Greatest 21 Days Baseball Profiles

Cal Lutheran University hurler Tim Stange took the mound in long relief in early April 1987 for the first time in five weeks after injury, The Santa Clarita Signal wrote . After walking the first batter, he then proceeded to set down 11 batters in a row, The Signal wrote . "I was hoping to try and get back into the starting rotation," Stange told The Signal afterward. "I know I just can't come right back. I've got to earn it." Stange, the son of former major leaguer Lee Stange , eventually earned his way from Cal Lutheran on to the pros. Stange, however, couldn't follow his father to the majors. Tim Stange played three seasons . He topped out at high-A. Stange's career began in 1988, signed by the Red Sox as an undrafted free agent out of Cal Lutheran. Stange's time in baseball actually started out with his father, at least his time at the ballpark. Then 3-year-old Tim Stange caught the eye of an Associated Press photographer having fun in th...

David Segui hit the ball well at AAA Rochester early in 1990 and did great defensively, Rochester manager Greg Biagini told The Baltimore Evening Sun upon Segui's first call to the bigs. Biagini didn't see any changes for Segui upon the promotion, the manager told The Sun . "When he goes up there, no matter what happens, he'll be the same David Segui," Biagini told The Sun . "Nobody can push him harder than he pushes himself." Segui went on to a career that spanned 15 major league seasons that saw him hit 139 major league home runs and end with a .291 career average. After his career concluded, however, the David Segui who played those seasons wasn't the same for much of them. For much of his career, as outlined in the Mitchell Report , he was David Segui aided by steroids. Segui's career began in 1987, taken by the Orioles in the 18th round of the draft out of Louisiana Tech. Segui's brother Dan Segui and father Diego Segui also played...

After spending 17 seasons in the majors as a player, Felipe Alou signed on with the Expos in 1977 to manage, at single-A West Palm Beach . To The Miami News that June, Alou explained the transition from the majors to the low minors. "There's a lot to do," Alou told The News . "I handle more balls in one day now than I used to in a year. But I like it. I'm really enjoying myself." Alou enjoyed his work enough to first return to the majors as a coach, then as a manager. He ultimately spent a decade as manager of the big league Expos in Montreal, then four more helming the Giants in San Francisco.  Along the way, he headed up the 1994 Expos team that amassed baseball's best record before the strike and earned the National League's top manager award for his efforts. Alou's career in baseball began in 1956, signed by the Giants out of his native Dominican Republic .  He played his first year largely at Class D Cocoa, then saw single-A Springfield...

Paul Blair missed the suicide squeeze in this April 1989 game, so he did one better, according to The Shreveport Times : He got the run in on a single. "I know I had to get the RBI one way or another," Blair told The Times . "I like knocking in runs. You have to be competitive if you see an RBI out there." Blair knew he needed to be competitive through his five previous seasons a pro. He also know as he'd watched his father play and coach the game his entire life. His father, also Paul Blair , played in 17 major league seasons, 13 of them with Baltimore. The younger Paul Blair followed the father into the pros, but he couldn't follow him to the majors. He played in eight total seasons . He made AAA, but not the bigs. Blair's career began in 1984, signed by the Giants out of Pierce College in Los Angeles. Blair's formal name is Paul Blair III. Blair started with the Giants at short-season Everett . He hit .301 in 41 games. He then moved...

The Mariners worked out Joshua Rodriguez a week or so earlier, Rodriguez' father Eddie Rodriguez  recalled to MLB.com . Then, the team made Rodriguez its 49th-round selection in the 2008 draft. "He really seemed excited about the way it went," father Eddie Rodriguez told MLB.com after the draft. "He had been going to the [Peoria Sports Complex] to hit in the cages." The catcher was likely also excited 18 years earlier, at least in a different way. With his father as manager of the AA Midland Angels, the then-2-year-old son got his own baseball card. Dubbed a " future star " on the card, Joshua Rodriguez didn't quite live up to the billing of star. He did turn out, however, to be a future pro, if only briefly. Taken by the Mariners late in that draft , his pro career lasted all of three games. Rodriguez' time in baseball began all the way back at Midland through his father. Eddie Rodriguez played five seasons in the minors then t...

Ruben Amaro, Jr. , made his major league debut for the Angels in June 1991, saw time in one game and then returned to the minors. To The Philadelphia Daily News in July, Amaro explained his optimism at returning, citing conversations he had with Angels officials. "When I got sent down, I spoke with (manager Doug) Rader and the general manager Mike Port," told The Daily News . "They basically apologized for not giving me a chance. It sounded like I was going to get another chance to come up, if not soon, then maybe when they make September call-ups." Amaro did get called up again that September and he saw regular time in the bigs over the next seven seasons. After his playing career ended, though, Amaro eventually continued having such conversations as he had in 1991. Only he had them as general manager himself. He served six sometimes turbulent seasons in that role for the Phillies, before turning to coaching. Amaro's career began in 1987,  taken b...

After more than a quarter century as a coach and manager Eddie Rodriguez returned to the place where he got his minor league managerial start in 2014, according to The Quad City Times . Then a coordinator with the Padres, Rodriguez visited and reminisced about his long career, The Times wrote . "Baseball has given me a living and given me a lifetime of memories, helping kids work toward their dreams,’" Rodriguez told The Times . "I feel very fortunate." Rodriguez' long coaching career has taken him through both the minors and the majors. He's served as a coach for multiple major league squads and worked with players like the Royals' Mike Moustakas . He also played himself. He saw five seasons as an infielder and made it to AA. Rodriguez' career began 1978, taken by the Orioles in the first round of the January draft out of Miami-Dade College. Rodriguez started at rookie Bluefield . He then made single-A Miami in 1979 and AA Holyoke ...

Phillies manager Gene Mauch looked forward to the 1962 season and he looked forward to seeing his shortstop Ruben Amaro back on the field . "Amaro must have been the most improved player in the majors last year,'" Mauch told The Associated Press that January. "He moved in a couple of steps at short and became a star. He also became a tough hitter." Mauch made those observations as Amaro entered his fourth season in the majors. He went on to see time in a total of 11 seasons. He then went on to a post-playing career as a coach, both in the minors and in the majors, as well as a scout . Amaro's career began in 1954, signed by the Cardinals as a free agent out of his native Mexico . Amaro is also credited as Ruben Amaro, Sr. His son, Ruben Amaro, Jr . also played in the majors. Amaro started with the Cardinals with their Class C team in Mexicali. He moved up to AA Houston for 1956 and then AAA Rochester and major league St. Louis in 1958. Amaro go...

Bruce Bucz was especially interested in his Visalia Oaks winning, The Los Angeles Times wrote in 1989. That's because as team general manager his job filling seats and selling ads was made much easier with more Ws than Ls. "Winning is the best promotion," Bucz told The Times that August. Bucz was in his third season as general manager for the single-A Oaks that year. He went on to serve a few more and serve as a local event promoter in Visalia. Bucz became a minor league GM after graduating from Southern Illinois University with a bachelor's in athletic administration and a master's in sports management, according to his card back. He started with the team as assistant general manager, serving in that capacity for three years before moving to the top job for 1987. Along with Bucz, both his parents, Joseph and Mary Bucz , worked at the park. As assistant general manager in 1986, Bucz assessed some of his new players to The Times at season's b...

Joseph Bucz and his wife Mary were both fixtures at Visalia Oaks games. Joseph served in stadium operations at Recreation Park. Mary also worked part time at the park and "served as the inspiration" for Visalia's Blues, Brews & BBQ festival that still carries her name . The two started life in Chicago, marrying in 1947 . Their Chicago roots made Joseph an avid Cubs and White Sox fan, according to his Cal League card . They had four children and finally retired to Visalia. The two then became fans of a new team, the California League's Oaks. Joseph was so much a fan that he his license plates advertised that fact: "Go Oaks," they read, according to his Cal League card. Joseph and Mary Bucz were married for 52 years at the time of Joseph's passing in 2000. Mary Bucz passed 10 years later, in November 2010 at the age of 79, according to her obituary . Their son Bruce Bucz served as Visalia's general manager. Bruce Bucz was in his fourt...

Lee Stange proved he was back from injury in late-July 1967. He did so by shutting out one of the top teams in the American League, the Minnesota Twins, on three hits at Fenway Park, according to The Associated Press . "You can't get much better pitching than that in this ball park," Red Sox coach Bobby Doerr told The AP of Stange's performance. "And beating the Twins, one of the top contenders for the pennant, was like winning two games." The Red Sox themselves were a top contender for the 1967 crown. And, with Stange's help, the team went on to win the pennant . Stange himself went on to play in three more seasons, for time in a total of 10 major league campaigns . After his playing career ended, Stange spent another decade in the majors, as a pitching coach. Stange's long career in baseball began in 1957, signed by the Washington Senators out of Drake University in Iowa. With the Senators, Stange started at Class D Fort Walton Beach...

Sports can be one big family, with one family member following another into their chosen game. Nowhere is that more true than in the game of baseball. Sons follow fathers. Brothers follow brothers. It's also something that is well-represented in the 1990 CMC set. In the CMC set, there are no fewer than nine sets of brothers that appear, brothers that were in the minor leagues in 1990 and working toward the same goal at the same time. There were also two fathers in the set who also had sons there, following their fathers on the diamond. Among the brothers in the set were Royce Clayton and brother Royal Clayton . As brothers, they both played professionally, both making the 1990 CMC set. Royce made it as a member of the single-A San Jose Giants; Royals as a member of the AA Albany Yankees. As brothers, though, they couldn't have had careers that were more different. Royce made the majors in 17 different seasons. Royal Clayton never made it. Going into 1988, though, R...

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...

Moises Alou did his part, hitting the ball down the line in Alou and the Marlins' first World Series game . Now it was time for his teammates to do their part . "We were all just trying to give it some English to make it stay fair," teammate Jeff Conine told The New York Times afterward. ''We went crazy. Everybody jumped up off the bench." The ball stayed fair, changing the game and sending the Marlins on their way to their first World Series win. But it was another post-season play, six years later, one with its own kind of English on it, that is the play Alou is most remembered for . That play didn't stay fair, or even in play in that game. But it did change the game. Alou's path to those games began back in 1986, taken by the Pirates in the first round of the January draft . The Pirates' selection of Alou him as the latest Alou to go into the pros, the most famous member of the family being his father Felipe Alou. Alou started...