Greatest 21 Days Baseball Profiles

The AA Southern League held its 1990 All-Star Game at Chattanooga. These were the players selected, as well as some dignitaries who attended. Southern League 1 -  Tony Brown worked to hit the ball hard over decade-plus in pros 2 -  Jeff Conine , Ground Floor, 7/4/19 3 -  Will Magallanes , From Injury, 7/9/19 4 -  Mike Maksudian , Those Guys, 7/5/19 5 -  Brian McRae , Relaxed and Confident, 7/7/19 6 -  Kenny Morgan , Real Pop, 7/20/19 7 -  Jorge Pedre , Pretty Consistent, 7/8/19 8 -  Stan Royer , Different Feeling, 7/24/19 9 -  Matt Stark , Positive Attitude, 7/26/19 10 -  William Suero , Been Tattooing, 7/10/19 11 -  Frank Thomas , Dimension of Power, 7/15/19 12 -  Lenny Webster , Tough Decision, 7/12/19 13 -  Eddie Zosky , Confidence Builder, 7/16/19 14 -  Scott Centala , Could Throw, 7/21/19 15 -  Steve Chitren was driven by majors, made it over two seasons 16 -  Greg Johnson , Called O...

A key piece on the 1987 Salt Lake City Trappers team that won a record 29 games in a row, Adam Casillas recalled years later to The Deseret News the home of that streak, Salt Lake City's Derks Field. "Derks Field was an amazing place," Casillas told The News . "After that season, I realized how spoiled we really were. I always loved playing in Salt Lake City. I spent almost a decade in professional baseball, and there is no prettier ballpark I've played in anywhere." Casillas signed on with independent Salt Lake that year, having been passed over in the draft. The Trappers gave him his start and he went on to play nine seasons in the pros. He hit AAA, but he missed the majors. Casillas went on to a career outside of baseball, in auto sales. in 2016, he passed away at the age of 50 . Casillas career started that year in 1987, signed by Salt Lake City out of Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma. Casillas was also at least once credited as Ad...

Coming out of college in 1987, Andy Mota could hit well. But he didn't show much that first year out. He hit .263 for short-season Auburn. Returning for 1988, Mota heated up, hitting nearly 90 points better and taking the league batting crown. In an interview with The Associated Press , Mota credited that improvement to a year of experience in the pros. "You've got to work hard for yourself to get better because there's no one there to force you," Mota told The AP . "As you get more success, like what happened to me, you get more confident, the butterflies are gone." Mota went on to hit well at single-A Osceola the next year, at .319, and .286 in 1990 for AA Columbus. But, when he finally made the majors in August 1991, those butterflies apparently returned. Over 27 games in the majors, he hit just .189 , a stint that marked the extent of his major league career. Drafted by the Astros in the 12 round of the 1987 draft, Mota followed his fa...

Benny Colvard went from one pennant race at AA Chattanooga to another at AAA Nashville in August 1990, The Nashville Tennessean wrote . But, exactly what his role with the AAA Sounds would be, the outfielder hadn't been told, The Tennessean wrote . "Nothing much has been said," Colvard told The Tennessean after arriving "I'm just here to play and help when and where I can." Whatever Colvard's role ended up being at Nashville, it ended up brief. He played 14 games there that year and, in six professional seasons, he never had a role in the majors. Colvard's career began in 1988, taken by the Reds in the 17th round of the draft out of Southeastern Oklahoma State University . Colvard was also credited as Ben Colvard. Colvard amassed enough home runs at Southeastern to remain second all-time in both season and career lists 20 years later. He also remained second in single-season RBI. In 2007, Southeastern Oklahoma inducted Colvard int...

Originally published April 7, 2015 The expectations for Tom Redington were high. That was outlined by none other than the Braves general manager himself, Bobby Cox. "His bat will carry him to the major leagues," Cox told The Associated Press as the team readied to sign their third-round pick in August 1987. For Redington, though, it didn't work out like that. His bat ended up failing him early and he could never catch up. Redington made it to AA in his third professional season. He never made it higher . Redington's career began that year in 1987, taken by the Braves 64th overall out of Esperanza High School in California. Redington signed with the Braves in time to get 18 games in at single-A Sumter. He hit .321. His first full season, though, proved difficult for Redington. Over 129 games, he hit just .196 . Sumter manager Ned Yost told The Sumter Item in the midst of that season-long slump that the former high school star was having to deal with...

Mike Bell already had time in two major league seasons behind him. In spring 1993, he was looking to get back . He was trying to do so with a new team, the Pirates, after being taken the previous December in the minor league draft. "Being drafted is as good as a trade," Bell told The Beaver County Times that March. "It gives me a new opportunity." Bell never did get back to the majors. The 53 games he spent with the Braves in 1990 and 1991 ended up being the extent of his big league career. Those games were enough, though, to get invited back years later for a Braves alumni day. Bell's career began in 1987, having been drafted by the Braves in the fourth round of the draft out of Newton High School in New Jersey. Bell's start was delayed by contract negotiations as he tried to decide whether to go to college or turn pro, according to The Sumter Daily Item . He went to school for a semester, then he got the next offer. "(I) was going...

Brian Barnes was all of 5 feet, 9 inches tall. His height was enough to give some scouts pause, but not all, he told The South Florida Sun-Sentinel in 1991. "I had a scout that wasn't afraid to take a chance on me because of my height," Barnes told The Sun-Sentinel that spring. "He looked past the height and velocity and looked to the heart. I have as big a heart as anybody and that's what really matters most." That chance paid off, and quickly. Selected by the Expos in the fourth round of the 1989 draft. By September 1990, Barnes was in Montreal and he would go on to play parts of five seasons in the majors. Barnes hit three levels his first year alone, even getting one start at AAA Indianapolis . At short-season Jamestown, Barnes went 1-0 in two starts, at single-A West Palm Beach, he went 4-3 in seven starts, but also had a 0.72 ERA. In one early August outing for West Palm Beach, Barnes struck out 15 . "I haven't had any trouble ...

Wilfredo Cordero was still a few years away from the majors in 1988. At the age of 16, he was still a few years away from a lot of things. But the Expos saw big things for their young Puerto Rican prospect, according to The Houston Chronicle . "He has so much athletic ability about him," team assistant director of scouting Frank Wren told The Chronicle that September. "He's got great physical tools, good hands, a good arm, he's big and strong and he handles the ball away very well." Cordero ended up making Montreal less than four years later, at the age of 20. He didn't stop playing in the majors until 2005, seeing time in 14 big league seasons and making an All-Star team. Cordero was signed by the Expos in 1988 as an amateur free agent out of his native Puerto Rico , playing his first year at short-season Jamestown. Cordero got a look at AA Jacksonville in 1989, then made AAA Indianapolis in 1991. It was then in July 1992 that Cordero...

Doug Banning balked in a run, but he still got the win, according to The San Bernardino County Sun . Banning went seven innings in this April 1988 game for single-A Fresno and gave up three runs. The second run, then to tie the game, came in on Banning's fourth-inning balk, The Sun wrote . Banning played in that single-A game in his fifth season as a pro - after an abbreviated campaign at AAA Edmonton the year before. He went on to play in Mexico and return at AA for a season, but Banning never made the bigs . Banning's career began in 1984, signed by the Angels as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Northern Colorado . At Northern Colorado, Banning hit a home run in a March 1982 game. He hit 10 home runs in 1983 to lead his team. Banning started with the Angels at single-A Peoria as a pitcher. He went 1-6 in 15 outings, 8 starts, with a 5.63 ERA. He played 1985 between single-A Quad City and AA Midland . He went 9-8 overall, with a 4.32 ERA. He...

Tony Eusebio looked hit all the way in this June 1998 game, according to The Associated Press . The result, according to The AP : A late two-run single that helped his Astros to a 4-3 win. "In that situation, you hit anything that's around the plate," Eusebio told The AP . "You have an advantage. He might try to throw the fastball early. You don't let one get by and said, 'Hey, that's the one that I wanted.'" Eusebio ended up hitting in nine major league seasons. In 2000, it seemed he didn't stop hitting . The catcher amassed a 24-game hitting streak over 51 days, then a franchise record. Eusebio's career began in 1985, signed by the Astros as an amateur free agent out of his native Dominican Republic . Eusebio played briefly for the Astros' Gulf Coast League team in 1985, then returned for 1987. He made single-A Osceola in 1988, AA Columbus in 1989 and then AAA Tucson in 1991. He also first made Houston in 1991, ge...

Greg Colbrunn went 3 for 5 with one mammoth home run in this August 2002 game for Arizona, according to The Associated Press . That home run flew 468 feet onto a pavilion, tying it for the second-longest at Bank One Ballpark, The AP wrote . "It's nice, but it only counts as one run," Colbrunn told The AP afterward. "It's nice to hit a ball like that and see how far it goes, though. This is my fourth year here now and I try to go up there in BP every once in a while." By that point, Colbrunn's career had gone as far as his 11th season in the majors. By the time he was done, he had time in 13 seasons, a career batting average of .289 and 98 career home runs . Colbrunn's career began in 1987, taken by the Expos in the sixth round of the draft out of Fontana High School in California. Colbrunn started at single-A Rockford in 1988. He made AA Jacksonville in  1989, returning there for 1990. He missed all of 1991 to injury. When he came b...

Originally published Oct. 9, 2011 The Braves were already up 1-0 in the first inning. Brian Hunter quickly made it 3-0, with a home run . It was Game 7 of the 1991 National League Championship Series, a game the Braves went on to win by the score of 4-0. The fourth run also came off Hunter's bat, thanks to a double . "I think he tried to sneak a fastball over," Hunter told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette later of his first-inning home run off the Pirates' John Smiley. "I just hit it as hard as I could." Hunter hit that home run near the end of his first season in the majors. He'd just debuted with the Braves May 31. Hunter went on to play in parts of nine big league seasons , and in three World Series. Hunter's career began in 1987, taken by the Braves in the eighth round , out of Paramount High School and Cerritos College in California. Hunter played that first year at rookie Pulaski, making AA Greenville in 1989. He made AAA Richmond in 1...

Originally published April 23, 2011 Doug Simons was never an emotional player. So, in April 1991, after getting his first major league win, the rookie looked as if he didn't realize he'd reached that milestone, according to the Thomson News Service . "I knew," Simons confirmed to the news service after the win. "If you know me, this is about as excited as I get. I'm throwing a party in my mind." For Simons, however, the such parties were already half over. That win in April, and one more that June, amounted to the only two wins of Simons' major league career. Simons pitched in 42 major league games for the Mets that year, mostly as a reliever . He got into seven more the next, with the Expos, and his big league career was done. Simons' professional career started in 1988, selected by the Twins in the ninth round out of Pepperdine. He started that year at single-A Visalia , going 6-5, with a 3.94 ERA. He split 1989 between Visalia ...