Greatest 21 Days Baseball Profiles

Dennis Moeller made his major league debut with the Royals in July 1992 and, while the outing didn't turn out the way he'd hoped , that he got there was exactly what he'd hoped for. The outing, a start, included Moeller giving up three earned runs, two on back-to-back home runs, in 4.1 innings, The Associated Press wrote . "I wasn't really nervous, though," Moeller told The AP afterward. "I was excited. This was a long time coming." That debut came in Moeller's seventh pro season. He went on to return to the majors the next year with the Pirates. Those two seasons marked the extent of his major league career. Moeller's career began in 1986, taken by the Royals in the 17th round of the draft out of Los Angeles Valley College . He started with the Royals at short-season Eugene. He made single-A Appleton in 1987, then first saw AA Memphis in 1989. For 1990, he started at Memphis and then moved up to AAA Omaha . He moved up despite a rough s...

Daryl Smith had played professionally for a decade, but hadn't gotten his call. It took a chance meeting for him to the majors, The Kansas City Star wrote in September 1990. After a season out due to injury, the Royals director of player personnel ran into him, the same director who'd helped originally sign Smith with the Rangers a decade earlier, The Star wrote . "Baseball is in my heart," Smith told The Star after he took that chance to his only major league callup. "It's part of my life as well as my family. I treated it with the utmost respect because of the talent God gave me." Smith's callup that September led to two outings, 6.2 innings of work. In a career that spanned 17 seasons, those marked his only two outings in the majors. Smith's career began in 1980, taken by the Rangers in the sixth round of the January draft out of the Community College of Baltimore County, Essex Campus. Smith was also credited as Dar Smith. Smith started w...

Mike Leon may have missed out on a World Series ring with the Royals by a year, but he did get a ring. After starting his minor league training career in 1986 - the year after the Royals won - Leon found himself in 1997 as the trainer at AAA Charlotte, in the Marlins system . As a member of the Florida organization when the team won its first championship, Leon got his ring, according to The Chicago Tribune . Leon started his minor league training career after receiving his masters degree in sports medicine from Indiana University, according to his Best card. Leon served as trainer in 1986 for the Royals rookie Gulf Coast League team. He moved to single-A Appleton for 1987 and 1988. He then moved up to AA Memphis for 1989 and returned there as trainer for 1990. By 1997, he was with the Marlins at AAA Charlotte . Since then, Leon appears to have left training. A LinkedIn profile that appears to be him shows him as a software developer now, who also consults with the White...

Features on each member of the 1990 Memphis Chicks, AA affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. Players are as included in that year's team set. Interview (2) 1 - Pete Alborano, Constant Hustle Pete Alborano's professional career started with a home run. 2 - Brian McRae, Call Up Brian McRae thought he was better at football than baseball in high school. The Royals still took him 17th overall. Memphis Chicks (30) 1 -   Pete Alborano  hit grand slam with Eugene; Played 7 seasons 2  -  Sean Berry  made 11 ML seasons with Expos, Astros, others 3  -  Jim Campbell  made bigs for two games, had trouble in first 4  -  Scott Centala  showed he could throw in 6 seasons, AAA 5  -  Stu Cole  made majors for nine games, managed in minors 6  -  Victor Cole  relaxed, threw strikes, saw 4 majors starts 7  -  Jeff Conine  played in 17 ML seasons, became Mr. Marlin 8  -  Jeff ...

In a statement issued after his appointment , Kyle Reese said he was real excited about his new position. Reese's new position was as head baseball coach at Mount Paran Christian in Reese's hometown of Kennesaw, Ga. "It is a great combination of competitive, challenging baseball with one of the finest Christian schools in the state," Reese said in the statement, according to The Marietta Daily Journal . "I look forward to the opportunity of leading the baseball program at MPCS." Reese was chosen to lead the program there after previously serving 10 years as head coach at another Georgia school. He also was chosen to lead the program after a professional career that saw him play in eight seasons , but never saw him make the majors. Reese's professional career began back in 1983, taken by the Braves in the 15th round of the draft, out of North Cobb High School in Kennesaw. With the Braves, the catcher Reese started in the rookie Gulf Coas...

When a new manager comes on, it's time to younger players to show what they can do. For Tommy Dunbar in 1985, the Rangers got a new manager and he hurt his ankle, according to The Oklahoman . Dunbar had spent the entire season with Texas, to that point, his third season with time in the bigs. Soon, though, after a disabled list stint and poor play upon his return, he found himself back at AAA Oklahoma City. "It was just one of those things," Dunbar told The Oklahoman late that July. "It was a bad break for me. I've just got to get myself back together again and show 'em I can play again." Dunbar was in his sixth year as a pro, coming off his latest stint in the majors. That stint, though, would be his last. He ended up playing in six more seasons in the minors , but he never would return to the bigs. He later returned home to South Carolina, teaching the game to local youth through baseball camps. He did that until his death in 2011 , at ...

Jorge Pedre looked around in 1991 and saw others get a chance to move up. He was just waiting for his chance, he told The Los Angeles Times . He'd just gotten his chance to move up to AAA Omaha, but he wanted to take that last step , to the majors. "I've been pretty consistent at the plate," Pedre told The Times that August. "I also had a chance to prove at Memphis that I could catch on a full-time basis. Now I'm waiting for a break. Hopefully it will be this year." Pedre did get that break, called up to Kansas City in September. But he couldn't stick. He got into 10 games that year with the Royals and four more the next year with the Cubs, marking the extent of his major league career. Pedre's pro career began in 1987, taken by the Royals in the 33rd round of the draft, out of West Los Angeles College and Los Angeles Harbor College. Pedre started with the Royals at short-season Eugene, the catcher getting into 64 games , hittin...

An injury kept all the other scouts away and Royals scout Guy Hansen wanted to keep it that way, he told The Los Angeles Times years later . The young pitcher he had his eye on was a high schooler named Bret Saberhagen , a young pitcher Hansen soon pushed the Royals to draft, The Times wrote . "Saberhagen was throwing between 85 and 88 m.p.h.," Hansen told The Times in 1986. "I didn't go back and see him the rest of the year because I didn't want anyone to know how interested I was." Saberhagen eventually helped the Royals win a world championship. Hansen went on to spot other players as a scout, and later help those players and others take that next step to the majors, as a coach in the minors. He's even had stints in the majors himself, as both a bullpen coach and pitching coach . Hansen's career in baseball began in 1969, drafted by the Royals in the 44th round of the draft, out of UCLA. With the Royals as a player, Hansen's c...

The Florida Marlins had just hoisted the World Series trophy in October 1997 and Brian Peterson could only marvel, according to The Eugene Register-Guard . Several of the players on that team were players he'd coached in the minors. The Marlins' manager, Jim Leyland, had also been a minor league player-turned-coach like Peterson. "That's so encouraging, because he's a guy not unlike a lot of us, who wasn't a very good player as far as major-league ability, but he'd dedicated his career to the profession," Peterson told The Register-Guard of Leyland. "And there are a lot of us like that out there. A lot of us." By then, Peterson had been a coach for more than a decade, after a playing career where he saw time in four seasons , but never got close to the majors. Peterson also never got close to the majors as a coach, not credited as coaching long after that 1997 season. Peterson's baseball career began in 1976, the former Uni...

Baseball City manager Luis Silverio spoke to The Lakeland Ledger in April 1989 about his new, young pitching staff. Included in that pitching staff was 24-year-old reliever Doug Nelson , then a veteran of two minor league campaigns. "We've got so many young pitchers, we're going to have to concentrate and hopefully they'll come out OK," Silverio told The Ledger . Nelson turned out mostly OK statswise by season's end, picking up 12 wins in 34 appearances, five starts. But he wasn't OK the next, getting just seven outings , ending his career short of the majors after four seasons. Nelson's professional career began in 1987, taken by the Royals in the 19th round of the draft, out of the University of the Pacific. At Pacific, the year he was drafted, Nelson, as a starter, threw nine complete games , with 121.1 total innings pitched. The year before, he threw seven. With the Royals, Nelson started at short-season Eugene. He also moved to re...

Frank Laureano had a singular goal in 1987, playing for the single-A Appleton Foxes, The Appleton Post-Crescent wrote that July. And he was doing his best to reach that goal, The Post-Crescent wrote , hitting .319 and knocking in 60 by late that month. "I want to make the big leagues," Laureano to ld The Post-Crescent . " That's all I want to do." Laureano, eventually seen by one account as "the heir to Royals second baseman Frank White," went on to play in six affiliated seasons. But he never fulfilled his goal, or that promise. He made it to AAA, but no higher. Laureano's career began with the Royals in 1985, signed as an undrafted teenager out of his native Dominican Republic. By 1986, the then 18-year-old was playing stateside, for single-A Burlington. There, he hit .275 in 130 games, also hitting seven home runs and knocking in 37. He moved to the Royals' full single-A team in Appleton for 1987, hitting .323 there, with ...

The Rome News-Tribune brought to Bobby Moore 's attention in May 2006 all the players he'd seen on to the majors as a coach in the minors, players that were not only in the majors, but having success. Moore was then in his fourth season as hitting coach for the single-A Rome Braves , a job he is returning to for 2013 . "Hearing something like that always makes me proud," Moore told The News-Tribune . "Because that's what I'm here for - to make sure these guys are prepared when they get to the next level." Moore became a coach, helping those players to the majors, after his own playing career, one that lasted a decade and one that saw him make the majors for a single September. Moore's career in baseball began in 1987, taken by the Royals in the 16th round of the draft out of Eastern Kentucky University. With the Royals, Moore started at short-season Eugene, hitting .374 in 57 games. He moved to single-A Baseball City for 1988 and 1...

This was Hector Wagner 's sixth total major league start, his first big league start of 1991 . This was also where Wagner got his first major league win. In six innings of work against the Rangers this June 19, Wagner gave up just one earned run , sending his Royals on to a 15-2 win. That win, though, would be Wagner's only win in the majors. He got just one more start, his seventh overall, marking the extent of his big league career . Wagner's professional career began in 1987, signed by the Royals as an undrafted free agent out of his native Dominican Republic. With the Royals, Wagner started in the rookie Gulf Coast League, getting 12 starts there, with a 3.06 ERA. He moved to short-season Eugene for 1988, getting 15 starts there . He went 4-9, with a 3.68 ERA. In one August 1988 game for Eugene, Wagner took a no hitter into the eighth inning, instead settling for a 5-2 win . By late-August, Wagner had a streak of 14 innings where he gave up just one run . ...

Richie LeBlanc pitched his way to his 10th win for LSU in May 1986, his ninth complete game on the year. He did so by recording 18 outs by ground balls and striking out three, The Associated Press wrote . "I just wanted them to hit it on the ground," LeBlanc told The AP afterward, "and let the defense take care of it." LeBlanc would take that pitching style the next year to the pros, signing with the Royals. LeBlanc, though, would never the the opportunity to take it to the majors, making it to AA , but no higher. LeBlanc's pro career began in 1987, taken by the Royals in the 10th round, out of Louisiana Tech. At Louisiana Tech, LeBlanc spent the summer of 1986 playing collegiate ball in Alaska. With the Mat-Su Miners, LeBlanc threw another complete game in July, going the full nine and giving up two earned runs in a Miners win. "When our defense is hot, I can win," LeBlanc told The Anchorage Daily News afterward. "And I was fo...

Jim Campbell made his major league debut, but it didn't go as he'd hoped . Having started the year at AA Memphis, Campbell found himself in Kansas City by August. He also found himself going just 4.2 innings and giving up seven earned runs . "We've been struggling for runs all season at Memphis and Omaha," Campbell told The Associated Press afterward. "I get up here and I get eight runs and I can't go five. I know I threw a lot of high pitches." Campbell did get another start with the team. But that second start was also his last in the bigs, his major league career ending up consisting of just those two outings and no more. Campbell's professional career began in 1987, taken by the Royals in the 32nd round of the draft, out of San Diego State University . Campbell started with the Royals at short-season Eugene, getting 32 relief outings . He also picked up 10 saves. That July, he spoke with The Eugene Register-Guard on the top...