Greatest 21 Days Baseball Profiles

Norbert Pickering and future major leaguer Midre Cummings worked together to help their native U.S. Virgin Islands to a International Little League game win in Panama in 1986, according to Panama City's La Prensa . Cummings, who would later see the majors over 11 seasons , hit a home run and knocked in three against Aruba, while Pickering scored a run and may have gotten three hits , based on a La Prensa translation . While both Cummings and Pickering went on to play in the pros, Pickering's career ended up comparatively shorter. Pickering played in just 16 pro games , all in rookie ball. Pickering's career began and ended in 1990, signed by the Astros as a free agent out of his native U.S. Virgin Islands. Pickering started and ended his pro career in the rookie Gulf Coast League . He got into 16 games for the GCL Astros. He hit .383, with nine RBI and four doubles. Those stats mark the extent of his pro career. Pickering then appears to have returned to the Virgin Islan...

Asheville Tourists pinch-hitter Raphael Lanfranco came on in the bottom of the eighth in this April 1991 game with a chance to tie the game, The Asheville Citizen-Times wrote . Lanfranco then came through, knocking a single to center to score a run, The Citizen-Times wrote . Lanfranco got that game-tying RBI in his third season as a pro. He went on to see time in one more. He topped out at single-A . Lanfranco's career began in 1989, signed by the Astros as a free agent out of his native Dominican Republic . Lanfranco's name was also spelled Rafael Lanfranco. Lanfranco started with the Astros in the rookie Gulf Coast League . He saw 21 games at catcher and hit .190. He then returned for 26 games in the GCL for 1990 and hit .217, though he got hurt that August . Lanfranco played 1991 between single-A Burlington and single-A Asheville. He saw 49 games in all and hit .194.  He knocked a single in an April 1991 game for Asheville that helped Asheville to a lead. By late May, h...

In his six pro season, having yet to make the majors, Montreal Expos farmhand Razor Shines not only continued playing, but he continued playing all out, The Memphis Commercial Appeal wrote . And Expos brass took notice, according to The Commercial Appeal . "Razor hasn't lost one bit of enthusiasm from the day we signed him," Expos farm director Bob Gebhard told The Commercial Appeal  that July. The Expos soon took notice enough to make him a September call-up. Eventually, Shines would see the majors over four seasons, all with Montreal . Shines' career began in 1978, taken by the Expos in the 18th round of the draft out of Louisburg College in North Carolina. Shines' given name was Anthony Shines. He got his nickname Razor at Louisburg, as a line drive of his cut the shin of a fielder, The Commercial Appeal wrote . Shines started at short-season Jamestown . He made single-A West Palm Beach in 1979, AA Memphis in 1981 and then AAA Wichita and major league Montre...

The game may not have been pretty, but it still could be called a high school gem, helped along by Southwest High School's Luis Navarro , according to The Miami News . Navarro and a fellow pitcher combined on a no-hitter, in a five-inning game where Southwest won 14-4, The News wrote . The four runs were helped along by six walks and five errors. Overall at Southwest, Navarro pitched well enough to make the pros. He saw three seasons . He played all three in rookie ball. Navarro's career began in 1988, taken by the Astros in the 44th round of the draft out of Southwest Miami. At Southwest, Navarro participated in a three-hitter in a February 1988 win.  With the Astros, Navarro started in the rookie Gulf Coast League . He saw 15 relief appearances there in 1988. He went 0-2, with a 5.03 ERA.  He remained in the GCL for 1989, seeing seven outings , four starts. He again went 0-2, with a 3.16 ERA Navarro then saw one final season with the Astros in the GCL in 1990. He went 3-6...

When Venezuelan-native Roberto Petagine first signed as a pro, he and his father celebrated with a unique gold Astros chain, The Jackson Clarion-Ledger wrote  in 1993.  Ten months later, Petagine's father died .  "I said, 'Baseball, go away,'" Petagine told The Clarion-Ledger of his first reaction to his father's death, "but then I said, 'No, no, I'm going to make it to the big leagues for him." Petagine did make the big leagues. He saw the majors over seven seasons spanning more than a decade. On his way up, he wore the chain he got with his dad, a chain visible on several of his cards . Petagine's career began in 1990, signed by the Astros out of his native Venezuela .  Petagine started with the Astros in the rookie Gulf Coast League . He saw 55 games and hit .289. He made single-A Burlington for 1991, then high-A Osceola and AA Jackson in 1992. He made AAA Tucson and then Houston in 1994. Petagine saw eight games with the Astros ....

Young Jerry Reuss had only seen one big league outing by April 1970, the previous spring with St. Louis.  But St. Louis manager Red Schoendienst had seen enough to see big things in Reuss' future, according to The Tulsa World . "If Reuss doesn't hurt his arm, by the time he gets his control down he's going to be a great pitcher," Schoendienst told The World . "There aren't many guys around now who can hit his fastball." Reuss turned out to be great enough to stick around in the majors over more than two decades . He hit double digits in wins 12 times, made to All-Star teams and he even tossed a no-hitter. Reuss' career began in 1967, taken by the Cardinals in the second round of the draft out of Ritenour High in St. Louis . Reuss briefly made AAA Tulsa in 1967, then Tulsa again in 1969. He also got a one-game look at St. Louis.  He returned to St. Louis for 20 more outings in 1970 and 36 in 1971. He went 14-14 in 1971, with a 4.78 ERA. He the...