Greatest 21 Days Baseball Profiles

Jeff Schaefer had a career game in this June 1991 contest for the Mariners. He started off with a single. He later had a double. Then, late in the game, he launched one over the fence for his first major league home run, according to the McClatchy News Service . "I've been dreaming of that trot for 25 years," Schaefer told McClatchy afterward. "It's a shame there weren't a couple guys on base when it finally came." Schaefer hit that home run in his third season with time in the majors. He went on to play in five big league seasons, getting into a total of 225 big league games and hitting one other home run . He did all that after once quitting the game . Schaefer's career began in 1981, taken by the Orioles in the 12th round of the draft out of the University of Maryland. With the Orioles, Schaefer started at rookie Bluefield . He made AA Charlotte in 1982, then hit AAA Rochester in 1984. But he didn't make Baltimore. Schaefer...

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 ...

Features on each member of the 1990 Calgary Cannons, AAA affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. Players are as included in that year's team set, along with interviews with three team members Interviews (3) 1 - Tony Blasucci, Pumped Up Tony Blasucci was an outfielder-turned-pitcher. He never made the majors, but he did impress. 2 - Todd Haney, Long Odds Todd Haney might as well have been looking at himself. He beat the odds, made the majors with the Expos, Cubs and Mets. 3 - Pat Rice, Original Path Pat Rice turned down an opportunity to coach. He then made the majors. Calgary Cannons (28) 1  -  Tony Blasucci  won praise upon AA promotion, passed in 2014 2  -  Mickey Brantley  saw 4 ML seasons, missed fifth, moved on 3  -  Dave Burba  took bright future to 15 major league seasons 4  -  Casey Close  saw 5 seasons, AAA, later became top agent 5  -  Dave Cochrane  overcame bad infection to make majors 6...

Jim Weaver wasn't surprised the Twins didn't protect him for the winter draft, he told The Associated Press in spring 1985. The career minor leaguer hadn't played well the previous year at AAA Toledo, he was only hitting .230 and he wasn't playing every day . "See, that's not my strength," Weaver told The AP as he worked to make the Tigers and debut in the majors. "I've always been an every day ballplayer." Weaver did make the Tigers out of spring 1985, and he stayed up for nearly two months. But he hardly played . Over his two months with the team, he only got into 12 games, eight plate appearances and one hit, a double. By June, he was back with the Twins. Weaver went on to play a total of 11 seasons as a pro . He would only make the majors twice more, seeing action in just 19 more big league contests. Weaver's career began in 1980, taken by the Twins in the second round of the 1980 draft, out of Florida State University...

Terry Taylor delivered the pitch in this September 1988 game and Danny Tartabull took advantage . He took advantage by hitting a grand slam . "With the bases loaded, I'm just trying to keep the ball in the middle of the field so we can score some runs," Tartabull told The Associated Press afterward. "When a pitcher makes a mistake though, I'll hit it out." While this Sept. 20 outing was just his fifth, in a professional career that lasted a decade, Taylor ended up making that mistake in a big league game that turned out to be his last . Taylor made it to that point in his seventh season as a pro. Taylor turned pro in 1982, taken by the Mariners in the fourth round of the draft, out of Crestview High School in Florida. He started at short-season Bellingham, going 6-4 in 14 starts. Taylor moved to single-A Wausau in 1983 and then single-A Salinas in 1984. Taylor made AA Chattanooga in 1985, but went just 4-15 in 28 starts. He returned to AA ...

New Memphis Chick Bo Jackson started off slow in 1986. The star fourth-round selection by the Royals started off 4 for 42 in his first 11 games, for a sub-.100 average . His manager at Memphis, though, had confidence in the young Jackson. Jackson just needed experience, manager Tommy Jones told The Memphis Commercial-Appeal that July. "He's going to play nine innings of every single game and get his four or five at-bats," Jones told The Commercial-Appeal . "I don't want to rob him of any experience he's getting right now." Jackson ended up getting his average up. In 53 games, he hit .277 . And, by September, Jackson was in Kansas City. In the end, though, it was Jones who was robbed, robbed by cancer . Jones went on to manage in AAA, serve as the Diamondbacks' original director of player development and even as a major league first base coach for a time. Jones' life, though, was cut short in 2009, at the age of 54, after a bat...

Dave Burba closed out 1991 strong. He went six innings, giving up three hits in a Mariners win. It was Burba's second season with time in the majors and his manager Jim Levebvre saw Burba coming back for more, according to The Associated Press . "He's a big, strong kid," Lefebvre told The AP . "He has a bright future." Burba did have a bright future, a future that saw him pitch in 13 more big league seasons . He also went on to hit double digits in wins in eight total seasons, hitting 16 wins in 2000 for the Indians. Burba's career began in 1987, taken by the Mariners in the second round , out of Ohio State . Burba played his first year between short-season Bellingham and single-A Salinas . He made AA Williamsport in 1989, then AAA Calgary in 1990. In September 1990, Burba made Seattle. In six relief outings for the Mariners that September, Burba got into eight innings , giving up four earned runs. He returned for another 22 outings, two ...

To The Eugene Register-Guard in 1991, Tom Dodd looked back on his career, the year after it ended. It was a career that spanned 11 professional seasons , but one that got him to the majors in just one - eight games played with the Orioles in 1986. "I feel I was a success," Dodd told The Register-Guard that June. "I'm disappointed I didn't get more time in the majors, because I thought I deserved it, but that doesn't leave a bad taste about the whole game." For Dodd, his game as a professional began in 1980, taken by the Yankees in the first round of the January draft, out of the University of Oregon. At Oregon, Dodd once, in March 1979, knocked in seven runs in a game on two home runs. With the Yankees, Dodd played his first two seasons at single-A, at Fort Lauderdale and Greensboro. He hit .253 his first year and .271 his second. He made AA Nashville in 1982 before being traded to the Blue Jays mid-year. Dodd, though, was traded back ...

Vance Lovelace had endured some setbacks, he admitted to The Palm Beach Post in 1985. But he was ready to overcome them. "I'm not a quitter," Lovelace told The Post ,  When I clear these obstacles, I'll do good for myself." Lovelace wasn't a quitter. And he did make the majors . The hurler ultimately got into three major league seasons, getting into nine total games. And, while he made it to the majors, he could hardly make it past comparisons to the careers of two of his teammates at Hillsborough High School in Tampa, fellow pitchers Floyd Youmans and Dwight Gooden. Lovelace's playing career began in 1981, taken by the Cubs in the first round of the draft, taken directly out of high school. He played that first year with the Cubs rookie Gulf Coast League team, then the next year at single-A Quad Cities. Lovelace's stay in the Cubs system, though was limited to those two seasons. For 1983, Lovelace was sent to the Dodgers with anothe...

The Greatest 21 Days caught up with Pat Rice in July 2012, read the two-part interview: Pat Rice, Original Path    Pat Rice was exhausted, he told The New York Times , but he was excited. In his sixth professional season, the 27-year-old Rice was in the majors , with the Mariners. "I always thought I would pitch until they fired me," Rice told The Times after shutting out the Yankees over 5.2 innings of work in his debut. "I began to wonder last year when they were going to fire me." Rice pitched until he made the majors. Over the month starting with that Yankees start, Rice got into a total of seven contests - throwing 13 shutout innings to start his career. Rice played one more season, but those seven big league outings proved to be the extent of his major league career. Rice's career, though, has continued as a coach and coordinator in the minors. And it's continuing into 2012 , with Rice serving his fourth-consecutive season as pitching co...

That promise was made by Dan Warthen 's manager at Calgary in 1988, where Warthen served as pitching coach, The Moscow-Pullman Daily News wrote . Bill Plummer promised that if Plummer ever became a major league manager, it was Warthen who would be his pitching coach, The Daily News wrote . "We're both pretty hard-headed about the way we want things done," Warthen told The Daily News . Warthen has since gone on to take advantage of that promise with a long career as a major league coach, serving as pitching coach for three other major league franchises , most recently serving with the Mets. He's had his long coaching career after a playing career that saw Warthen play four seasons in the majors with the Expos, Phillies and Astros . Warthen's coaching career began by the mid 1980s, serving as pitching coach at single-A Spartanburg in 1986, after a stint at Bend. By 1988, Warthen was at Calgery, serving as pitching coach under Plummer . Warthen staye...

What started as a torn ligament for Dave Cochrane in 1985 turned into an infection that threatened his career and his foot, The Los Angeles Times wrote . But Cochrane worked to get back. By the next season, he was playing at AAA . "Without a doubt, Dave is one of our best prospects, definitely among our top five," Mitch Lukevics, a White Sox administrative assistant for scouting, told The Times in August 1986. "He's proved he can play and he overcame some real adversity." Cochrane soon got the chance to prove he could play in the majors, making his major league debut in September. Cochrane went on to a career that saw time in five seasons , his second big league look, though, not coming until 1989. Cochrane's career began in 1981, taken by the Mets in the fourth round of the draft, out of Troy High School in Fullerton, Calif. Cochrane's first season came in 1982, at short-season Little Falls. He hit .301, with 22 home runs. He made AA Jackson in 1...

Water will help with rehydration of athletes, but sports drinks can provide more of what the dehydrated players need, including electrolytes and carbohydrates, trainer Randy Roetter wrote in the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society Spring 2008 newsletter . "The flavor will encourage the athlete to drink while the electrolytes, especially sodium, replaces what the athlete lost in sweat," Roetter wrote in the PBATS publication . "The carbohydrates provide energy for the athletes’ working muscles." Roetter wrote the article on preventing heat illness as a trainer for the Mariners' team in the Arizona League. He also wrote the article having more than a quarter century working as an athletic trainer. He also wrote it having written the book on being a trainer in the minor leagues, or at least a book. A native of Ohio, Roetter's athletic training career began in the early 1980s. In 1981, he was listed as a trainer for Youngstown University . He sta...