Greatest 21 Days Baseball Profiles

Greg Harrel can trace his career in baseball back to a visit to Arlington, Texas, to a Rangers game, he told The Oklahoman in 1996. From that trip, he grew to love baseball, then to listening to the Rangers on the radio, he told The Oklahoman . "One day (long-time Texas trainer) Bill Ziegler was on the radio and after listening to him I decided that might be something that I'd like," Harrel told The Oklahoman . Harrel eventually did become a trainer, just like Ziegler. He's been a trainer now for more than three decades. He's spent that time mostly in the minors , but he's also seen time in the majors. The Oklahoma native Harrel's time as a baseball trainer began in 1986, after receiving his bachelor's degree in physical education from Central State University. He started as a trainer in 1986 with the Rangers at single-A Daytona Beach . He moved to Port Charlotte in 1987 and then to AA Tulsa in 1988. He continued with Tulsa through 199...

Originally published March 27, 2016; Updated June 2020 Yankees AA manager Bill Evers didn't believe this young Bronx prospect needed to be rushed, Evers told The Schenectady Daily Gazette in July 1994. The prospect, one Derek Jeter , needed to get his feet wet at AA before the club considered a major league call up, Evers told The Daily Gazette . "He's adjusting to how pitchers are pitching him," Evers told The Daily Gazette the year before Jeter would make his big league debut. "He's got a pretty good approach at the plate. He's a big reason why we've been winning." Evers watched over Jeter at AA Albany-Colonie in 1994 a decade into his post-playing career as a minor coordinator and manager. He's gone on to a long career since, including making the majors as a coach and briefly standing in as manager. He's had his long post-playing career after a playing career that lasted four seasons . He made AAA, but never made the ma...

Anthony Young 's first loss focused on Chris Sabo. His last focused on the number: 27, the number of consecutive decisions he lost from 1992 to 1993. But, at the start, on May 6, 1992, the focus was on Sabo, whose sixth-inning home run stretched a 2-1 deficit to 5-1 in the game the Mets went on to lose 5-3 . "Next time I'll know: face Sabo and you better make your pitch," Young told The New York Daily News afterward. "He's a good hitter." Young ended up facing a lot of good hitters over the next two seasons, but it wasn't until July 28, 1993, that Young recorded his next win. In between, he went 0-27, though he did record 16 saves as he moved to relief. Young and those around him knew that a lot went into the streak, including a lot of bad luck - errors, relief pitching, run support, his own pitching. Realizing all that, he told The Las Vegas Sun in 1996, ended up being a benefit. "It makes you better as a pitcher," Youn...

After six seasons in the minor leagues, Joe Hall made the White Sox out of spring training 1994 and he initially proved why by hitting .393 over his first 17 games, The Baltimore Sun wrote later. His season, however, and possibly his career, then ended with a jump into the wall and a torn hamstring, The Sun wrote . "That was tough to go through," Hall told The Sun  in February 1996. "It took nearly a year to get over that. You find out how much you take normal things for granted, when everything you do, it hurts. There were times it hurt so bad I wanted to cry." Hall returned from that injury to again make the majors. He saw seven games with the Tigers in 1995 and two more in 1997 to mark the extent of his big league career . Hall's career began in 1988, taken by the Cardinals in the 10th round of the draft out of Southern Illinois University. Ge went to Southern Illinois out of St. Mary's High in his native Paducah, Kent. Hall started with...

Originally published Dec. 25, 2015 Dan Rohrmeier loved the game of baseball, especially the competition, he told The Chicago Tribune in 1996. What he didn't like, though, was the business side of the game. He could do without that, he told The Tribune . "To anyone considering a career in professional baseball, I would advise them to get as much money as they can early on, because they'll take as much out of you as they can," Rohrmeier told The Tribune that July. "But I don't want to sound like I'm complaining. I still got paid to play a kid's game, and that's not all bad." Rohrmeier spoke to The Tribune as a member of the AA Memphis Chicks in the Padres system. That season marked his 10th in professional baseball. Rohrmeier spent each of those 10 seasons getting paid to play in the minors. For seven brief appearances the next year, though, Rohrmeier got paid to play the game in the majors with Seattle. Those games marked ...

The Jackson Mets broke an unwritten baseball rule and Kevin Belcher took it upon himself to instruct them. Up 10-1 on Belcher's Tulsa Drillers, Jackson runner Terry McDaniel stole second, The Orlando Sentinel wrote . Belcher, serving as designated hitter, responded by yelling at McDaniel. Belcher was ejected. Seven others would also be tossed after the ensuing bench-clearing brawl. "That stolen base got my players upset," Tulsa Manager Tommy Thompson told The Sentinel after that June 1990 game. "We don't try to show up professionals. They had a big lead at the time." Belcher took that passion from AA Tulsa in June 1990, all the way to majors by September . The 16 games he got into that year, though, were the only 16 games he would see in the majors. Belcher's career began in 1987, taken by the Rangers in the sixth round of the draft out of Navarro College . Belcher played that first year in the rookie Gulf Coast League, hitting .209 in 58...

Originally published Nov. 22, 2011 There were times in Rob Maurer 's first professional season where he got upset with the way he was hitting, he told The Evansville Press in 1988. Then someone would remind him he was still hitting .370 . "That's just the way Rob is," Rangers director of player development Marty Scott told The Press . "He's a perfectionist. When he lets his bat fly or his helmet fly, it's not anger so much as it is frustration." Maurer ended up hitting .391 that first season in rookie ball at Butte, Mont. He'd make the majors three seasons later . Maurer, however, couldn't bring that early success with him, getting into only 21 big league games, getting three hits in 25 at bats . Maurer's career began that year with Butte in 1988, taken by the Rangers in the sixth round of the draft, out of the University of Evansville. After that first season with Butte, where Maurer hit .391, Maurer moved to single-A Po...

A's manager Tony LaRussa unexpectedly put relief pitcher Kevin Campbell in as a starter in this June 1992 game and Campbell simply went out and threw six innings while giving up a single hit, The Associated Press wrote . "This is at the top. I was not expecting this," Campbell told The AP afterward. "If Tony decides to start me again, I'll be ready." Campbell started four more times for Oakland that year, his second season in the bigs, over 32 total appearances . He went on to pitch in three more big league campaigns. He returned to his full-time reliever role, but never saw as much time as he did in 1992. Campbell's pro career began in 1986, taken by the Dodgers in the fifth round of the draft out of the University of Arkansas . Campbell started with the Dodgers as a starter at rookie Great Falls . He went 5-6 over 15 starts, with a 4.66 ERA. He then played the next two seasons at single-A Vero Beach. He then made single-A Bakersfield ...

Originally published Jan. 2, 2011 In his second major league start, knuckleballer Dennis Springer made it into the sixth inning. In his first start, he'd made it that far, but given up eight hits and three earned runs . In this start, he hadn't given up any earned runs , or any hits. "I was aware of what was happening," Springer told The Allentown Morning Call after that September 1995 game. "It becomes obvious when people start avoiding talking to you." Springer eventually lost the no-hit bid with two outs in the sixth. His Phillies would also go on to lose the game, Springer not factoring into the decision. But Springer made it to that game after almost a decade pitching in the minors, learning and perfecting that oddest and most maddening of all pitches, the knuckleball. And, after those nine seasons spent in the minors, Springer would go on to a major league career that would span eight seasons , not ending until 2002. Springer's car...

Originally published Nov. 24, 2018 Rob "Doc" Giesecke first arrived in Vero Beach in 1980 and he's been an almost constant presence there since. Giesecke started there as a trainer, in his second year training in the pros. He remained there in 2010, two seasons after the Dodgers left for Arizona, in his capacity overseeing maintenance at the facility, according to The Orlando Sentinel . "My wife has said to me — often — that she'll end up burying me in here somewhere," Giesecke told The Sentinel in March 2010. Giesecke's connection to the Dodgers, and later Dodgertown, began in 1979, when the Peru, Neb., native signed on with the organization out of Mankato State University. He graduated there that January with a degree in physical education and athletic training, according to his 1979 TCMA card . He started with the Dodgers at single-A Clinton and moved to Vero Beach in 1980. In 1982, he got his first look at spring training , helping wit...

Originally published June 7, 2019; Updated April 2020 After a reading of baseball rules that kept him from the Twins dugout during games, coach Rudy Hernandez eventually returned as those rules relaxed . He'd been spending games watching video in the team clubhouse. With the relaxed rules, he could go back and forth, The St. Paul Pioneer Press wrote . "I think it's better," Hernandez told The Pioneer Press in August 2018. "They come from the plate to the dugout and they see me right there, and we can talk a little bit about all kinds of stuff. Sometimes they'll ask me something about baseball and I'll tell them, but at the same time I can talk to the other coaches." And Hernandez knows something about baseball. He's played and coached in it for more than three decades . Hernandez played five seasons on the field. He then moved on to a coaching career that continues in 2020 as the major league hitting coach for the Twins. Hernand...

Originally published Jan. 16, 2019 Dee Dixon beat out the throw to first in this July 1987 game for AA Shreveport and he did it in a critical spot - with the score tied in the ninth, according to The Shreveport Times . He did so by hitting the ball to short. He soon scored the winning run, The Times wrote . "I'm working on a new thing," Dixon told The Times of the hit. "I'm trying to smack it at the shortstop when he's playing real deep. Anything in the gap (between short and third base) is a base hit." Dixon legged out that hit in his second season as a pro. He went on to play in three more. He never made AAA . Dixon's career began in 1986, taken by the Giants as their 17th pick in the draft out of his native Poughkeepsie, NY. Dixon was also credited by his given name, Andrew Dixon. Dixon started with the Giants at short-season Everett. He got into 56 games and hit .220. He stole 37  bases. He split 1987 between Shreveport and s...

Mike Knapp played more than a decade in the pros. He made AAA in seven of those seasons. After what turned out to be his final season in 1996, Knapp knew the end had come, he told The Daily Californian years later. "There's definitely still some frustration that I didn't get that one final call," Knapp told The Daily Californian . "But it was time to move on." Knapp told The Daily Californian about his own career on the occasion of his son Andrew Knapp about to start his own. And, while the father never took that final step to the bigs, his son took that step in 2017 with the Phillies. Mike Knapp's career began in 1986, taken by the Angels in the 15th round of the draft out of the University of California, Berkeley . Knapp started at short-season Salem . He hit .295 in 64 games. He made single-A Quad City in 1987, then AA Midland in 1988. He hit .263 for Midland that year, over 100 games. Knapp saw his first time at AAA in 1989, 51...

Young hurler Pete Schourek had a big league fastball and curve, his pitching coach at AA Jackson Bob Apodaca told The Washington Post in August 1990, but he needed consistency. "That's what the minor leagues are all about," Apodaca told The Post as Schourek threatened to log 20 minor league wins on the season. "What sets him apart besides his stuff is his composure and his willingness to learn. He's the type of individual who can listen to something one second and do it the next." Schourek didn't hit 20 wins that season, but he threatened that mark again later - in the majors. He went on to pitch in the majors over 11 seasons and in one, 1995, he won 18 and came in second in the National League Cy Young voting with the Reds. Schourek's career began in 1987, taken by the Mets in the second round of the draft out of Marshall High in Virginia. Schourek started with the Mets at rookie Kingsport . He missed 1988 then hit single-A Columbia f...

Terry Bross came on in relief for the Jackson Mets in this July 1990 game and, by the time he was done, he had a new franchise record for saves, according to The Jackson Clarion-Ledger . The save marked his 26th of the season, breaking the old franchise mark of 25 set four years earlier, The Clarion-Ledger wrote . "This means a lot to me because a lot of great pitchers have come through here," Bross told The Clarion-Ledger afterward. "This means I left my mark." Bross left his mark in as a player over 13 professional seasons, both in the United States and Japan. He also left his mark in the majors , though briefly. He saw eight relief outings for the Mets in 1991 and two for the Giants in 1993. Bross has since left his mark on the game in a different way, as a player agent. Bross' career in baseball began in 1987, taken by the Mets in the 13th round of the draft out of St. John's University . Bross started with the Mets at short-season Li...