Greatest 21 Days Baseball Profiles

The Blue Jays finished the 1980 season on a three-game winning streak , the final game won by right-hander Jackson Todd on a complete-game six-hitter . Todd finished up his third season with time in the majors with a career-best 5-2 record in 12 starts. "Actually, I wish the season could last forever," Todd told told UPI afterward. "It's fun to come to the park now. It's a lot of fun playing the game again." For Todd, just that he was there was an achievement. Six years earlier, a type of abdominal cancer nearly ended his career - and his life. It was Todd's eighth season overall as a pro. His next, though, would be his last in the majors . His coaching career began shortly afterward. Todd's pro career began in 1973, taken by the Mets in the second round of the draft out of the University of Oklahoma. The Mets selected Todd as he was fresh off a College World Series run that saw Todd's Sooners ousted by Texas in a game Todd starte...

Todd Frohwirth 's major league debut seemed to go by quickly, the rookie told The Philadelphia Inquirer . But, in August 1987 against the Cubs, Frohwirth came into the fifth inning , going 1.2 scoreless innings, picking up the win. He also struck out eventual National League MVP Andre Dawson, the first batter Frohwirth faced, as Dawson represented the go-ahead run . "And I didn't have time to think it was Dawson," Frohwirth told The Inquirer afterward. "I just wanted to throw strikes and I threw him sinkers and sliders. And then I end up with a win in my first game, which right now makes me more excited than I've ever been in my life. It all really hasn't sunk in yet." Frohwirth and his unusual submarine style delivery debuted in the majors that day in his fourth professional year. He would go on to pitch in a total of nine major league seasons, not throwing his final pitch until 1996. Frohwirth's professional career began in 1984, ...

Chris Knabenshue had three hits in the previous game for the Charleston Rainbows. But his late miscue in the field meant those didn't matter, The Charleston News and Courier wrote . In this April 1986 game, though, Knabenshoe got one more hit, and one less fielding miscue, going 4-for-4 with a home run in a Charleston win . "I needed a game like this after last night," Knabenshoe told The News and Courier . "I can't remember the last time I was 4-for-4. That's what I was thinking out there. I don't even know if I've ever been 4-for-4." Knabenshoe went on to have shots at similar games at AA and AAA, but he never got a shot to have a game like that in the majors. Knabenshoe, however, has since gone on to a career looking for other players who have shots at playing well in the pros, serving as a scout for the Braves. Knabenshoe's career began in 1985, taken by the Padres in the fifth round of the draft, out of the University of North...

For Shane Letterio , frustrations mounted in 1992. But he was still optimistic . Having played briefly the year before at AAA Calgary, Letterio finished out that year all the way back at high-A Peninsula. In 1992, his sixth season as a pro, he was at AA Jacksonville and not playing every day . "I still feel confident that I can make it to the big leagues," Letterio told The Orlando Sentinel that June as he tried to come back from an injury. "I just have to get back to playing on a regular basis and show what I can do." The optimism aside, in his six professional seasons, Letterio never did make it to the big leagues . Letterio's career began with promise in 1987. Selected by the Reds in the fifth round of the draft, out of Lake Mary High School in Florida, Letterio had to choose between the Reds and the University of Miami. That April, Letterio signed his scholarship to go to Miami, calling the opportunity to the school an honor, according to The Se...

Montreal's Olympic Stadium in May 2012, during a soccer game between the Montreal Impact and the New York Red Bulls. (G21D Photo) Olympic Stadium  2012: Expos Search | 2014: Expos Found   2014: Honoring 1994 | 2014: Expos Speak   My wife and I recently saw some major league action in Montreal. At Olympic Stadium, no less. We saw it nearly eight years after the last Major League Baseball game was played there. This "major league" action was Major League Soccer and the new Montreal Impact. We actually didn't go there really to see the soccer game. We went there, or at least I wanted to go there, to see what was left, if anything, of the old Expos in the stadium they called home for nearly 30 years. The quick answer to what is left of the Expos at Olympic Stadium eight years on: Hardly anything. Montreal's Olympic Stadium in April 2002, a Wednesday night game between the Cubs and the Expos. (G21D Photo) Backing up a bit, I got the opportun...

Mark Lemke thought he and his teammates got their manager in instructional league Jim Beauchamp upset one day in 1986, Lemke told The Associated Press years later. But, to a team that include the young Lemke, David Justice and Ron Gant , Beauchamp looked toward the future , rather than that day's workouts. "He got us together and told us if we work hard, one day this group will be riding down Peachtree Street in a ticker-tape parade," Lemke told The AP in October 1991. "Myself, I was thinking 'Where is Peachtree Street?'" The occasion was that group of Braves entering the World Series against the Twins. That group included the Braves' first-year bench coach Beauchamp . And, while that group didn't quite get that parade down Atlanta's Peachtree Street that year, Beauchamp and the Braves did get there as world champions four years later . By 1991, Beauchamp was a good 16 years into his career as manager in the minors and coach i...

This features Jim Beauchamp's playing career. For the feature on his coaching days, go to Jim Beauchamp, Hard Work It was perhaps the best two-game span of Jim Beauchamp 's career. On Aug. 21., 1972, the Mets hitter knocked in three on two home runs against the Astros. The next night, he knocked in four, hitting another home run . In both games, Beauchamp knocked in the game-winners . "I can't expect things to go on like this," Beauchamp told The Associated Press after the second contest. "But at least I'm contributing for a change." Beauchamp was contributing in his ninth season with time in the majors, his 14th as a pro . He would go on contributing in the game, as a manager and a coach, contributing almost until his passing in 2007 - after nearly five decades in baseball. Beauchamp's career in baseball began in 1958, signed by the Cardinals as an amateur free agent out of Grove High School in Oklahoma. Beauchamp started at sing...

Terry Wells made it to AAA Tucson in 1989, his fourth season in the minors. But his success there was limited - five losses as a reliever and an ERA approaching 6 in a half season of work. So, in spring 1990, the Astros chose to trade Wells to the Dodgers for Franklin Stubbs. Wells, according to The Houston Chronicle , welcomed the move. "This is a good deal for me, to get a fresh start," Wells told The Chronicle . "This means somebody wants me. Nothing against the Astros, but I hope our paths cross again real soon." With the Dodgers that year, Wells did get a fresh start. He also made the majors. But his time in the bigs was brief. Turned starter, Wells began five games. He went 1-2, marking the extent of his big league career . Wells began with the Astros, taken in the eighth round of the 1985 draft, out of the University of Illinois.  He played his first year at short-season Auburn, moving to single-A Asheville in 1986. He made AA Columbus in 1988, g...

About the only criticism that Phillies general manager Lee Thomas could level at newly acquired outfielder Wes Chamberlain was that the game came too easy for him, The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote . The criticism, such as it was, Chamberlain still said it wasn't true . "I've never heard that directed toward me," Chamberlain told The Inquirer after his major league debut. "I've heard that cliché, that (naturally gifted players) kind of do everything laid-back. But that's not me. I go out and have fun and play hard." Chamberlain went on to play in 18 games for the Phillies that year and in six total seasons in the majors. Even after playing his last major league game, Chamberlain kept playing. By the time his playing days were done, Chamberlain played hard and had fun in 17 total seasons , including a season in Japan, finally ending in 2004. Chamberlain's career began in 1987, taken by the Pirates in the fourth round of the draft,...

Neil Allen finally found success in 1986, something he hadn't seen in some time, The Associated Press wrote . By that July, the former New York Mets closer was 6-1 and hurling as a starter . "I made my name in the bullpen, but my whole career was going downhill," Allen told The AP . "The way things were going, if the White Sox hadn't come along, I might have been on Long Island right now cutting grass." Allen stayed on a major league mound, and away from cutting grass, into 1989. But he still isn't cutting grass. Allen has gone on to a post-playing coaching career. For 2012, he's serving as pitching coach for AAA Durham . Allen's career began back in 1976, taken by the Mets in the 11th round of the draft out of Bishop Ward High School in Kansas City. Allen made AAA Tidewater in his third season and Flushing in his fourth. With the Mets in 1979, Allen got into 50 total games, starting five of them. He went 6-10, with eight saves. A...

Dave Hansen tried to explain pinch hitting in 2012 as not exactly an art form, but a mindset, according to The Riverside Press-Enterprise . "If you're going to have any success," Hansen told The Press-Enterprise , "you have to get a quality at-bat each time. You have to get locked in in one at-bat, not over four at-bats." Hansen could talk. He still held the record for Dodgers pinch hits, The Press-Enterprise wrote . The other reason he could talk: Hansen is the Dodgers' hitting coach for 2012. Hansen became a coach after a playing career that spanned two decades , and included time in 15 major league seasons and one in Japan. Hansen's career began in 1986, taken by the Dodgers in the second round of the draft, out of Rowland High School in California. He spent his first year at rookie Great Falls, then made AA San Antonio in 1989, then AAA Albuquerque in 1990. In September 1990, he debuted with the Dodgers in Los Angeles, getting into fiv...