with that home run. "But that is over now. I did not care that the home run came against them, only that I helped our team win a game." Diaz went on to play in a total of nine major league seasons with four different clubs . In a career that began as a 17-year-old in 1979, Diaz didn't play his last pro game until 20 years later in independent ball . Diaz' career began as he signed with the Mariners as a teenager out of Puerto Rico. He started at short-season Bellingham, then made AA Lynn in 1981. His first regular time at AAA didn't come until 1986 at ...

Originally published Sept. 30, 2011, updated February 2014 Dave Eiland was in a forgiving mood , especially after seeing the Yankees bullpen fail to hold what would have been his first major league win. Eiland went seven innings in that August 1988 contest, leaving with a 5-1 lead . Eiland's Yankees lost 6-5. "It's happened to me before," Eiland told The New York Times . "That could have been me out there. It's part of the game. It happens." Eiland went on to see time in 10 major league seasons, starting 70 big league games . But wins would be at a premium, he would only pick up 12. Eiland, though, would go on to oversee many more wins, as pitching coach for the team that first brought him to the majors, the Yankees. Eiland's three season stint there also included overseeing a world title. Eiland's career began in 1987, taken by the Yankees in the seventh round out of the University of Florida. He split that first year between s...