Greatest 21 Days Baseball Profiles

The Oakland Athletics made personnel moves at AAA Tacoma for 1985 that Tacoma General Manager Stan Naccarato didn't like and Naccarato let the Athletics know it, The Tacoma News Tribune wrote . The disagreement even led to an argument between Naccarato and Athletics then-new VP of baseball operations Sandy Alderson, though they eventually patched things over, The News Tribune wrote . "Stan is highly motivated and emotionally involved with his team and city," Alderson told The News Tribune that December. "Occasionally, things are said, and, on reflection, regretted." By that point, Naccarato had been involved with Tacoma baseball for more than a decade. In fact, he's even credited as saving it. He also went on to earn the title of Tacoma's Mr. Baseball. Naccarato's career in baseball actually began in the minors himself. He's credited as playing three seasons in the Reds system, at Class C Ogden in 1947 and 1948 and then at single-A Charleston ...

Oakland Athletics assistant trainer Walt Horn retired in 2016 after essentially a lifetime not only in baseball, but with the same Athletics organization, all 39 years, MLB.com wrote . Horn had long been a minor league trainer for the Athletics then got his major league shot in 2008, MLB.com wrote . "Walt has been an integral part of our organization for four decades," A's Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations Billy Beane told MLB.com . "He has had a positive influence on thousands of ballplayers both on and off the field." Horn's career as a trainer began with the Athletics in 1978, having graduated from Boise State University. Horn worked at AA Waterbury in 1979, New Haven in 1982 and AAA Tacoma by 1984. In 1989, Horn was described on his card back as "regarded as one of the most efficient and capable trainers in the Pacific Coast League." Late in 1990, he had his hands full with Tacoma dealing with a rash of injuries, along with ot...

Mike Bordick played his second year as a pro with single-A Modesto and he quickly impressed, according to his hometown Bangor Daily News . That June in 1987, his manager Tommie Reynolds called him outstanding . "I can't say enough about the kid," Reynolds told The Daily News . "He's been great. He works hard every day and takes his practices like they're games. With that kind of work habit, he can do nothing but improve." By April 1990, Bordick had improved enough to make the majors with Oakland. He also improved enough to stay for 14 seasons . Bordick's career began in 1986, signed by the Athletics as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Maine . Bordick started with the Athletics at short-season Medford . He hit .257 in 46 games. At single-A Modesto in 1987, Bordick hit .268. Bordick made AA Hunsville in 1988, then AAA Tacoma in 1989. In April 1990, he debuted in Oakland. In 25 games that year, he got 14 at bats. He...

New Rangers manager Whitey Herzog was confident in his new pick for pitching coach for the 1973 season, according to UPI . That pick was Chuck Estrada , a veteran of seven major league seasons who had and Mets minor league coach . "I'll guarantee no Rangers pitcher will lose a game because he's not in shape," Herzog told UPI in November 1972. "Estrada knows how to get them in condition and how to win their confidence." Estrada's tenure in Texas ended up being brief, but he returned to the majors later as a coach for the Padres and Indians . In all, his coaching career spanned a quarter century. His coaching career came after a playing career that saw him win 18 games one season, but it was a career shortened by an early arm injury. Estrada's long career in baseball began in 1956, signed by the Braves as an amateur free agent out of Atascadero High School in California. Estrada started at class-C Salinas. He made AAA Vancouver in 19...

Young Bend Timber Hawks catcher Brad Fischer tried to explain to The Eugene Register-Guard his pitcher Don Van Marter 's effectiveness in this August 1978 win. Van Marter went 4.2 innings of relief, striking out 11, all with Fischer behind the plate, according to The Register-Guard . "I just kept moving the target around and he'd come right in there," Fischer told The Register-Guard . "Dan just mixed up those spots that's all. I don't think he threw but two curve balls. It was all heat." Fischer's talents as a catcher were short-lived. His talents assessing pitchers, as well as position players, have earned him a much longer career in the game. Fischer has served as a minor league manager and major league coach for much of the past 35 years . He's continuing into 2015 as a coach in Pittsburgh for the Pirates. Fischer's professional career began in 1978, signed by the Athletics as an undrafted free agent out of Western Mich...

Features on each member of the 1990 Tacoma Tigers, AAA affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. Players are as included in that year's team set. Click on the player's name to read more. Interviews (3) 1 - Tony Ariola, Overcame Barriers Tony Ariola nearly his lost chance at the pros after an injury. He came back, but fell short of the majors. 2 - Eric Fox, Sixth Tool Eric Fox got called up to the Athletics, but saved the celebrations until his place with the team was certain.  3 - Bruce Walton, That Walk Bruce Walton called that walk to the mound at Yankee Stadium unbelievable. It was his major league debut. Tacoma Tigers (30) 1  -  Troy Afenir  did well enough for bigs, saw four seasons 2  -  Tony Ariola  played in Alaska, four pro seasons, made AAA 3  -  Larry Arndt  made majors in 1989 with Athletics, saw 2 games 4  -  Joe Bitker  vowed he'd make the bigs, made it over 2 seasons 5  -  Mike Bordick ...

Going into his ninth professional season in 1991, Kevin Ward was also starting work with his third organization, the Padres. He'd made AAA in three of those seasons, never making the majors. Then, in May 1991, he finally made it . "I'm a Christian and I always felt that if I apply myself with the belief that one day it would lead to the major leagues, that it would happen," Ward told The Philadelphia Inquirer after his call. "My faith in God kept me going at a time when it didn't appear things would work." For Ward, it would go on to work in two major league seasons , spending all of that second with the Padres in San Diego. Ward's career began in 1983, taken by his favorite team as a child, the Phillies, in the sixth round of the draft out of the University of Arizona. He started at short-season Bend, moving to single-A Peninsula in 1984. He hit AA Reading in 1985, then first saw AAA at Maine in 1987. At Maine in June 1987, Ward...

The Huntsville Stars had an 11-game winning streak on the line playing Birmingham in May 1988. In this May 11 contest, Patrick Dietrick came up with a tie game. He soon hit a home run, according to The Associated Press , breaking the tie and sending his Stars to an eventual 9-4 victory, the team's 12 in a row. Dietrick was in his fifth professional season that year, his second at AA Huntsville . But, while he moved to AAA Tacoma in 1989, he never could move on to the majors. Dietrick's professional career began in 1984, taken by the Athletics in the sixth round of the draft, out of Purdue University. He played his first season at short-season Medford, hitting .226, with four home runs and 26 stolen bases. Dietrick singled and scored in an early-August game. His third home run came in a late-August win. After the season, Dietrick was named the Northwest League's player with the best throwing arm . Dietrick moved to single-A Madison for 1985, but a shoulder...

Called up to Oakland in June 1989, Larry Arndt got into two games, getting one hit in six at bats. He also scored a run. They were the married, father of two 's first two major league games, called up from AAA Tacoma days earlier in his fifth season as a pro. "I've worked a long time and struggled with the family for a long time to get here," Arndt told The Modesto Bee . "Now that I'm here, I just want to enjoy it. If I stick, great. If I don't, I'll work as hard as I can to get back up here." However hard he worked, for Arndt, his major league career was already over . Arndt played just those two games with Oakland that month. Sent back down to Tacoma, he never returned to the bigs. Arndt's career began in 1985, taken by the Athletics in the 26th round of the draft, out of Bowling Green State University in Ohio. At Bowling Green, Arndt left school in 1985 as the team's career leader in RBI. He also won first-team all-confer...

It took Dave Otto a disabled list stint, but he finally showed what he could really do, The Associated Press wrote . After giving up 10 earned runs in just five innings of work going into that stint, Otto came out with a six-inning start where he gave up no runs . "I never doubted myself," Otto told The AP after that May 1992 quality start. "I just knew I wasn't pitching up to my capabilities." That year and the year before marked the first time Otto was finally able to show his capabilities. Though he had seen time in the majors each year since 1987 , his first four seasons saw him pitch in no more than three games in a single year. Finally, in 1991, Otto started 14 games in the bigs. In 1992, the year he came back from that bad start, Otto started a career-high 16 . Otto's professional career began in 1985, taken by the Athletics in the second round of the draft out of the University of Missouri Columbia. Officially at 6 feet, 7 inches tall, ...

Troy Afenir was doing well enough at single-A Osceola in 1985, The Orlando Sentinel wrote that August. Still, Osceola, in his third season as a pro, wasn't where Afenir wanted to be, he told The Sentinel . "I'm far from being satisfied," Afenir told The Sentinel . "I'm certainly not tearing up the minor leagues, but I'm still young and have time on my side. I wouldn't be here if I didn't envision myself in a major-league uniform one day." Afenir did end up in a major league uniform . He was there just two years later, as a September call-up for the Astros in 1987. He would go on to play in parts of four major league seasons, though never in more than 16 games in a year. Afenir's professional career began in 1983, taken by the Astros in the first round of the January draft out of Palomar College in California. Afenir started at short-season Auburn and the Astros' rookie Gulf Coast League team. He hit .252 between them ...

Working as the Blue Jays director of player development in 2009, Dick Scott believed the toughest parts of his job were the budgets, and the business side, he told his hometown Bangor Daily News . "The most enjoyable part of the job is working with the players," Scott told The Daily News , "being around and involved either in Toronto with the major leaguers and talking to [Blue Jays manager] Cito Gaston or brand-new guys in the farm leagues and seeing them develop." Those players Scott was trying to develop, Scott was trying to get to the same place he got to, the majors. Scott, though, was trying to get them there for longer than he was there . Scott made the majors in 1989 with Oakland, in his ninth season as a pro, for all of three games. He got two at bats, one RBI and no hits. Scott's career in baseball began in 1981, taken by the Yankees in the 17th round of the draft, out of Ellsworth High School. Scott started in the rookie Gulf Coast Lea...

It was something Tim Casey tried not to think about, he told The Los Angeles Times in 1985. But, as with any minor league ball player, the possibility was always there that he could be released. "You have to resign yourself to the fact that all you can do is your best," Casey told The Times . "Maybe it's good enough and maybe it's not." Casey was good enough to stay with his organization, the Brewers into 1988, his fifth season. He would go on to play in seven professional seasons . Casey, though, was never good enough to make the majors, making it to AAA, but no higher. Casey's career began in 1984, taken by the Brewers in the ninth round of the draft out of the University of Portland . Casey played his first season at rookie Paintsville, hitting .282 with 18 home runs. At Paintsville, Casey also caught the eye of Brewers farm director Bruce Manno. "He's got better than average power. He's very strong," Manno told Th...

Read the August 2013 Eric Fox interview: Eric Fox, Sixth Tool Opposing manager Sparky Anderson could only tip his cap to Oakland's Eric Fox and the shot hit by Fox that opening day in 1993 . The Fox home run made a perilous one-run, eighth-inning Oakland lead into a five-run, insurmountable eighth-inning lead . "It was a good ball game until the kid hit the grand slam," Anderson told The Associated Press after the game. "He didn't hit a cheap one. He smoked it." That opening day home run ended up being the fourth of only five Fox hit in his major league career, a career that spanned four seasons . His first major league home run also marked his first major league hit. Fox' career began in 1986, taken by the Mariners in the first round of the January draft out of Cal State Fresno. He played his first year at single-A Salinas, hitting .260, with five home runs and 41 stolen bases. He played the next two seasons at AA, with Chattanooga and Ve...