In hindsight, perhaps he should have looked higher up the North American continent, especially in the Northeast. Maybe water did not hold the secret to eternal youth, but rather the green grass of a freshly mown outfield and the crisp dirt of a manicured infield. Dozens of players, from Cooperstown immortals Tim Raines and Rickey Henderson to veterans eager for one last shot like Carlos Baerga and José Offerman have made returns to the majors after spending time in the Atlantic League.1

For another group, the mere mortals, the circuit provided a way to prove their skills were still sharp enough to reach or return to the grandest of stages, after toiling for years in the minors.

Cory Jerome Aldridge was firmly in this latter group as he set the league on fire in 2008. Patrolling the outfield for the Newark Bears, he slashed .365/.440/.565, committed no errors on the field, and even pitched two scoreless innings. His former employer, the Kansas City Royals, were impressed enough to re-sign him to a minor-league contract that eventually brought him back to the major leagues. His story, however, began what seemed like a long time ago, on a baseball diamond hundreds of miles away.

Aldridge was born in San Angelo, Texas, on June 13, 1979. His mother, Jean, was a nurse in the school district he attended; his father, Jerry, played in the NFL and USFL and upon retirement, embarked on a career with the Texas Department of Corrections. Hall of Famer Greg Maddux was born in same hospital as Aldridge, a bond that would become strong once the latter reached the majors. Growing up, Cory played soccer, basketball, and football in addition to baseball, idolizing Fred McGriff and Cecil Fielder. Though the Rangers were the closest big-league team, Aldridge followed the Cubs and the Braves thanks to the nationwide reach of WGN and WTBS.

He was chosen by the Braves in the fourth round of the 1997 amateur draft, an experience he found surprising. “I remember not knowing anything. I did not know anyone who had been drafted. My high-school coach told me I might get chosen. … I remember sitting at home and hoping for a call. I didn’t know I’d go as high as I did.” The class of 1997 featured Troy Glaus, J.D. Drew, Jon Garland, and Lance Berkman (first round), Randy Wolf and Scott Linebrink (second round), Jeremy Affeldt (third round), and Chone Figgins (fourth round).2 Michael Young and Tim Hudson were both picked after Aldridge. The Braves selected 69 players, four of whom made it to the majors.3 Five days after the draft, on June 8, he signed on the dotted line and began his professional career.

Atlanta assigned Aldridge to the rookie Florida Gulf Coast League, where he hit a respectable .278 in 46 games but displayed little power (.391 slugging). It was enough for the Braves to promote him to Danville (Appalachian League), led by phenom Rafael Furcal. In 1998 Aldridge was third on the team in batting (.294), prompting the franchise to send him to Macon of the Class-A South Atlantic League for 1999. Hurlers were more developed and Aldridge was overmatched; he struck out almost four times as often as he walked and hit a pedestrian .251. Undeterred, he attained similar results with Class-A (advanced) Myrtle Beach in 2000. Having been drafted out of high school, he was younger than most of his peers. “I thought I saw the world, coming from Texas and playing in all these places. Wilson Betemit was the first person from the Dominican Republic I met; I didn’t know he couldn’t speak English. I didn’t know what was out there.” In hindsight, he realized he lacked “world awareness,” adding, “Back then I didn’t know any better, so that’s part of what I do now with kids, help them understand what’s out there.” He jokes that his school Spanish was terrible, but he picked it up quickly when reaching base and talking to the opponents while reaching second: “Sometimes I was Puerto Rican, Sometimes I was Dominican.”

Aldridge opened 2001 with Double-A Greenville, collecting 508 plate appearances and reaching base at a .323 clip. While his numbers were respectable, they did not scream “blue-chip prospect.” Atlanta, however, had other plans. Aldridge had almost made the team out of spring training but was deemed not quite ready, which he came to acknowledge was due to immaturity that often accompanies youth. Prior to a game against the Orlando Rays, manager Paul Runge tapped him on the shoulder to tell him, “You’re going to Montréal. John Schuerholz and Bobby Cox want to see you.”

The 2001 edition of the Braves dynasty took command of first place in mid-July. Once rosters expanded in early September, Atlanta had a small lead it did not relinquish the rest of the way. The major leagues were an eye-opening experience: “I was nervous, having never been in a stage that big. I had never been out of the country.” Chipper Jones, himself a wunderkind when he arrived in Atlanta at a young age, provided guidance, and Maddux showed him the ropes. They knew “the baseball player in me needed to figure things out. … All those guys were nice guys. I didn’t like B.J. Surhoff, I thought he was mean to me, but he wasn’t. Years later, I said, ‘Man, you were an a**hole to me.’ He said, ‘No, you were a young dumba**.’ We shook hands and laughed. He was like Kirk Gibson, he was that guy, never laughed. He would come out prepared for the game.”

On September 5, 2001, Aldridge debuted during a 10-4 loss against the Expos. Reliever José Cabrera was lifted to begin the eighth inning; his spot in the batting order was given to Aldridge, who took over for Brian Jordan in right field while Tim Spooneybarger took the mound. Aldridge fielded a single to right field by Geoff Blum, but Montréal did not score and neither did Atlanta in the top of the ninth. Aldridge made his way to the box score as an afterthought.

Four days later in Chicago, he was summoned to pinch-run for Bernard Gilkey, who had led off the ninth with a walk and had advanced to second on Marcus Giles’s single. A fly ball to center field by Julio Franco and a strikeout by Wes Helms kept the runners glued to their stations before Jordan took first base on six pitches. But pitcher Ron Mahay got Surhoff to fly out, stranding Atlanta. The true highlight for Aldridge was meeting former Brave McGriff, who now donned the Cubs uniform. “Maddux took me under his wing as a young guy, since we were both from a small town. I’d shared something about liking McGriff. … Maddux told me to go to the batting cage and there was McGriff taking batting practice. He had signed a bat for me and we chatted; that was one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had.”

The 9/11 attacks paused baseball activity as the nation struggled to comprehend the scale of the monstrosity. After play resumed, the Braves traveled to New York to meet the Mets in an emotionally charged series for both franchises. In a game on September 21, Atlanta took the lead in the eighth frame. Julio Franco walked with two outs, triggering Aldridge into the game as a pinch-runner. Jones singled, moving Aldridge to second, and Jordan doubled to the left-center-field gap. Though he had yet to have an official plate appearance, Aldridge was now credited with a run scored. The contest was decided in the bottom of the inning as Mike Piazza hammered a Steve Karsay offering for a two-run home run. Aldridge played in the other games of the series, striking out on September 22 in his sole at-bat and pinch-running in the finale.

The two franchises met again in Atlanta, with the Braves winning, 8-5, on September 29. Aldridge replaced Jones, this time in left field, but no ball was hit in his direction. Mark DeRosa pinch-hit for him in the bottom of the eighth. The Braves overcame a four-run deficit in the night to beat the Mets as Jordan hit a game-ending grand slam off John Franco.

Aldridge got his sole start in the team’s 161st game; facing young flamethrower Josh Beckett, he struck out twice and grounded to the pitcher, then struck out in a three-pitch at-bat against Vladimir Nuñez. He took the field as a defensive substitution the next day but did not enjoy either any fielding chances or plate appearances. The team did not include him in the postseason roster.

Despite the sudden end to his season, Aldridge beamed with excitement. The Braves “gave an opportunity for me to go to the big leagues, kind of feel it out and try to kind of find my place. I got to be around Chipper, Gilkey, and Jordan.”4 But spring, with its natural connotation of rebirth and renewal, was cruel to Aldridge: “I was supposed to be the fourth outfielder. I came up in the infield one day, I threw, and then I couldn’t throw anymore.”5

Aldridge returned to the Gulf Coast League to rehabilitate his injury. Back in 1997, as a wide-eyed 18-year old, he was one year younger than his peers. In 2002, he was almost 3½ years older; he played in 17 games before being shut down for the year. He returned to Greenville in 2003 but hit .234/.298/.395 and the franchise parted ways with the outfielder on May 24, 2004.

Eight days later, the Kansas City Royals offered Aldridge a minor-league deal. He remained in Double A but switched to the Wichita Wranglers of the Texas League. Patrolling the outfield for 79 games, he hit .239 but slugged .511, impressing the front office with his power. He began 2005 in Wichita but his .874 OPS prompted a call-up to Triple-A Omaha. The Pacific Coast League pitching proved tough, and Aldridge struggled to a .195 average, which the Royals found unacceptable. On October 15, 2005, he was granted free agency. Two moths later the Mets offered him a spot with the International League’s Norfolk Tides. His start to the 2006 season was inauspicious – 13-for-83 – and merited a release. The White Sox took a chance and he responded with a solid .287 average for Double-A Birmingham for the remainder of 2006. He again donned the Barons uniform in 2007 and hit .259 in 124 games, not good enough for the White Sox, with whom he parted ways after the season.

Prompted by former teammate Josh Pressley, Aldridge decided to try the independent Atlantic League. “I got a ticket to Newark, and I actually had the most fun I think I had in a long time playing baseball,” he said. “I went out there hit like .400 … I didn’t have to worry about any front-office things.”6 His batting line was .365 with a 1.005 OPS, proving he had plenty left in his tank. Though the love for the game loomed large in his decision to keep playing, Aldridge was cognizant of the financial reward. “Your average minor-league player probably makes five grand a year, and your average first (major-league) paycheck is probably 10 to 15 grand.”7 Looking back at this time in the minors, he shrugged. “I didn’t have anything better to do. I didn’t have a backup plan. The best thing I did was play independent ball. I was tired of the business, I was tired of being hurt, a lot of negatives in my life. I figured out I loved baseball and changed my mindset, not caring about the front office, going back to where I was.”

The Royals re-signed Aldridge and he returned to the Double-A Texas League for the remainder of 2008. He hit .269 in 49 games for Northwest Arkansas, earning a promotion to Triple-A Omaha in 2009. He hit well (.316/.361/.582) but surprisingly, Kansas City did not offer him a 2010 contract. The California Angels, who had seen him in the circuit against their Salt Lake City affiliate, signed him on December 3, 2009, and he quickly paid off with the 2010 Salt Lake City Bees: he hit a solid .318 in 83 games before receiving the call from the parent club.

Almost nine years after his debut, Aldridge returned to the major leagues. At first glance, few things had changed in the game: Bud Selig was still commissioner, 30 franchises participated in the regular season, and Mike Scioscia managed the Angels. However, most of his 2001 Braves teammates had retired, the iPhone and Facebook had been invented, and Anaheim had changed its name to the clunky “Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.”

Wearing home whites on July 4, Aldridge enjoyed two plate appearances in an 11-0 win over the Royals. Taking over for Hideki Matsui in left field, he caught a fly ball from his former teammate Betemit in his only defensive chance. At bat, he grounded out to second base against Victor Marte and lined out weakly to shortstop against Dusty Hughes. Despite his 0-for-2 line, he was ecstatic. He started the next day against the White Sox in Chicago, grounding out in his first two at-bats. He struck out swinging in the seventh before grounding out in the ninth, ending the day hitless in four plate appearances. On July 8 he hit ninth in the batting order but neither he nor his teammates could solve John Danks, who allowed only two hits in a 1-0 Chicago victory. Aldridge reached on an error and struck out twice.

The Angels next visited Oakland for a three-game set. On July 10 the Athletics jumped to an eight-run lead by the third inning which grew to a 13-run advantage by the fifth. Scioscia had lifted Erick Aybar and Bobby Abreu in the sixth, plugging Kevin Branden at third base and Aldridge in right field, moving Brandon Wood from third base to shortstop. In the eighth, Aldridge faced Ross Wolf with two out. (Paul McAnulty and Bobby Wilson had struck out.) With Wood at third, Aldridge turned on a Wolf offering to deep left field for a triple. Wood scored while Aldridge caught his breath, a scant 90 feet from his starting point. Howie Kendrick then went down swinging, but Aldridge had attained his first base hit with the rarest of them all: a triple.8 “I remember nothing at all about that game! I was not getting into the games I thought I would. … I am just going to try to do what I do naturally. … He had two strikes on me. … I just said, ‘I’m going with this pitch right here.’ I was tired of being nervous.”

Scioscia granted Aldridge another start the next day, but he went 0-for-3 (two strikeouts) as Oakland beat Los Angeles, 5-2. Though he returned to the minors, Aldridge had now tasted success on the big stage. His career line (1-for-18, with one run, one run batted in) could not properly capture the roller-coaster emotions he had experienced. He still had a lot of baseball left in him; at his age (31), he was still in his prime and he was unwilling to hang up his spikes. Aldridge decided to pursue international ball during the winter; he joined the Águilas (Eagles) of Mexicali for the 2010-2011 Mexican Pacific League. The team finished in seventh place (out of eight) though Aldridge contributed a .299 average with a .922 OPS. He continued his foreign exposure in the 2011 Korean Baseball League, signing with the Nexen Heroes, though he was unable to replicate his recent magic: he hit .237 in 117 games. Returning to Mexico, he suited up for six games with the pennant-winning Tomateros (Tomato-pickers) of Culiacán during the 2011-2012 campaign.

He remained south of the border, working for the Diablos Rojos (Red Devils) of Mexico City. He smoked the league to a .363 clip in 2012, raising the interest of the Angels, who inked him to a Triple-A deal with Salt Lake City. Pitchers there baffled him, limiting him to a .215 average and 91 strikeouts in 251 at-bats. He returned to Mexico for another winter, rejoining Culiacán for 61 games and slashing .268/.385/.567 in 2012-2013.

Aldridge split time between two teams during the 2013 Mexican (Summer) League, playing for both the Quintana Roo Tigres and the Acereros (Steelworkers) of Monclova, though he failed to make a dent with either club. Returning to the Atlantic League, Aldridge hit .284 for Somerset in 89 games. He enjoyed a banner year with the Caribes (Caribs) of Anzoategui of the Venezuelan Winter League, hitting .378 with an OPS of 1.129. He played in 19 additional contests during the postseason, garnering 24 hits, though his team lost the final series against Magallanes.9 “I loved playing in Venezuela, Mexico, and Korea. … The fans were awesome and loved the players. I wish I’d gone when I was younger; I had so many injuries I wish would have played winter ball. Winter league is great with so many cultures. … But Venezuela, the country is beautiful but it was in a terrible state. … Sometimes we had electricity blackouts; there was a lot of greatness spoiled with bad leadership.”

Aldridge began 2014 in the Mexican League for the Monterrey Sultanes (Sultans), clubbing .345 with a 1.122 OPS. The Blue Jays signed him, assigning him to Double-A New Hampshire, where he hit .271 and earned a promotion to Triple-A Buffalo but he hit .226 in 16 games. He returned to Latin America, playing played 15 games in the Mexican Pacific League with Culiacán before Venezuela summoned him back, and he played 38 games with the Caribes with a .246 average.10 He wrapped up his career with Monterrey in the summer of 2015, batting .273 in 18 games.

At age 36 and far removed from his high-school exploits, Aldridge retired from professional baseball. As of 2019 he lived in Katy, Texas and spent his time as a hitting instructor, seeking to mentor more players to understand the game. He was active on social media via his Twitter handle @aldridge32 and Instagram @coryaldridge, answering questions from parents and young athletes alike: “There’s a lot to be learned from someone’s successes and struggles, and I don’t mind using mine to help someone else.”

Last revised: August 1, 2021

Acknowledgments

To Cory Aldridge for graciously discussing his career via a phone interview. Unless otherwise specified, quotations stem from the author’s interview with Aldridge on August 29, 2019.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author also consulted game information on Retrosheet.org

Notes

1 Atlantic League Professional Baseball Notable Alumni, atlanticleague.com/players/notable-alumni/.

2 Major-league amateur draft of 1997 selections, baseball-almanac.com/draft/baseball-draft.php?yr=1997.

3 Major-league amateur draft of 1997, Atlanta Braves selections baseball-reference.com/draft/?team_ID=ATL&year_ID=1997&draft_type=junreg&query_type=franch_year&from_type_jc=0&from_type_hs=0&from_type_4y=0&from_type_unk=0.

4 Nick Diunte, “Why Wilkin Castillo’s Decade-Long Major League Return Is All Too Familiar for One Former Ballplayer,” Forbes, June 28, 2019. forbes.com/sites/nickdiunte/2019/06/28/why-wilkin-castillos-decade-long-major-league-return-is-all-too-familiar-for-one-former-ballplayer/#3e02bf0e4d89.

5 Diunte.

6 Diunte.

7 Diunte.

8 As of the start of the 2019 season, of the 1,306 retired major leaguers with only one hit, 19 did so with a home run, 21 swatted a triple, 167 connected for a double, and the remainder singled. (baseball-reference.com/tiny/NUBHk) However, since 1876, the major-league historical record shows triples being the least likely, with 3.43 percent of all historical hits. (baseball-reference.com/leagues/).

9 “Cory Aldridge,” Registro Historico Estadistico del Beisbol Profesional Venezolano. http://www.pelotabinaria.com.ve/beisbol/mostrar.php?ID=aldrcor001 . Accessed April 23, 2021.

10 http://www.pelotabinaria.com.ve/beisbol/mostrar.php?ID=aldrcor001 . Accessed April 23, 2021.

Hugh “Red” Alexander was a promising 20-year-old, having just hit 57 home runs with a high batting average in two minor-league seasons, and tasting his first cup of coffee in the big leagues. He managed one single in 11 at-bats during his late-season callup and was looking forward to a long career as a player. Then he lost his hand in an offseason accident at the family farm, and his career as a player was ended. He overcame the injury, became a scout, and went on to a long and successful career in baseball, scouting players in eight different decades and signing more players who made the major leagues than any other scout.1

Hugh Alexander was born on July 10, 1917, near Lead Mine, a small unincorporated community in south central Missouri.2 He was the second of three sons (Henry and Claude) his father, Harry, and mother, Mae, were raising while trying to scratch out a living farming the unproductive ground.

When Hugh was 5, the farming family was lured by the siren call of the Oklahoma oil boom. They moved to the oil fields near Cromwell, Oklahoma, where Harry became a roughneck working for the oil companies in the area while Mae did laundry for the oil workers, took care of her boys, and had another baby (daughter Edith).

Growing up in the oil fields was a very difficult life. The family made do with a very basic level of shelter, living in field tents the first couple of years in Oklahoma, and moving around as Harry worked in different oil fields. Harry was a hard worker, smart and ambitious, and he was promoted to a field supervisor in the late 1920s. The main change for the family was that they were able to move to a wood-frame house. But they still lived in the oil fields, which were their kids’ playground. The boys played ball in their spare time using wells as bases and sliding on the polluted ground, ruined from exposure to spilled oil. But Harry and Mae expected them to work. That was the guiding principle of the family. As soon as they were old enough, they were given chores to instill that work ethic.

Alexander went to a one-room schoolhouse in Cromwell for his elementary school education. Most oil-field kids attended school only through the eighth grade because at that point they were able to get a paying job and start contributing to the family finances. Hugh was athletic from a young age and Harry encouraged him to be tough. He taught him boxing and began matching Hugh against older athletes to make a few dollars when carnivals came to town. Hugh also played against older children in baseball and football and caught the eyes of the Seminole high school coaches.

With his parents’ and the coaches’ encouragement, Alexander attended Seminole High School. It took longer than 30 minutes to get to and from Seminole, if a ride was available. Typically his father would drop him off in the morning and he would hitch a ride home in the afternoon. The trip took too much time, leaving no free time for sports participation. So Harry negotiated a deal with the local fire chief. Hugh would live at the Seminole firehouse during the week, cleaning and doing odd jobs to pay for his keep. He also got a job cleaning the local movie theater for $1 a day. This left Hugh time to for sports but also meant he had very little supervision. He learned to hustle at the local pool hall and play a mean game of poker. Around this same time, Harry was promoted to a job where he was in charge of negotiating mineral rights from local farmers. Hugh picked up deal-making tips from his father that he had no idea he would need in the future.

Alexander was an amazing all-around athlete. He played football, baseball, and basketball, and ran track. By his junior year, he was elected the captain of all four teams. He had great speed, running the 100-yard dash in under 10 seconds. By comparison, Jesse Owens’ world record was 9.6 seconds. As a tailback on the football team, he led Seminole to an unofficial Oklahoma high-school championship. In one game he ran for 505 yards and six touchdowns, averaging 25 yards per carry. He also played semipro baseball (under an assumed name) in Oklahoma City during the summers to make a few bucks.3 He was a broad-shouldered, cocky, and aggressive young man with an extremely high opinion of himself.

During those semipro games, Alexander was first noticed by baseball scouts, including Cy Slapnicka, a legendary baseball lifer working as a scout for the Cleveland Indians. Slapnicka had recently signed Bob Feller and was beating the bushes looking for more talent for the Indians. Alexander had been approached by Hank Iba, famed basketball and baseball coach at Oklahoma State, who offered him a chance to play baseball and run track for the university. Iba noted that Alexander potentially could represent the United States in the 1936 Olympics in track. But Alexander wanted money, not an education, and there was no money in track and field. Slapnicka offered him $250 to sign with the Indians but he cagily asked for more. Slapnicka then promised him a $1,000 bonus when he made the major leagues. That was a given, the arrogant Alexander figured, so he signed the deal. Slapnicka noted that the broad-shouldered youth had all the tools except for a weak throwing arm. But four tools out of five could mean a baseball star.

The Indians assigned the 6-foot, 190-pound 18-year-old to the Fargo-Moorhead Twins of the Class-D Northern League. Homesickness didn’t impact Alexander’s play. The long bus rides and bad hotels must have seemed luxurious compared to his situation growing up. As the youngest player on the roster, he played in all 122 games in 1936 and led the team with 28 home runs, a .348 batting average, and 101 RBIs. Alexander was named by the league’s writers and managers as the center fielder on the all-star team, while finishing fourth in the circuit in home runs and batting average.4 The Twins ended up fifth in the eight-team league, missing the playoffs. At the end of the season Cy Slapnicka showed up in Fargo and paid Alexander $600, “to tide you over this winter because you are some kind of ball player.”5

The Indians obviously liked what they saw in the young man. Alexander was promoted to the Springfield (Ohio) team in the Class-C Middle Atlantic League. Nine of his teammates were destined to appear in the major leagues, including Phil Masi and Chuck Workman. He started the season hot, batting .438 through the first two weeks, but was struck down by a respiratory infection that caused him to miss a few games.6 There were no lasting negative effects, because for the season he displayed excellent power, with 29 home runs in 305 at-bats, 88 RBIs, 22 stolen bases, and a .344 batting average. One season highlight was a 13th-inning walk-off grand slam against Dayton on June 15.7 The aggressive young man had a bad moment too. On July 1 his temper got the better of him. He vehemently argued a called third strike, earning a suspension, a $5 fine from the umpire, and a $25 fine from his manager.8

The Cleveland Indians wanted to see their hot prospect for an extended period so on August 12 they put Alexander on the major-league roster. On August 15 he debuted in right field in the second game of a doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox at home. On his second at-bat, he hit a Texas Leaguer to center field, stole second, and took third on a long fly ball. He was thrown out at home on a groundball to complete the eventful trip around the bases. He committed an error allowing a runner to take an extra base which did not contribute to any White Sox runs.9 Alexander made his second and last big-league start five days later against the White Sox in Chicago, going 0-for-4 and striking out twice. His remaining big-league appearances consisted of three unsuccessful pinch-hit opportunities, one time pinch-running, one defensive substitution, and a month and a half of watching from the bench. Eleven at-bats, one bloop single, five strikeouts, and one steal summed up his cup of coffee. He also recorded two putouts in right field against the solitary error. Clearly he needed more seasoning but there was no reason to think the young man wouldn’t continue to improve.

Alexander went home in the offseason and went back to work. On December 5, 1937, he was working on a water pump on the family farm. The pump was difficult to start, but he had handled it before. This time he got the pump started but his shirt sleeve got tangled in the gears. He tried to rip the sleeve off but it was a double-stitched work shirt and he couldn’t pull the sleeve loose. His left hand was pulled into the gears and mangled. Mother Mae was nearby and heard his cries for help. She helped free him and drove him to the hospital in Seminole but they could do nothing to save the hand. The doctor at the hospital completed the amputation.10

Alexander was undeniably a top-notch prospect. Si Burick, a Dayton Daily News scribe, summed it up when he reported on Hugh’s accident. “The most colorful ball player and probably the most promising in the Mid-Atlantic League last summer was Springfield’s Hugh Alexander. A white-haired Adonis, whom the fans called ‘Cotton’ and his fellow players knew as ‘Red,’ Alexander laughed and fought his way through the league. Fans everywhere booed him but loved him for his colorful antics. Like a wrestler, he used to make wry faces and shake his fists at his tormentors, then burst into laughter in the privacy of the dugout. He was Alexander the Great.”11

Harry and Mae had simple advice for their son. The accident has happened and thinking about it doesn’t do any good. They would not allow him to do nothing, lounge around, drink beer, and sponge off the family. Very shortly after he got home, he took a job pouring drinks at a saloon in Seminole.

Cy Slapnicka and the Indians had not forgot about their player. Slapnicka must have seen some characteristics he liked in Alexander. Or at the least, the Indians felt they owed him a chance at a job after the accident. Slapnicka called just before Christmas and told him, “Hughie, you’re about to become a baseball scout, and if you agree the $1,000 bonus is yours.”12 Alexander didn’t know anything about scouting but thought that sounded better than a life serving beer in a saloon.

The Cleveland Indians trained in New Orleans in 1938. Alexander met Slapnicka there and started his training. The 20-year-old was about to become the youngest scout in baseball history. Slapnicka asked him to grade players they saw during spring training and they compared notes. Hugh’s experience seeing some of the best players in baseball while riding the Indians bench helped give him a frame of reference for the skill level required in a major-league player. Slapnicka gave him hints on what to look for, like a pitcher’s mechanics and a fielder’s first step when the ball is hit. He especially focused on pitching because he admittedly knew nothing about the pitcher’s craft. Also, Slapnicka told him to find out as much as possible about the player’s character. The scout needed to project a youngster from what he is today to what he could be. And somehow, they needed to figure out if the player had the character, work ethic, etc. to turn into that future big leaguer. Slapnicka also insisted that Alexander develop a strong network of contacts to be used to find prospects.

At the end of spring training, Alexander went on the road. His territory was expansive: Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and the upper Plains states. He really had no idea how to find and sign players. He met other scouts on the road, but in the times before the amateur draft, scouts kept their information very close. One of his guiding principles was that if he wasn’t sure about a player, he would walk away. He didn’t want to waste the owner’s money on a nonprospect. Because his territory was so large, he felt he needed a plan to direct his scouting. He wrote several commandments that he would follow:

• I shall make plans. Be bold, be daring. After all, a young scout lacks only the experience of making bad decisions.
• I shall travel the dirt roads, gravel roads, and blacktops to see new players.
• I shall not whine. It is a time waster and won’t win me any friends or sign me any new players.
• I shall be lucky once in a while, but most of my successes will be plain old hard work, making personal contacts.
• I shall have a pair of well-trained eyes to spot the true mechanics of the game.
• I shall know the difference in a player who thinks “I shoulda made that last play” and “I woulda not gotten that last play.”13

No matter how many games Alexander could get to, he found that scouts had a lot of time on their hands. The older men who traveled in the same territory were a hard-living lot and he spent plenty of time with them but he didn’t let it distract him from his duties. He kept a diary of his travels and the players he saw and sent in reports to Slapnicka. He would not permit anyone to call him handicapped. How could someone drive thousands of miles and live independently with a handicap? In fact, in order to make some extra cash, he would frequently bet someone he could tie his shoes faster than they could. Once the unsuspecting mark saw he had one hand, the bet was on. Hugh claimed he never lost this bet.

After Alexander’s first year on the road (with Slapnicka checking in on him occasionally), he had signed exactly zero players. It was a year of training and developing sources of information. He attended games throughout Texas and Oklahoma, the National semipro tournament in Wichita, the American Legion All-Star tournament in St. Joseph, Missouri, college games, and high-school games. He did take enough time off from traveling to marry Thelma Jewell McBride of Seminole on June 12, 1938. Slapnicka was pleased with Alexander’s progress and asked him to continue scouting.

In March 1939, Oklahoma A&M’s Hank Iba called Alexander with a hot tip. There was a young Indian-American on campus who was a hot prospect recruited by football scouts. Baseball scouts hadn’t heard of him because he had only started pitching his senior season. What Alexander saw was a hard-throwing big man who wasn’t afraid to pitch inside. He sent his scouting report on Allie Reynolds to Slapnicka, who told him to keep watching. After Reynolds threw a no-hitter, Hugh called Slapnicka and told him he had a fastball nearly as fast as Feller’s and that they needed $1,000 to sign him. Cy didn’t want to spend that much money but Hugh followed his first commandment. Taking a tip from how his father did business with poor landowners when negotiating mineral rights, Alexander borrowed $1,000 from the bank and brought the cash over to Reynolds’s home. Allie had a wife and young baby in the humble dwelling and as soon as he saw the cash fanned out on the kitchen table, he immediately signed the deal. Reynolds was Alexander’s first signing and it turned out to be a great one.14

Alexander’s years scouting with the Indians were fruitful but he learned by hard experience. In that time, players were not allowed to sign a contract until their class graduated from high school. Many rural youngsters either had no birth certificate or had quit school after eighth grade, so it could be difficult to know if a scout was complying with the rule. Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis summoned Alexander to his office early in his scouting career over a possible breach of this rule. Neither he nor the Indians were penalized but Landis left him with a stern warning that he would run Hugh out of baseball if he was caught cheating.

In 1941 Alexander’s mentor Cy Slapnicka was fired from the Indians but this didn’t affect Alexander’s position with the Indians. By then, he had already scouted and signed Dale Mitchell, Pat Seerey, and others and he was being recognized among some baseball men as a person with an eye for talent. In midsummer of 1941, he met Branch Rickey at a game in Pueblo, Colorado. Rickey, then the general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, had heard of him and they talked for a time. Rickey gave him some advice about searching for talent and Alexander noted it.

During the war years, scouting was very difficult. Gas rationing meant that getting to games was difficult; also, many players were serving in the armed forces. Alexander scouted some military bases, only able to sign players when they were discharged. He also helped a colonel at a base, feeding him names of good ballplayers in the military. The officer arranged to have the best transferred to his base so he could dominate the military tournaments.

Hugh and Thelma had a daughter in 1942 but all the time on the road makes for a difficult relationship. By 1952 he was divorced. He was scouting a huge territory and some of his players (Dale Mitchell and Gene Bearden) helped the Indians win the World Series in 1948, but he didn’t get everyone right. He scouted Mickey Mantle and wrote in his book “No prospect” after watching him strike out 14 times over a week. He also noted Mantle for a return visit but the Yankees beat him to it.15

In 1952 Paul Richards, manager of the White Sox, and Frank Lane, general manager, impressed by Alexander’s reputation, recruited him to scout for them. Alexander never discussed his reasons for leaving the Indians, so it would only be speculation. But he had known Richards from scouting and was impressed with his baseball smarts. Alexander’s territory didn’t change but his focus did. Richards wanted speed, defense, and (like everyone) good pitching. However, with Trader Frank Lane in house, most of the organization focus was on trading for players, not in scouting new talent.

Alexander started using his contacts to find a new job. Fresco Thompson, the director of the Dodgers farm system, knew Alexander from scouting meetings in the early 1950s. With a couple of quick conversations, he found himself as a field scout for the Brooklyn Dodgers starting in the 1956 season. Again, he had the same territory as before, roads and towns he was very familiar with.

The minor leagues were undergoing a major contraction at this time. When Alexander started with the Dodgers, they had 14 farm teams. They were on the verge of moving to Los Angeles (which they would do in 1958). By 1961 the Dodgers farm system was depleted because of trades of prospects. Farm director Buzzie Bavasi wanted to restock the system. He held a meeting with his scouts, laid out a goal of signing 100 players, and provided the financial resources to do so. This was an unprecedented number of players but Bavasi told the scouts that if they had any issues negotiating with players, they should call either Alexander or Bert Wells for help because they were the two best scouts the Dodgers had. Also, by 1962 the Dodgers were down to 10 farm teams but with expansion there were more major-league teams looking for talent. It would be a challenging time for Alexander.

Two of Alexander’s early signings with the Dodgers were Carl Warwick and Frank Howard. With Warwick, he followed one of his precepts for signing a player: Meet with the parents, especially the mother, and recruit them. He always felt the mother typically made the final decision. During a meeting with Warwick’s parents, he offered a $20,000 bonus, an additional $5,000 a year for three years, plus $5,000 if he made the majors. At the moment of the offer, his parents fell in love with Alexander!16 Howard had already decided he wanted to play for the Dodgers, and had received higher offers from other organizations. His unusual request was for a $108,000 bonus, the $8,000 for his parents to make a down payment on a house. The organization was happy to comply.

When the Dodgers initially scouted Don Sutton, scout Leon Hamilton (and to be fair, pretty much all the other scouts) call him a nonprospect. However, after Alexander got a look at him, he believed he could be a major-league pitcher and wanted to offer a deal. But the organization had already turned him down, and didn’t want to reverse course. This irritated Alexander and he jumped up the chain of command. In due course, Hamilton was ordered to sign the paperwork committing Sutton to the Dodgers, giving the proper appearance to the deal. Sutton’s father wouldn’t let Hamilton back in the house because of the earlier disrespect, so the Dodgers had to send another scout in to get Sutton’s signature.

In 1965, the major leagues instituted the amateur draft system. This changed the scouting game tremendously. No longer would scouts be involved with signing players. No more secret scouting reports or keeping your information close to the vest. Alexander was disappointed in the changes but as a baseball lifer, he changed with the times.

In 1972 Alexander’s friend Paul Owens, soon to be general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, offered him a new challenge. He would be a special-assignment scout and would have much more input in the effort to try to build a winning team from the rubble of the current organization. His salary was $15,000, which made him the highest paid scout in baseball.17 He helped improve Philadelphia’s focus on building from within, noting that the Dodgers reserved $1 million for signing bonuses while the Phillies spent $400,000.

Owens soon hired Dallas Green to run the farm system and the trio became the architects of the Phillies’ winning teams. Alexander would go scout any situation the team needed him in and would provide his take on potential trades and the draft. The first big deal he had a hand in was to push the Phillies to trade for Steve Carlton. Now known as Uncle Hughie throughout baseball for his knowledge and years in the game, he learned from his extensive network of Carlton’s salary disagreement with the Cardinals and how the team was willing to move him. So the Phillies were able to take advantage. Other key trade acquisitions in the next few years included Garry Maddox, Bake McBride, and Tug McGraw. Key drafts included Lonnie Smith, Alan Bannister, and Dick Ruthven. Alexander’s influence was suggested by Bill Conlin in a Philadelphia Daily News article: “When Hughie Alexander talks in a mellow baritone that suggests sour mash bourbon and unfiltered cigarettes, you can hear a pin drop in the Phillies’ boardroom.”18

Alexander also paid close attention to the rules. At this time, there were two major league drafts, held in January and in June. Marty Bystrom, a pitcher for Miami-Dade Community College, was skipped over in the June, 1976 draft. There was a little-known clause in the draft rules which said a player who wasn’t drafted was a free agent until two weeks before the next draft. Hugh jumped on this, signing him for $50,000 in December, thereby not risking losing him to another team in January. Baseball executives were so upset by the move that the rule was changed for the following year.19

No great situation lasts forever. In 1981 Dallas Green became general manager of the Chicago Cubs. In 1982 the Phillies traded for Joe Morgan and Tony Perez. That helped them in 1983, but the trades of prospects for major leaguers took its toll. One particularly damaging trade was sending Ryne Sandberg to the Cubs as an extra player to acquire Ivan de Jesus. Maybe karma for the Carlton steal was in play. The aging Phillies sank back to a second-division team.

Sometime in the late 1970s or early ’80s, Alexander married a woman named Lois and lived in Palm Harbor, Florida. He much preferred the climate there to Oklahoma’s. With the Phillies, he spent at least 200 days a year away from home, which continued to contribute to his fluid home life. A Jayson Stark article implied that Lois was his sixth wife, but this researcher couldn’t find any marriage records to confirm any marriages other than to his first wife.20

Dallas Green encouraged Alexander to join him in Chicago in 1987. This would be Alexander’s final employer. Green left soon after but Jim Frey took over and of course Uncle Hughie knew him and was comfortable with the situation. In 1989 the team celebrated his 50th year in scouting. His time with Chicago was filled with any special assignment the team would send him on, along with trying to share his wisdom with other people in the organization. In 1998 he finally retired, but continued to occasionally scout spring-training games for the organization. In 2000, he scouted one last game during spring training. This completed his career, scouting in eight different decades.

Over the years, Alexander signed 63 players who eventually made the major leagues.21 In 1984 he founded the Scout of the Year program to honor baseball scouts. In 1996 he finally agreed to receive the award. There is no way to count the number of games he watched or players he scouted. In 1994 he moved to a 16-acre horse ranch near Brooksville, Florida. He bought the property because Lois always liked it when they drove by, but she died before they could move in. In 1999, suffering from lung cancer, he moved to Spring Hill, Florida, then relocated to Oklahoma City after spring training in 2000 to be near his sister, Edith. The lifelong smoker died of lung cancer on November 25, 2000. His remains were cremated and interred in Maple Grove Cemetery in Seminole, Oklahoma.22

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author accessed Baseball-Reference.com, Ancestry.com, and Newspapers.com.

Notes

1 Dan Austin, Baseball’s Last Great Scout (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2013), 3.

2 Austin, 6.

3 Austin, 15.

4 “The Northern League,” The Sporting News, September 10, 1936: 6.

5 Austin, 20.

6 “The Mid-Atlantic League,” The Sporting News, May 20, 1937: 6.

7 “The Mid-Atlantic League,” The Sporting News, June 24, 1937: 10.

8 “The Mid-Atlantic League,” The Sporting News, July 8, 1937: 8.

9 “White Sox Win Double Header from Indians,” Chicago Tribune, August 16, 1937: 23.

10 There are various versions of the accident. What type of pump Alexander was working on, who was with him, and how he gots to the hospital vary. This story is from Dan Austin’s book and seems to be the most likely.

11 Si Burick, “Si-Ings,” Dayton (Ohio) Daily News, December 7, 1937: 23.

12 Austin, 23.

13 Austin, 33.

14 Austin, 38.

15 Austin, 64.

16 Austin, 84.

17 Austin, 117.

18 Bill Conlin, “Uncle Hughie,” Philadelphia Daily News, November 15, 1983: 84.

19 Austin, 137.

20 Jayson Stark, “He Is the Phillies Unknown Soldier,” Philadelphia Inquirer, June 15, 1983: 1D.

21 Austin, 163.

22 Greg Auman, “Baseball Scout in Eight Decades Dies,” Tampa Bay Times, November 29, 2000: 89.

Daniel Miers Ardell was indeed born in Seattle, on May 27, 1941. In a January 2019 interview, he explained, “My mother’s name was Miriam and my father’s name was Barclay. Miers is my mom’s maiden name. My father was in the theater and church and school equipment business. He bid on the seats going into Dodger Stadium, that kind of thing. He did that for most of his life. He went to Manual Arts High School, so you can guess that was not the high academic school of LA. He did not graduate from college. My mom did not graduate from college. But my great-grandfather was the second president of Indiana University. There was quite a wide range in our family.

“My twin brother, Dave, went to UCLA. We both grew up UCLA fans. We grew up about a mile from UCLA. Hated SC. Hated the Los Angeles Angels (of the old Pacific Coast League), because I was a Hollywood Stars fan. And I ended up within a relatively short period of time playing for both.”1

Barclay Ardell was a native of Vancouver, British Columbia, a Canadian citizen. The family moved to the Los Angeles area when Dan and Dave were around 4 years old. His father encouraged them to play baseball from a very early age. “He got us started at the age of 4. It was early. We were very lucky. He definitely pushed us on it, but it was not in a bad way. We both enjoyed doing it. We both played varsity basketball, too. I remember when we were in the 12th grade and he asked, ‘How did you guys ever learn to play basketball without me?’ It wasn’t braggadocious. He just didn’t understand how we learned to play basketball.”

The year they turned 10, their father became one of the founders of the West LA Little League in 1951 and remained active with it for quite some time.

In both 1957 and 1958, Dan was named All-City first baseman. Brother Dave was also All-City.

After graduating from high school, Dan spent a little more than six months in the US Army, from February to August 1959. He had graduated in January and wasn’t due to start at USC until September. “I figured I’d just do the six-month program,” he said. “Get it out of the way. So I went in a week out of high school. All US basic training and then I was in the artillery. I was in the Fire Direction Center, where we would determine where the guns would shoot. I was a math-type guy and so I got to do that instead of the real stuff. I was in the Reserve for seven years. I should have been called up during the Berlin Crisis, but Dedeaux, I think, got ahold of the colonel or something and said, ‘He’s playing baseball’ and they gave me a deferment. I stayed in the Reserves but I was never called up.”

Dan played at USC under legendary coach Rod Dedeaux. Coaching the Trojans in his 20th season, Dedeaux had seen his teams win their 11th consecutive California Intercollegiate Baseball Association title in 1961. On June 3 Tom Satriano doubled and Ardell tripled to break a 4-4 eighth-inning tie and beat Washington State for the NCAA district title. Dedeaux then saw his team go all the way to the College World Series, win all five games there, and by beating Oklahoma State in the championship game, triumph as the College World Series champions.    

Dan’s twin, Dave, played for UCLA, infield and outfield but a little more outfield. Dedeaux had had only one scholarship to give to USC and it went to Dan. Dan was a little larger than Dave, by two to three inches in height. Dave was right-handed and Dan was left-handed. They were definitely not identical twins. “He played at UCLA for three years and was the captain,” Dan said. “At one point, he laughingly said, ‘I think I had more at-bats than anybody in UCLA history.’ He was a good ballplayer. He was All-City. Nothing great, but very, very solid.”

After Dan Ardell’s sophomore year, he was signed by the Angels for a bonus of $37,500. Tom Satriano was signed on the same day. At Dan’s request, his signing bonus was paid out over five years. Roland Hemond was the scouting director for the fledgling ballclub. Hemond told Dan that if he did well, he’d be called up to the big leagues after the minor-league season was over.

Ardell was sent to the Artesia (New Mexico) Dodgers of the Class-D Sophomore League, a Dodgers farm club. The Angels had only two farm teams at this point, and neither needed a first baseman. Ardell spent about a month with Artesia, managed by Spider Jorgensen. The team finished 48-78, in last place in the six-team league, 29½ games out of first place. Ardell, 20 years old, played in 33 games, batting .240. There were 13 players on the team with a higher batting average. He likewise ranked 14th in on-base percentage. He drove in 25 runs, ranking ninth. He made nine errors in the 33 games, though as a first baseman he saw a lot of action. His fielding percentage was .971. “The Sophomore League was so bad,” Ardell once wrote, “that it folded at season’s end.”2 The team reported an attendance of 9,724 — for the whole season. Why did Dan Ardell get the call to the major leagues?

Obviously, the Angels needed players. As of August 30, they were 29½ games out of first place, and seventh in the standings of the 10-team American League.

Ardell was 6-feet-2 and listed at 190 pounds. He batted and threw left-handed. And somehow full of self-confidence. “I was thoroughly convinced I belonged in the major leagues. My fielding was suspect, and I did not hit left-handers well, but I was sure I could work through these problems. My optimism outran my talent.”3

Ardell was added to the roster on September 1. Called up at the same time were “Jim Fregosi, Tom Satriano, Buck Rodgers, Dean Chance, and me. And a guy named Bob Sprout. He threw bullets, but he threw his arm out. Out of the five they called up, three were pretty good.”4

After he sat on the bench for about a couple of weeks, Ardell’s debut game came at Metropolitan Stadium in Minneapolis on September 14. Due to rain the days before, the Angels and Twins played two on that date. In the first game, the Angels held a 3-1 lead after eight innings. In the top of the ninth, two singles and a walk loaded the bases. Earl Averill pinch-hit and singled, driving in one more run. Manager Bill Rigney sent in Ardell as a pinch-runner for Averill. Joe Koppe walked, forcing in a fifth run. Ardell moved up to second base, but a 9-2 double play ended the inning. The Angels won, 5-1.

Two days later, he pinch-ran again, this time at Comiskey Park in Chicago. With a 6-3 lead, he ran for Steve Bilko in the top of the seventh. He advanced to second on a groundout and to third on another groundout, but a third groundout ended the inning. Once again, he was running in the pitcher’s spot in the order and so left the game in favor of a reliever.

Ardell’s third appearance was also as a pinch-runner. This time, he scored. After seven innings the White Sox held a 2-1 lead. Averill led off, pinch-hitting for the pitcher. He singled and Ardell entered to run for him. A single and a sacrifice moved him to third base. George Thomas singled, driving in two runs. It became 3-2, Angels, but the White Sox tied it in the ninth and won it in the 10th.

On Wednesday, September 20, the Angels were at Tiger Stadium and this time, Ardell got a chance to hit, his first at-bat in the big leagues. It was the top of the ninth and the Tigers had a 6-2 lead as the inning began. George Thomas reached on an error, and made his way to second base, though there were then two outs. Ted Kluszewski singled to center and scored Thomas, making it 6-3. “The day I got the base hit, Bill Rigney didn’t know me from squat. I was sitting at the end with Satriano or Fregosi or whoever it was, and he says, ‘Rook! Rook, get up here and hit.’ We looked at each other, not knowing who he was referring to and he points to his left arm. I was the only left-hander there, so I knew he wanted me to hit. No advance notice. Nothing.”

Ardell was to face Detroit’s Ron Kline. He tells the story: “I saw myself as a power hitter, and did not think Kline looked overpowering. It was clear to me that I could hit a home run and make it a 6-5 ballgame. It was probably also clear to Kline that I was a big young rookie thinking about hitting a home run. He threw me pitches that were around the plate, ones that were not overpowering. Finally, he threw one that looked very hittable. I swung and almost broke my knuckles, but the ball had enough on it to get over the second baseman’s head for a single. The pinch-runner on first rounded second too aggressively. The right fielder gunned the ball to second and the runner was tagged out. The game was over. And I was standing on first base, batting 1.000.”5

Ardell added, “I was unhappy that we had lost, but ecstatic about getting on base in my first at-bat. I was confident that many more at-bats and hits lay ahead.”

There were three at-bats ahead, but no more hits.

Playing for the first time in front of the home crowd, at Los Angeles’ Wrigley Field, Ardell pinch-hit in the September 23 game. In the bottom of the ninth, with one out, nobody on, and the Angels down by two runs, he batted for Jim Fregosi and struck out.

On the 24th, he pinch-ran in the seventh inning and got as far as third base but the inning then ended. Again, he’d been running in the pitcher’s spot and so did not play in the field.

On September 27, it was Trojans Day and Ardell took the field for the first time, playing first base and batting eighth against the Washington Senators. The game in Los Angeles drew 1,717 spectators. First time up, Claude Osteen struck him out. Second time up, in the fourth, he drew a walk. In the sixth, he grounded back to the pitcher to end the inning. In the eighth, with the Angels down by one run, Ardell was asked to sacrifice and did, successfully moving up two baserunners into scoring position. The first one scored on a wild pitch; had he not been advanced to third base, he would not have been able to score. And then pinch-hitter Buck Rodgers doubled, driving in the go-ahead run. The Angels won the game, and Ardell’s sacrifice had truly paid off.

Though he had no way to know it at the time, his major-league career was over. He had the one base hit to show for it (one more than many). He had scored one run and — with the sacrifice — helped win a ballgame.

Ardell’s career batting average was .250, with an on-base percentage of .400. He’d played the complete game on the 27th and handled 13 chances without an error, a lifetime fielding percentage of 1.000.

The question was asked: If you’d had two hits in the major leagues, it wouldn’t really have been as interesting, right?

Ardell replied, “I think that’s exactly true. There’s no way I should have played in the major leagues. I hit the perfect timing. Everything was perfect. At USC I had an All-American in front of me so I wasn’t going to play. Willie Ryan. 5’8”. 140 pounds. Nobody would sign him because he was too small. But he was exceptional. He was All-American and had another year to go.”

Speaking in early 1962, however, he might yet have had a bright career in front of him. Coach Dedeaux was very high on Ardell’s prospects, declaring, “Dan Ardell will be the Angels’ first baseman eventually. Dan has size, real good power, and can run. He’s intelligent and he has good desire.”6 Dedeaux noted that he’d even stolen home more than once.

In December, Ardell married Pam Allen. The marriage lasted about 13 years and produced two children.

Over the wintertime, it was reported that Dan, his brother, Dave, and their father worked importing clothes from Hong Kong.7 This venture was nowhere near as grand as it may have seemed to the reporter at the time. More than 50 years later, Dan recalled, “We thought we’d turn it into a business; I think we sold two suits.”

In 1962 Ardell joined the Angels for spring training at Palm Springs, California, but at the end of camp was assigned to the San Jose Bees of the Class-C California League. He played in 105 games that year, but it was a season interrupted by a very bad beaning in the first inning of a June 17 home game against Stockton. His season stats were not impressive, either before or after the incident. “I started the season slowly,” he wrote, “and then, in June, facing another of those dreaded left-handed pitchers, I took a fastball in the forehead. It happened at twilight, when it was difficult to see the ball. … I literally did not see the pitch. … The ball bounced off my forehead and went past third base. I was unconscious but not paralyzed as they took me from the field.”8 He had a concussion and a broken right orbital bone. After consultation, doctors decided it might be more dangerous to operate than to see if the injury would heal.

It did heal, and Ardell was back on the field about six weeks later. He finished with a .239 batting average (.366 OBP), drove in 46 runs, and scored 70 times. He struck out 101 times and hit 11 home runs. There was one good feeling he was left with at the end of the season: “Although I finished the season as poorly as I have begun it, I did have the winning RBI in the final game to win the league championship.”9

Ardell transferred from USC to San Jose State. He also invested part of his signing bonus in real estate and began to work part-time for a realtor.

In 1963 spring training was with the minor-league clubs, in a growing Angels system. From the two teams in 1961, the system had grown to five in 1962. Ardell began the 1963 season with the Nashville Volunteers of the Double-A South Atlantic League. He started the season very well, hitting .325 after the first 25 games, but was transferred downward rather than up to Triple A. He was back with San Jose (the California League had been upgraded to Single A.) For whatever reason, he had a mediocre season, with stats very similar to the year before: After 102 games, he was hitting only .232. He had driven in 57 runs. And at one point, he even pitched in a game — striking out the one batter he faced.

Ardell was back in minor-league training camp in 1964, which proved to be his final season as a player. “Despite enjoying playing baseball,” he recalled, “I was coming to realize that I did not enjoy the life of a minor league player.” There were the difficult travels, the “sleeping in cramped beds in second rate hotels, and eating mediocre food at odd hours,” and there was the “male tendency to descend to the lower common denominator.”10

Ardell was getting a little older, and the prospect of making the majors again did not seem bright. He had, however, shone brightly in a March 31 exhibition game, playing first base for the Hawaii Islanders against the Los Angeles Angels. Ardell singled, doubled, and homered in four trips to the plate.

He played out the 1964 season based in Pasco, Washington, playing first base for the Tri-City Angels in the Single-A Northwest League. In 124 games, he showed significant improvement — .267 (.373 OBP), with 17 homers and 63 RBIs. But it wasn’t enough of an improvement. Ardell finished his studies and graduated from college in June 1965.

“I hated the life,” he said. “My brother could have played, but I said, ‘I just don’t think you’re going to like it.’ Once I realized what the life was going to be like, I actually quit before they fired me. I remember going to Roland Hemond. I said, ‘I’m not doing very well. I’m not enjoying it. Can I quit?’ And Roland being one of the most wonderful human beings in the world said, ‘Yeah. You’re the one who asked to spread the money over five years. That doesn’t mean you’re obligated to play.’”

Dave went to work for IBM out of college. “My dad, he and I started buying foreclosed apartments. Probably syndication before the term existed. We would buy one a year. Friends and relatives would put money in. After about seven or eight years, he and I formed our own company — DA Management, where we did more stuff like that and then we advised pension funds on real estate. (Dad) retired in his early 50s.”

The interest in real estate had started while Dan was still in college.

“My dad had read a book somewhere along the way — How I Turned a Thousand into a Million in Real Estate in My Spare Time. Being a great student, I thought, ‘Man, that sounds like a great book. I’ve got to check that out.’ I talked to one of the professors and said I want to be in real estate. I had a minor in real estate. He said, ‘Well, if you want to learn about real estate. There’s only one place to go. Union Bank.’ It ended up that I was able to get in there. I was there for five years.

“One of the guys I was working with moved to Wells Fargo in a real estate investment trust and asked me if I wanted to join him. I spent the next seven years with them. There were seven of us when we started and he and the fellow who started it both became chairman of Wells Fargo, back when it was a good company.”

He was a banker, with a specialization in real estate. “I did construction lending. I did mortgages on industrial buildings. Offices. Apartments. It was all income property. Nothing to do with residential.

“I retired December 31, 1999. Around 2013, a guy who I played baseball with in high school called and he said, ‘Are you a little bored?’ Yeah. He said, ‘I know you lost a lot of money in the Great Recession. Are you still broke?’ We were very close. I called him some bad names. Then he said, ‘The big question is, do you still have your faculties?’ That was of issue. This was the right hand for the guy who started Public Storage.”

“It was the bottom of the housing market. He said, ‘We’re going to buy houses all over the country. We’re going to fix them up and we’re going to rent them.’ When I joined the company, we had a thousand houses and 50 employees. Today, we have 50,000 and 1,350 employees.”

“It has been something. We have 20 offices. I had to set the offices up, find people to get the offices started, and then mentor (for want of a better term) various people in the company.”

Asked what his position at American Homes 4 Rent is, he chuckled and said, “I am officially a training manager. I do no training and I do no managing. They don’t know what to do with me.”

In 1981, some six years after his divorce, Dan married Jean Hastings. Jean had two children of her own. The marriage has endured. “She’s still talking to me,” Dan said nearly four decades later.

Dan Ardell never begrudged his short run with the Angels, and remained a solid Angels fan more than 50 years later. He had won a couple of key games at different levels, and had that one base hit in the big leagues.

“My one base hit went to Al Kaline. He picks the guy off second and the game is over. I’m standing there on first base, batting 1.000, happier than hell, and thinking, ‘Man, I should have gone long.’ Twenty years old. You never know.”

Last revised: March 5, 2020

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, the Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, and the Dan Ardell player file and player questionnaire at the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Notes

1 Dan Ardell with author on January 27, 2019. Unless otherwise indicated, all quotations from Dan Ardell come from this interview.

2 Dan Ardell, “A Cup of Coffee in the Show: My Seven Games in the Majors,” in William M. Simons, ed., The Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, 2003-2004 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2005), 19. Dan Ardell’s presentation at the Symposium is the source for a great deal of the material in this biography.

3 “A Cup of Coffee,” 21.

4 Left-handed pitcher Bob Sprout appeared in only one major-league game, on September 27, 1961. He successfully executed a sacrifice bunt in his one and only major-league plate appearance. He pitched four full innings in the game, allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits and three walks.

5 “A Cup of Coffee,” 21. The runner was Ken McBride.

6 Braven Dyer, “Dedeaux Says Ardell Cinch Future Great,” Los Angeles Times, February 5, 1962: B8.

7 Dyer.

8 “A Cup of Coffee.”

9 “A Cup of Coffee.” The winning hit was a two-run single in the seventh inning, beating Reno, 5-3.

10 “A Cup of Coffee.” He details a number of experiences on the road.

Jeffery Todd Banister was born on January 15, 1964, to Verda and Bob Banister in Weatherford, Oklahoma. The family lived in Weatherford until 1970 when, along with older sister Carey, they moved to La Marque, Texas. La Marque is a city in Galveston County, just south of Houston, and in 1970 was a residential community for employees of nearby refineries and chemical plants. Jeff’s father, Bob, was a football coach at La Marque High School and his mother was an algebra teacher at the school. Jeff’s father was busy with his coaching schedule and Verda played a pivotal role in Jeff’s early athletic career. “She was the one that made sure I got to every Little League game, every practice,” Jeff said. And “when coaches were late, she would step in.”2

Jeff excelled at athletics and was a three-sport athlete at La Marque High School, where his father was still the football coach. He played baseball, football, and basketball, being coached by his father in football and basketball. It was at this time, in his sophomore year, that Banister noticed that his ankle was swollen. It caused enough discomfort to warrant a doctor’s visit. The doctor, family physician Dr. Lockhardt, discovered that Jeff had bone cancer and told him that if he did not get his leg amputated, he could possibly die. It was also found that day that he had cysts on the same leg, which had developed into osteomyelitis, which is an infection caused by bacteria eating away at bone marrow. Jeff and his family decided that taking the leg was the right course of action.3

Luckily for Jeff, the decision to amputate never came to pass. He persuaded the doctor to try to save the leg. Five months and seven operations later, Jeff came out of the hospital having beaten cancer and osteomyelitis.4 The year was 1981, he was 16, and his dreams of playing major-league baseball were still intact. But that was not the end of his physical complications in high school. After a comparatively uneventful junior year, Banister injured his knee during his senior year and was almost cut from the team because the injury impeded his mobility. His father suggested that he try a different position, catching. Jeff took the advice.5

After finishing high school, Banister attended Lee Community College in Baytown, Texas. He caught for the Lee baseball team and during his freshman year was once again faced with adversity. On a play at the plate in a game in which Banister was catching, the baserunner tried to hurdle him to avoid his tag. The baserunner’s knee hit Banister in the head, breaking three of his vertebrae and leaving him paralyzed for three days.6 The accident led to another lengthy stay in the hospital, nearly six months. After three operations, a year of rehabilitation, and being told that he would never play ball again, Banister was back on the field with the baseball team. He finished out another year with Lee, and was named a Junior College All-American, before earning a scholarship to the University of Houston in 1986.

Banister stayed at the University of Houston for a brief period. It was there that he met his future wife, Karen Stanton. Shortly afterward, he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 25th round of the 1986 draft.7 His first stop in the Pirates’ minor-league system was with the Watertown Pirates in the Class-A short-season New York-Penn League in 1986. He put up dismal offensive numbers over 41 games, batting just .145.

In 1987 Banister moved to the Macon Pirates of the Class-A South Atlantic League. Playing in 101 games, he put up a more solid line of .254/.316/.378. His improved numbers and solid defense were enough to move him up to the Double-A Harrisburg Senators for the 1988 season. His hitting stayed consistent with the Senators: .259/.296/.376. His defense suffered, though, and he wound up with 17 errors in 71 games, tied for the league lead among catchers.

For the 1989 season, Banister returned to Harrisburg and even though his batting average dropped to .238, he was named the Eastern League All-Star catcher. The 1990 season began in Harrisburg again and improved offensive numbers, .269/.313.386, were enough to get him called up to the Buffalo Bisons of the Triple-A American Association. His hot bat continued with Buffalo: a .320 average in 12 games.

Banister’s cup of coffee came in 1991. While he was with Buffalo, Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Don Slaught was injured. The Pirates called up Banister on July 23 to fill Slaught’s spot on the roster. Banister’s moment in the sun came that same day when Pirates manager Jim Leyland had him pinch-hit for pitcher Doug Drabek with one out in the seventh inning in a game against the Atlanta Braves. On the hill for the Braves was Dan Petry. Banister laced a 1-and-1 pitch from Petry in the hole between short and third. Braves shortstop Jeff Blauser managed to field the grounder and make the throw to first. But Banister beat it out.8 But neither of the next two batters could advance Banister.

After a series of roster moves, the Pirates sent Banister back to Buffalo after that one appearance. He finished the season with a .244 average in 79 games. While playing winter ball in the offseason, Banister blew out his elbow and needed surgery. He missed the entire 1992 season.9 In ’93 he joined the Carolina Mudcats of the Double-A Southern League as a player-coach. He played in only eight games and batted .333 (5-for-15). After the season, Banister retired as a player.

Although his playing days were finished, Banister remained with the Pirates organization. In 1994 he managed the Welland Pirates of the short-season New York-Penn League. The Pirates finished with a 30-44 record. In 1995 he managed the Augusta GreenJackets of the Class-A South Atlantic League to a 76-62 record. In 1996 and ’98 he managed the Carolina Mudcats of the Double-A Southern League; between those two seasons he led the Lynchburg Hillcats of the Class-A Carolina League.

After the 1998 season, Banister worked from 1999 to 2001 as the Pirates’ major-league field coordinator. In 2002 he was reassigned as Pittsburgh’s minor-league field coordinator, a position he held until 2010. Banister briefly returned to managing with the Scottsdale Scorpions of the Arizona Fall League in 2009.

In the middle of the 2010 season, the Pirates fired their bench coach, Gary Varsho, and brought Banister in as the interim. After the season, Pirates manager John Russell was also fired. Banister and Clint Hurdle were interviewed for the position. Hurdle was hired; Banister retained the bench-coach position.10 Along the way Banister learned about sabermetrics from Mike Fitzgerald, a quantitative analyst who was employed by the Pirates.11

After the 2014 season, Banister interviewed for manager positions with the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers. The Astros passed, but the Rangers on October 16 signed him Banister to a three-year contract with an option for a fourth year.

In his first season with the Rangers, Banister took them from a last-place finish in 2014 to a division title in 2015. Although, they lost to the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Division Series, Banister’s about-face with Texas earned him American League Manager of the Year Award. The Rangers again won their division in 2016, but were swept by the Blue Jays in the ALDS. The 2017 and 2018 seasons were disappointing: fourth place and then last in the AL Central Division, and Banister was fired on September 21, 2018, just shy of the season’s close. 

In 2019 Banister briefly returned to the Pirates as aspecial assistant in baseball operations.12 He held the position for only one season because the Pirates were in the midst of a restructuring that did not include Banister and 14 others. Banister interviewed with the Houston Astros after A.J. Hinch was fired, but lost out to Dusty Baker.13 On September 2, 2020, the University of Southern Colorado announced that Banister would become its director of player development.

Last revised: September 6, 2022

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com.

Notes 

1 Anthony Castovince, “They Had 1 Career AB, 1 Career Hit. Nothing Else,” MLB.com, August 29, 2019. mlb.com/news/featured/mlb-ultimate-one-hit-wonders.

2 Stefan Stevenson, “Banister’s Mom Played as Vital a Role in Athletics as Coaching Dad,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, May 13, 2017.

3 Brett Barnett, “The Story of Jeff Banister,” Bucs Dugout May 8, 2020. bucsdugout.com/2020/5/8/21249547/the-story-of-jeff-banister.

4 Richard Justice, “Banister Cancer Scare Evokes Teenage Ordeal,” MLB.com, February 24, 2016. mlb.com/news/jeff-banister-s-cancer-scare-evokes-ordeal-c165322978.

5 Barnett.

6 Barnett.

7 Barnett.

8 Castrovince.

9 Castrovince.

10 Associated Press, “Nick Leyva Hired as Third Base Coach,” Espn.com, November 24, 2010. espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=5847952.

11 Ben Lindbergh, “The Pirates Sabermetrics Road Show,” Grantland, September 23, 2014. grantland.com/the-triangle/pittsburgh-pirates-mike-fitzgerald-mit-sabermetric-road-show/.

12 Adam Berry, “Pirates Hire Jeff Banister as Special Assistant,” MLB.com, January 6, 2019.  mlb.com/pirates/press-release/pirates-hire-jeff-banister-as-special-assistant-302428658.

13 Jason Mackey, “Jeff Banister Among Pirates’ 15 Layoffs in Baseball Operations,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 26, 2020. post-gazette.com/sports/pirates/2020/06/26/Jeff-Banister-among-Pirates-15-layoffs-in-baseball-operations/stories/202006260146.

Vincent Michael Belnome was born in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, on March 11, 1988, to Vincent Belnome (b. 1962), a carpenter, and Kimberly Ann Belnome (b. 1962), owner of a cleaning company. He has a younger sister, Kate.

Vince’s father, also named Vince, “bought his son a batting cage and pitching machine when the younger Belnome was in ninth grade.”1 The younger Vince was a three-time team MVP for Coatesville High School, hitting .557 in his senior season, and setting a school career batting average record. He belted two home runs against Bishop Shanahan on March 30. His team won the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association District 1 AAAA championship in 2006 with a perfect 23-0 record, but fell in its first state tournament game.

Belnome earned a half-scholarship to West Virginia University. In his freshman year he suffered a torn ACL in a game against St. John’s. In 2009, Belnome’s junior year, he slashed .418/.517/.648 with 84 RBIs, 9 home runs, 20 doubles, and 66 runs scored for the Mountaineers, one of three starters who hit above .400.2 In the Mountaineers lineup, he regularly hit behind Jedd Gyorko, later also a minor-league teammate. Belnome hit a grand slam on March 21 against the University of Connecticut.3 He went 6-for-6 with two home runs, four runs scored, and nine RBIs in an 18-3 blowout of the University of Cincinnati on May 10.4 Belnome finished in the top 20 of NCAA regular-season batters for 2009.5 He majored in sports management while in Morgantown.

After his junior season, Belnome was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 28th round of the June 2009 amateur draft, one of two Mountaineers drafted, along with catcher Tobias Streich.6 Belnome signed, and was assigned to Eugene (Oregon) of the low Class-A Northwest League, slugging .500 with 10 home runs and 16 doubles for the Emeralds. Later in the summer of 2009, he was promoted to Fort Wayne of the Midwest League and batted .500 in 10 games in helping the TinCaps win in the first round of the league playoffs. Belnome was selected to both the Northwest and Midwest League all-star teams. He worked extensively with Padres minor-league hitting coach Bob Skube.7

In 2010 Belnome moved up to Lake Elsinore of the high Class-A California League. He earned Organization All-Star status. His Bowman Padres prospect card listed these attributes of Belnome: a “selective hitter who rarely strikes out. … Plays with great intensity. … Can staff three positions. … Keeps weight back and uses whole field. … Shows burgeoning power.” Belnome hit .273 (Brandon Belt led the California League with a .383 average) with an on-base percentage of .397, thanks to 102 walks, although he did also strike out 136 times.

Belnome enjoyed a breakout 2011 campaign for San Antonio of the Double-A Texas League and manager Doug Descenzo. He slashed .333/.432/.603. He earned Texas League Player of the Week for the week ending on June 13 by going 11-for-23 with 5 home runs and 16 RBIs. However, he played in only 75 games due to a pulled groin and lower abdominal strain.

Belnome kept climbing the Padres organizational ladder, playing for the Padres’ Triple-A affiliate in Tucson in 2012. He began the year as the starting second baseman in an infield that included catcher Yasmani Grandal,8 but spent over six weeks on the disabled list in May and June with a separated shoulder. Belnome returned and became the starting third baseman. In 80 games with Tucson for manager Terry Kennedy, Belnome hit .275 with five home runs. Kennedy commented that Belnome was “a good teammate. You can’t ask anything else of a player.”9 However, in December 2012, Belnome was traded by San Diego to Tampa Bay for Chris Rearick.

To begin 2013, Belnome was assigned by Tampa Bay to Durham of the International League. He batted cleanup, in a lineup including future major leaguers Brandon Guyer, Shelby Duncan, Tim Beckham, Mike Fontenot, and Chris Gimenez.10 He was selected the Bulls’ MVP by hitting.300 with an on-base percentage of .408, second in the league, and 77 runs (also second) in 127 games, including double-digit starts at third base, first base, and second base. Belnome earned IL Player of the Week honors in late April, and started in the IL all-star game.11 He was batting .345 as of early July for the Bulls.12 Even more than the production, however, was Belnome’s influence in the clubhouse. “He’s always upbeat,” teammate Duncan commented, adding that to “have a positive, uplifting, encouraging personality like Vince makes everyone around him better.”13 The Bulls swept the Indianapolis Indians in the semifinals, then topped the Pawtucket Red Sox in four games to win the International League pennant. Belnome was also named a Tampa Bay organizational all-star.14 In the winter, he played six games for Estrellas of the Dominican League.

Belnome began 2014 back in Durham for manager Charlie Montoyo as the primary first baseman, while also earning starts at third base and new professional positions of left field and right field. Baseball America pegged Belnome as having the best strike-zone discipline in the Rays system. However, Belnome actually began his year with the Rays, as he was recalled on April 4 while Sean Rodriguez was on paternity leave, arriving from Durham after the first pitch on Opening Night. Belnome did not see action in the game, and was returned to Durham the next day. For the Bulls in 2014, Belnome hit only .245 while striking out 128 times. Still, he was third on the team in doubles with 25 and tied for fourth in home runs with 10. It was certainly that potential power from the left side of the plate that intrigued the Rays.

Belnome was again recalled by Tampa in early July, earning his first start for manager Joe Maddon as the designated hitter in a game at Detroit on July 3. His parents made the seven-hour drive from Pennsylvania, and his fiancée drove up from Durham.15 For his debut he drew Max Scherzer, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner. Belnome struck out twice and flied out. Nonetheless, Belnome had a fond memory of the evening: “One of the greatest feelings in the world, playing in ‘The Show’ with 50,000 people there16 including my family. The moment was incredible. I was facing a former Cy Young Award winner so I knew it wasn’t going to be easy but I was up for the challenge.”17

Belnome was returned to Durham two days later, but made it back with the Rays in August, earning starts at DH in home games on August 16 and 17 against the New York Yankees. He went 0-for-2 with a walk in each game, making his record 0-for-7 up to this point in his big-league career.

For his fourth career major-league starting assignment, on August 19 at Tropicana Field, Belnome drew, as luck would have it, Scherzer again. This time, though, the Rays jumped on Mad Max early, plating three runs in the first thanks to James Loney’s home run. Belnome led off the bottom of the second, and hit a ground-rule double to right-center field,18 after center fielder Rajai Davis  lost the ball in the Tropicana Field ceiling. Belnome later scored on Ben Zobrist’s single. Leading off the fourth inning, Belnome was momentarily banished from the list of “one-hit wonders,” when he belted an opposite-field home run … or so everyone thought. As Belnome trotted around the bases and was about to accept his congratulations from third-base coach Tom Foley, Scherzer began arguing with home-plate umpire Greg Gibson. After Gibson convened the four umpires, crew chief Gerry Davis ruled the hit a foul ball instead of a home run. Belnome then struck out looking to complete the at-bat.

After a fly out in the sixth inning, Belnome later hit a crucial sacrifice fly in the eighth, which tied the game and ultimately sent it into extra innings. He was walked intentionally by the Tigers’ Jim Johnson in the 10th inning, with the winning run in scoring position, but Detroit escaped the jam, and end up beating the Rays 8-6 in 11 innings.

Belnome soon was returned to Durham for its playoff push. The Bulls defeated the Columbus Clippers in the International League semifinals, earning a return trip to the finals, once again against the PawSox. This time, Pawtucket prevailed, in five games. Belnome was recalled a fourth time in the season by Tampa Bay, in late September, but did not play. In the offseason he was dropped off the Rays’ 40-man roster, outrighted back to Durham.19

In 2015 Belnome began in Durham as the longest-tenured Bull on the roster, playing in 291 games over three years. He even saw spot pitching duty in a 17-6 blowout loss to Charlotte in early July.20 His offensive production fell way off; he batted .16921 before being released on July 22 to make roster space for outfielder Grady Sizemore.22 Vince signed as a free agent on July 28 with New York Mets organization, and was assigned to Binghamton, which lost in the first round of the Eastern League playoffs.23 After the 2015 season, he elected free agency, was not signed, and had not played professional baseball since 2015.

Belnome summed up his major-league experience:

I love baseball, always have and always will. I had a dream when I was a young scrap and I told everyone that I would be a MLB PLAYER. Sure, it wasn’t for 10+ years but I made it to the big leagues and ended up getting a hit off of a former Cy Young winner (and future Hall of Famer). No one can ever take that away. I will have plenty of stories to tell my children when they want to listen!24

Vince Belnome and his wife, Abby, have a son Bowen (b. 1997) and another son who was due in November 2020. Belnome is a carpenter and co-owner/operator of Balance Hitting Academy in Parkesburg, Pennsylvania.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author relied on Baseball-Reference.com and MyHeritage.com Birth, Marriage, Death Records.

Notes

1 Daniel Berk, “Belnome Traces Success to Batting Cage in Yard,” Arizona Daily Star (Tucson), July 19, 2012: B003.

2 Phil Axelrod, “Duquesne Eyes First Baseball Title, Faces Xavier in A-10 Showdown,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 29, 2008: 33.

3 “Baseball Notes,” Hartford Courant, March 22, 2009: E02.

4 “Local Colleges: Baseball,” Cincinnati Enquirer, May 11, 2009: 18.

5 “Final Regular Season Statistics: Batting Average” Daily Advertiser (Lafayette, Louisiana), May 26, 2009: 14.

6 Colin Dunlap, “Giants Select Dukes Recruit,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 11, 2009: 25.

7 Daniel Berk, “Belnome Traces Success to Batting Cage in Yard.”

8 Daniel Berk, “A Mix of New and Old,” Arizona Daily Star, April 4, 2012: B003.

9 Daniel Berk, “Belnome Traces Success to Batting Cage in Yard.”

10 “Boxscore,” Raleigh News and Observer, July 20, 2013: C9.

11 Roger Mooney, “Longoria Content at DH – for Now,” Tampa Tribune, July 4, 2013: 25.

12 Wade Rupard, “Perseverance Paying Off for Surprising Belnome,” Raleigh News and Observer, July 5, 2013: C1.

13 Rupard.

14 Roger Mooney, “Minor-League Awards,” Tampa Tribune, September 19, 2013: 25.

15 “Cobb Pleased with Progress” Tampa Bay Times, July 4, 2014: C4.

16 The attendance was 33,908.

17 Email correspondence with Vince Belnome, August 2, 2020.

18 Matt Baker, “Injured Trio Making Progress” Tampa Bay Times, August 20, 2014: C4.

19 Marc Topkin, “Rays to Be Flexible at Winter Meets,” Tampa Bay Times, December 8, 2014: C8.

20 Marc Topkin, “Boxberger Sees Flaw to Fix,” Tampa Bay Times, July 9, 2015: C3.

21 Nick Gray, “Snell’s Latest Stop: Durham,” Raleigh News and Observer, July 27, 2015: B2.

22 Roger Mooney, “Karns’ Historic Homer Puts Him in Exclusive Company,” Raleigh News and Observer, July 22, 2015: B2.

23 Lynn Worthy, “B-Mets Made Playoff Push Despite Moves,” Press and Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton, New York), September 16, 2015: C1.

24 Email correspondence with Vince Belnome, August 2, 2020.

Besides his time in the major leagues, Birtsas also played professional baseball in Japan and Italy. He experienced the joy of being a World Series champion as well as on the winning team in the Italian Baseball League.

The Birtsas family arrived in the Clarkston area in in the fall of 1952, when his father, Gus, became a teacher in the Clarkston School District. Gus Birtsas spent 30 years teaching English and physical education and coaching baseball at Clarkston High School. He eventually became the principal at the local junior high school.2

Gus Birtsas coached baseball for many years, until Tim entered high school. At one point, when Tim’s career hit a steak of bad luck, Gus flew to Las Vegas, received special permission to go onto the ballfield and, at 61 years old, squatted behind the plate to help coach his son.3 “There was no limitation to the sacrifices he would make for us,” said Tim. “I became a professional baseball player because of him. He put as much work into it as I did.”4 His mother, Carolyn, worked as a registered nurse until she and Gus retired in 1987.

Tim grew to 6-feet-7-inches, weighed 240 pounds, and was a dominating left-handed pitcher who also played basketball for. Clarkston High School. After graduating in 1978 he entered Michigan State University on a baseball scholarship. He played baseball for three years at Michigan State, from 1980 through 1982. While the Spartans did not have a winning record during those years, Birtsas was a second team Big 10 selection in 1982 when he started 10 games and compiled a 6-4 record, striking out 68 batters in 64⅓ innings.5 His eight complete games that season tied for the second most in a Spartan season.6

Birtsas’s imposing height and live arm made him a good draft prospect. A scouting report submitted by a White Sox scout in May 1982 described him as having a good fastball (87 to 90 mph) and good mechanics, but suggested that he needed to learn a curveball and a changeup. The scout commented, “great poise, good kid.”7

In June 1982 the New York Yankees selected Birtsas in the second round of the free-agent draft. Birtsas immediately began his minor-league career with Oneonta of the New York-Penn League. Through the next two seasons, 1983 and 1984, he continued his development in Fort Lauderdale of the Florida State League. During this period, he started 32 games and logged 225⅓ innings. He was out of action much of 1984 with a leg injury, but came back late in the season to make 10 starts as the team won the league championship.

After the 1984 season, Birtsas was packaged with outfielder Stan Javier and pitchers Jay Howell, Jose Rijo, and Eric Plunk in a trade with Oakland that brought Rickey Henderson, pitcher Bert Bradley, and cash to the Yankees.8 It was the first of two trades in which Birtsas was bundled with Rijo.

Birtsas began the 1985 season in the minor leagues, playing in the Pacific Coast League for Tacoma, the A’s Triple-A farm club. After making four starts, he was called up to Oakland and made his major-league debut on May 3, in a relief appearance late in the game when the A’s were losing to the Boston Red Sox in Oakland. After two more relief appearances, he made his first major-league start on May 23 in Oakland, throwing six innings to earn a 4-2 win against the Baltimore Orioles and was soon added to the starting rotation.

On May 30 Birtsas made his second start, in Detroit against the Tigers. “From the time when I was seven years old, I used to dream of playing with the Tigers,” Birtsas said after the game, in which he gave up three runs in five innings and took the loss. “It was a neat experience today. I always wanted to play in Tiger Stadium for many years. I just always thought it’d be in the other uniform.”9 In the third inning, Birtsas hit local star Kirk Gibson, a hometown friend and fellow Michigan State Spartan, in the mouth with a pitch that sent Gibson to the hospital for 17 stitches on his upper and lower lips. “I just missed with the pitch,” Birtsas said. “I was trying to bust him inside and the ball took off. It was not meant to happen, but it did. The bases were loaded and the last thing I wanted to do was walk him. I can understand everyone being upset. He’s their hero.”10

Birtsas’s initial performances cemented his role in the A’s rotation. After the game, manager Jackie Moore announced that he would join the starting rotation permanently. “We felt from the first day he showed up at spring training that the kid had a lot of ability,” said Moore. “We just didn’t know when he was going to produce. He’s a youngster that has a great feel for pitching.”11

Birtsas went on to post a 10-6 record in 1985, making 25 starts. After an August 25 victory over the Orioles that improved his record to 10-4, there was talk about him being selected as Rookie of the Year, but he failed to win another game the rest of the season, making six more starts but throwing only 25 innings and accumulating an ERA of 6.12.

The 1986 season was a difficult one for Birtsas. Slated to be one of the left-handers in the A’s bullpen, he started the major-league season by appearing in two games, pitching just two innings and yielding five earned runs. He was sent to Tacoma, where he spent the rest of the season, compiling a 3-7 record with an ERA of 5.07. Knee problems may have been a cause of his ineffectiveness.

Birtsas remained in the minors again in 1987, splitting his season between Tacoma and Huntsville of the Double-A Southern League. After the season he was packaged again with Jose Rijo and traded to the Cincinnati Reds for slugger Dave Parker.

Birtsas hoped to land a spot on the major-league roster as a long reliever. At the start of the 1988 season, he was optioned to Nashville of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. After eight starts, he was recalled. For the Reds he appeared in 36 games (four starts), compiling a 1-3 record. At the end of August, he was again optioned to Nashville, but was recalled three days later to spend the rest of the season with the Reds after Rijo landed on the disabled list with a sore elbow.12

The 1989 campaign was Birtsas’s only full season in the majors. Except for one start, he appeared in relief in 42 games. On July 2, he achieved his first major-league hit, a home run, off Sid Fernandez of the New York Mets in a game at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium. He hit it to right field on a 1-and-2 pitch in the bottom of the third inning. He had entered the game in the top of that inning in relief of starter Scott Scudder. On August 7 he earned the only save of his career, a four-inning effort against the San Francisco Giants in a 10-2 victory. It was his longest outing of the season.

On November 3, 1990, the Reds named Lou Piniella as their new manager. He replaced interim manager Tommy Helms, who ran the team during the latter days of the 1989 season after the suspension of Pete Rose.13 Piniella took over leadership of a team that had lost 87 games in 1989 and guided them to become World Series champions.

Birtsas began the 1990 season on the Reds’ roster as the Reds raced out of the box, opening the season with a nine-game winning streak and never falling out of first place in the National League West. The drivers for the team were the Reds’ outstanding relief core, known as the “Nasty Boys,” Randy Myers, Rob Dibble, Norm Charlton, Tim Layana, and Birtsas. “We come after teams,” said Myers. “And we do a lot of talking.”14 In their season-opening nine-game winning streak, the Nasties had four wins and five saves.15

Their bullpen depth took pressure off the starting pitchers, who needed to go only five, six, or seven innings before the game was turned over to the bullpen. The middle innings were the domain of right-handed pitcher Layana, known for his knuckle curve, and the left-handed Birtsas, who relied on his fastball. The late innings brought on Charlton, Myers, and Dibble.16 Birtsas finished April without surrendering an earned run, appearing in four games and earning a victory.

On June 4 Birtsas struck out four batters in the seventh inning of a 10-1 loss to the Giants. In that inning, in which he also surrendered one run and two hits, he struck out Greg Litton, Will Clark, Matt Williams, and Gary Carter. The Williams strikeout was on a wild pitch on which he reached first base.

Birtsas’s performance faded after April. By late June, with his ERA now over 4.00, it was apparent that Piniella had lost faith in him, and Piniella reduced his use to mopping up late innings during losses. On July 26 he was optioned to Nashville.17 He was recalled in September and made the postseason roster, but did not pitch in either the National League Championship Series or the World Series.

On December 11, 1990, the Reds released Birtsas.18 He continued his professional career in Japan, signing for the 1991 season with the Yakult Swallows of the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. He pitched in 18 games, starting 16, and ended the season with a 3-5 record. During a game in mid-April, Birtsas was ejected for fighting after a brushback pitch to Yoshihisha Komatsuzaki, who then rushed the mound. Birtsas received a warning, but Komatsuzaki was fined $1,500.19

After that one season in Japan, Birtsas signed to play for Rimini of the Italian Baseball League. In limited action during the regular season, he was 3-1 with a 2.31 ERA. In the league playoffs, however, he led the team to a three-game sweep in the championship finals. He won two of the three games, throwing a pair of complete games and surrendering only one earned run. Although Birtsas flirted with a return to the major leagues when he signed a minor-league contract with the Detroit Tigers in early 1993,20 hip problems forced to him retire from baseball and he eventually had hip replacements in 2003.21

Birtsas has suggested that one reason he played internationally was to accumulate money to go into business.22 After he retired, he founded RBI Inc., a construction and development company that specialized in real estate investments, management, and historical preservation.23 Over time, he developed numerous local projects, often with his business partner Kirk Gibson. For example, in 2001, he purchased the land that contained Ellis Barn, an 1884 building that represented a significant period of Michigan’s agricultural history. He began a five-year fight to rehabilitate the building, and in 2005 he and Gibson donated the barn to Springfield Township, adding a cash donation to support its rehabilitation.24

Birtsas told an interviewer in 2009 that he had grown to like the development business. “It was tough for me in the beginning (to leave baseball), but now that I’ve moved into business, I get the same rush as I did pitching a two-hit shutout,” he said.25

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, and Baseball-Almanac.com.

Notes

1 Heather Clement, “Clarkston Loses Beloved Mentor,” Clarkston (Michigan) News, July 27, 2005.

2 Clement.

3 Clement.

4 Clement.

5 https://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/statsPDFArchive/MBA1/Baseball_Men’s_Division%20I_1982_416_Michigan%20State%20University.pdf Accessed October 5, 2020.

6 “Final 1982 Men’s Baseball Statistics Report,” https://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/statsPDFArchive/MBA1/Baseball_Men’s_Division%20I_1982_416_Michigan%20State%20University.pdf Accessed April 23, 2021.

7 “Tim Birtsas Scouting Report, 1982 May 09,” National Baseball Hall of Fame. https://collection.baseballhall.org/PASTIME/tim-birtsas-scouting-report-1982-may-09 Accessed April 23, 2021.

8 Murray Chass, “Yanks and A’s Complete Deal for Henderson,” New York Times, December 6, 1984.

9 Bob Tripi, “Tim Birtsas Grew Up with Dream of Playing,” UPI Archives, May 30, 1985. upi.com/Archives/1985/05/30/Tim-Birtsas-grew-up-with-a-dream-of-playing/3426486273600/.

10 Tripi.

11 Tripi.

12 Associated Press, “Rijo Placed on 21-Day Disabled List,” New London (Connecticut) Day, August 28, 1988.

13 Associated Press, “Helms Managing Reds,” New York Times, August 25, 1989.

14 Claire Smith, “Reds Find Relief with ‘Nasty” Bunch on and off Mound,” New York Times, April 23, 1990.

15 Smith.

16 Smith.

17 Charles F. Faber and Zacharia Webb, The Hunt for Reds October: Cincinnati in 1990 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2016), 145.

18 Faber and Webb, 156.

19 Associated Press, “Perfect Parks Have Best of Old, New,” Bowling Green (Kentuckey) Daily News, April 19, 1991.

20 “Birtsas Signs with Tigers,” Clarkston News, February 17, 1993.

21 “Birtsas Signs with Tigers.”

22 “Birtsas Signs with Tigers.”

23 Carol Hopkins, “Oakland County Cruisers hire former MLB player,” Oakland Press, March 9, 2009.

24 https://www.oakgov.com/parks/parksandtrails/Springfield-Oaks/ellis-barn/Pages/default.aspx. Accessed April 23, 2021.

25 Hopkins.

Jeff Bittiger’s professional baseball career spanned 23 seasons. But that long-playing career, which ended at the age of 40, included just 33 games – in parts of four seasons – in the major leagues.

The handful of highlights from his time in the major leagues includes four victories as a right-handed pitcher – including one for the Minnesota Twins in their pennant drive of 1987 – and one major-league hit.

Bittiger was born on April 13, 1962, in Jersey City, New Jersey. His father, Gary, was a chemical plant employee and his mother, Lois, was a secretary. He had a brother, Gary Jr., and a sister, Kerri.

Jeff attended Secaucus (New Jersey) High School. He joined the Secaucus varsity baseball team as a freshman as a catcher and infielder. He started pitching as a sophomore.

In a preview of his senior season, the 5-foot-10, 175-pounder threw a one-hitter with 14 strikeouts in the Patriots’ 6-3 season-opening victory over Wallington on April 3. The team went on to win the New Jersey Group 1 state championship.

Bittiger, who played shortstop when he wasn’t pitching, batted .490 with 9 home runs and 35 RBIs. On the mound he was 14-0 with a 0.29 ERA and 211 strikeouts in 102 innings. He finished his high-school career by tossing a four-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts – his lowest total of the season – in the Patriots’ 6-0 victory over Monroe Township in the state championship game. Secaucus finished the season with a 26-2 record.

Bittiger, whose fastball was clocked at 93 MPH, “established himself as one of the best, if not the best in the state.”1

Three days before pitching the Patriots to the title, Bittiger was selected in the seventh round of the June 1980 amateur draft by the New York Mets. Bittiger was the ninth pick for the Mets, who had three first-round picks and selected Darryl Strawberry with the first overall pick.

Bittiger, who had been offered a full athletic scholarship to play baseball for Clemson, signed with the Mets on July 1. The Mets announced they intended to use Bittiger as both an infielder and pitcher.

“He has a two-way shot, as a pitcher and a third baseman,” said Mets director of scouting Pete Gebrian. “He can swing the bat with some power.”2

Bittiger reported to Little Falls (New York) of the Class-A New York-Penn League. On the mound, he got off to a good start, striking out 10 and allowing no earned runs in his five innings. In seven pitching appearances, he was 0-1 with a 1.04 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 26 innings. In 37 at-bats, he batted .189 with 3 RBIs.

After the New York-Penn League season, Bittiger spent two months with the Mets Instructional League team in Florida.

According to a newspaper, Bittiger made a good impression with the Mets as a pitcher – “one of the top one or two arms in the organization.”3

Mets general manager Frank Cashen and manager Joe Torre agreed. Cashen said, “The No. 1 thing you have to be impressed with in Jeff is his poise. It’s hard to believe he is only 18.”4 Torre said, “He’s just a baby, and I saw him pitch only once down in the Instructional League. But he made an impression on me, and he showed me how he responds to pressure. … He’s got a lot of velocity, and, if he stays healthy, there’s no telling how well he could develop.”5

Bittiger started the 1981 season with Lynchburg of the Class-A Carolina League. He went 11-7 with a 3.94 ERA in 24 starts and led the league in strikeouts (168 in 137 innings) to earn a promotion to Double-A Jackson. In four starts with Jackson, he was 2-1 with a 1.09 ERA.

He returned to Jackson for the 1982 season, going 12-5 with a 2.96 ERA in 25 starts and a league-record 190 strikeouts (in 164 innings). He allowed just 106 hits.

After the season Bittiger shared with Strawberry the Doubleday Award, as the outstanding Double-A player in the Mets organization.

Bittiger went to spring training with the Mets in 1983. He wouldn’t turn 21 until April, and was the youngest pitcher in the big-league camp. He was sent to the Mets’ minor-league camp on March 23. Two days earlier, he had pitched four shutout innings in the Mets’ 3-1 exhibition victory over Toronto.

Bittiger spent the 1983 season with Triple-A Tidewater. With the Tides, he started slowly, winning just four of his first 12 decisions, but he finished with a 12-10 record in 28 starts.

Bittiger again went to the Mets’ big-league camp in 1984 before spending the season in Tidewater. He was 8-8 with a 3.88 ERA in 23 starts.

In spring training with the Mets in 1985, Bittiger got caught in a numbers game. “Jeff reached a peak in ’82, then dropped off some while others went past him,” said Mets manager Davey Johnson. “Now another group has come up to that peak. His command (of pitches) hasn’t improved as much as it should have by this time.”6

Bittiger returned to Tidewater in 1985 for his third season with the Tides, going 11-7 with a 3.69 ERA in 24 starts. He started the season with a five-game winning streak and finished the season by winning five of his last seven decisions. But he missed seven starts after pulling a hamstring in early August.

In January of 1986, Bittiger was traded (along with catcher Ronn Reynolds) to the Philadelphia Phillies for a pair of minor leaguers, pitcher Rodger Cole and first baseman Ron Gideon. For the fourth consecutive season, he began in Triple A. With Portland of the Pacific Coast League, he went 13-8 (tying his career high for victories in a season that he set with two teams in 1981) in 26 starts. He was rewarded with a September call-up by the Phillies.

Bittiger made his major-league debut on September 2, 1986, against the San Diego Padres in Philadelphia. He allowed five runs in five innings and took the loss as the Padres defeated the Phillies, 6-2.

On September 22, in Pittsburgh, Bittiger made his second appearance. He allowed just two runs in 6⅔ innings to get the victory as the Phillies defeated the Pirates, 8-4.

Making the game more memorable for Bittiger, who had struck out in his only at-bat in his major-league debut, got his first major-league hit. In the top of the third, in his first at-bat of the day, Bittiger hit a solo home run to left field off Pirates starter Bob Kipper. After the game, he said, “More pitcher than third baseman, I think. I hit maybe eight or nine homers my senior year in high school, but pitching was what I did best.”7

Bittiger made his final appearance of the season on October 4, the next-to-last game of the season, when he started and went three innings in the Phillies’ 5-4, 14-inning victory over the visiting Montreal Expos.

Bittiger was released by the Phillies in December. He signed with the Atlanta Braves and was invited to spring training in 1987 but was released on April 4. He signed a minor-league contract with the Minnesota Twins in mid-April and was assigned to Portland (PCL). In a career-high 180 innings, he was 12-10 with a 3.40 ERA.

Bittiger was called up by the Twins, who were en route to their first World Series title. He made his American League debut on September 7 at the Metrodome against the Chicago White Sox. He went seven innings, allowing six hits and one run while striking out five, in the Twins’ 8-1 victory. The victory left the Twins with a three-game lead in the AL West over second-place Oakland with 23 games remaining. Bittiger made two more appearances for the Twins, both in relief. After the season, he was released by the Twins, and he signed with the Chicago White Sox in January of 1988.

Bittiger opened the 1988 season with Vancouver (PCL). A 4-1 record, 1.04 ERA, and five complete games in seven starts earned him a call-up by the White Sox on May 13. In his White Sox debut on May 16, he allowed one earned run and struck out six in four innings in Chicago’s 5-1 loss to Toronto. He spent the remainder of the 1988 season with the White Sox, going 2-4 with a 4.23 ERA in 25 appearances (seven starts).

Bittiger returned to Vancouver to start the 1989 season. He was recalled by the White Sox on May 22 and pitched 4⅔ innings of relief the next day. He allowed two earned runs in Chicago’s 5-1 loss to the visiting Baltimore Orioles. On May 30 he started and took the loss in Chicago’s 10-3 loss to the Tigers. He allowed five earned runs in five innings in what would be his final major-league appearance.

Bittiger left that start with a pulled muscle and was placed on the disabled list two days later. In late June he went to Sarasota for a rehab stint. He went 1-1 with a 0.75 ERA in two starts for the Gulf Coast League White Sox. He was activated from the disabled list on July 13 and sent back to Vancouver. With Vancouver, he was 9-5 with a 2.12 ERA.

In November of 1989, Bittiger was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for infielder Tracy Woodson. He was added to the Dodgers’ 40-man roster and went to spring training with the team in 1990. But again, he got caught in a numbers game.

There was a 32-day work stoppage (a lockout by the owners) during spring training. After spring training resumed, there was talk that major-league rosters would be 27 players (three extra players) for the month of April. Ultimately, teams started the season with 24 players. Bittiger was sent outright to Albuquerque. He had agreed to the assignment, waiving his right to free agency.

“I was pretty disappointed,” said Bittiger. “I knew the short three-week spring training was going to hurt my chance of making it. It’s disappointing to go back (to the PCL). I felt I was the best pitcher in the league last year. I don’t know what else I can prove.”8

With Albuquerque in 1990, Bittiger won a career-high 15 games, going 15-6 with a 4.15 ERA in 28 appearances. After the season he signed with the Cleveland organization and spent the 1991 season with Colorado Springs (PCL). For the 1992 season, he signed with the Oakland organization. He started the season at Double-A Huntsville. He put together an eight-game winning streak to earn a promotion to Triple-A Tacoma. Between the two, he was 13-8 with a 2.97 ERA.

In 1993, for the first time, Bittiger didn’t go to a spring camp. He pitched for an amateur team in New Jersey, then joined the Rochester (Minnesota) Aces of the newly formed independent Northern League. The franchise moved to Winnipeg after the 1994 season and Bittiger pitched for Winnipeg.

During the 1994-95 offseason, with the major-league players on strike, Bittiger signed a contract with the Oakland A’s, whose general manager was Billy Beane, who had been taken by the Mets in the same draft as Bittiger. After the A’s finished their Cactus League schedule with a 14-10-1 record, Bittiger was expected to be the A’s Opening Day starter on April 3.

A settlement to end the work stoppage was reached on April 1 and the start of the regular season was postponed until April 26. Bittiger was assigned to Triple-A Edmonton (PCL).

“I just wanted an opportunity to pitch,” said Bittiger. “I think I can still pitch, whether it’s here (Edmonton) or in the big leagues.”9

He appeared in six games with Edmonton – the sixth PCL team he had pitched for – going 2-0 with a 5.28 ERA. He was released by Oakland on April 30, and returned to Winnipeg of the Northern League for the remainder of the 1995 season, going 8-5 in 20 starts.

In 1996 Bittiger joined the expansion Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks of the Northern League. It would be the final team of his 23-year career. He spent the next seven seasons with the RedHawks.

In 1998 he was 12-1 with a 1.94 ERA in 16 starts as he tied the league record for victories and led the RedHawks to the league title. In 2000 Bittiger was named Baseball America’s Independent Player of the Decade (for the 1990s). After the 2002 season, he retired as a player. In seven seasons with the RedHawks, he was 36-12 with a 3.46 ERA in 77 starts.

For his minor-league career, Bittiger won 193 games (135 in Organized Baseball and 58 in independent leagues) and struck out 1,994 (1,397 in Organized Baseball and 597 in independent leagues). At the time of his retirement, he was the Northern League career leader in victories and strikeouts.

After retiring, Bittiger spent the 2003 season as the RedHawks pitching coach. In 2004 he became a scout for the Oakland Athletics, a position he held for nearly two decades. In 2010 he was named the Oakland organization’s Scout of the Year.

Bittiger and his wife Alicia lived in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. Their son Brett was drafted by the Oakland Athletics twice. Oakland first drafted Brett, a shortstop, out of Pius X High School in the 41st round of the 2011 draft. He elected to play for Fairleigh Dickinson instead of signing. After one season, he transferred to Pace University, where he was a starter for three seasons. Oakland selected him in the 40th round of the 2016 draft. He played briefly for Oakland’s Arizona Summer League team in 2016 before retiring.

Jeff Bittiger died at the age of 63 on July 19, 2025.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Newspapers.com, paceuathletics.com and Retrosheet.org.

Notes

1 Greg Baumann, “Playoff Teams Offer Baseball’s Best,” Passaic (New Jersey) Herald-News, June 9, 1980: 13.

2 Patty LaDuca, “Bittiger Begins Met Career,” Passaic Herald-News, July 2, 1980: 40.

3 “Ex-Secaucus Pitcher Already a Hit with Mets,” Hackensack Record, December 12, 1980: 67.

4 “Ex-Secaucus Pitcher Already a Hit with Mets.”

5 “Ex-Secaucus Pitcher Already a Hit with Mets.”

6 Jack O’Connell, “Former Top Prospect Fights to Remain Met,” Hackensack Record, March 12, 1985: 39.

7 Bill Conlin, “Bittiger Shows His Stuff,” Philadelphia Daily News, September 23, 1986: 84.

8 Frank Maestas, “24-Man Roster Probably Cost Bittiger a Job,” Albuquerque Journal, March 31, 1990: 29.

9 “Bittiger Travels Around PCL on Strength of Pitching Arm,” Edmonton Journal, April 10, 1995: 32.

Frank Jay Boyd was born on April 2, 1868, in West Middletown, Pennsylvania, a rural borough of Pittsburgh that was once a stop on the Underground Railroad.2 There, his painter and merchant father, John, and homemaker mother, Eliza, raised three children. Boyd was the middle child; his brother, William, was the oldest and his sister, Mary (also known as Birdie), was the youngest. Boyd was of Scottish and Irish descent; his lineage interestingly runs through his great-great-grandfather, David Boyd, a Revolutionary War veteran who “resembled an Indian in appearance” after having previously been held captive and raised during his teenage years by Native Americans.3

After leaving home to pursue higher education, Boyd attended California State Normal School (California University of Pennsylvania) and Washington & Jefferson College. Although this soon enabled him to secure school teaching jobs “for a number of years” in the surrounding Pittsburgh area, Boyd’s focus began to shift from academics to baseball.4 By the age of 20, he was already “well known to all ball players of Washington County and the West Virginia ‘panhandle’” for his fine play as a catcher for the independent West Middletown team.5 After he played for that club for at least the 1887 and 1888 seasons – while moonlighting for the independent W.B. Cains club of nearby Burgettstown – the Pittsburg Dispatch had this to say about Boyd (and one of his batterymates): “They can hold their own in any minor league, being not only an excellent battery, but first-class batters, and Boyd a very fine baserunner.”6 The 6-foot-4, 195-pound “great hitter” reportedly hit .410 for West Middletown in 1888.7

The big backstop finally got his first nibble of professional ball in the 1889 campaign when he joined Wheeling of the Tri-State League.8 But review of box scores indicates that he was released before Opening Day. Although records are sketchy, it is likely that the right-handed batter and thrower began the regular season with the independent club in Mingo Junction, a small village in Ohio less than 20 miles from his hometown.9 What is certain, however, is that he joined the independent club in Scottdale, Pennsylvania, in July.10 He was called one of that team’s “best” players, and it was reported by multiple sources in September that Boyd was slated to join the independent club in Jamestown, New York, to finish the season.11 For unclear reasons, however, the catcher actually remained in his home state and wrapped up his busy year with the independent Erie Drummers.12

The hectic nature of Boyd’s 1889 campaign continued into the offseason. In November he signed for the following season with Erie, which was in the midst of joining the newly formed New York-Pennsylvania League.13 Although advancing from semipro to professional ball likely seemed at the time to be a progressive step for Boyd, it may have cost him an expedited path to the big leagues. In early December, (temporary) manager Harry Smith of the National League’s Pittsburgh Alleghenys met with the big catcher. The Pittsburgh Post reported this of their meeting: “Smith wanted Boyd to sign a Pittsburgh contract, but he could not do it, as he had already signed an Erie contract. Smith wants him to ask for his release from Erie and join the Pittsburgh leaguers, but it is not likely the Erie team will so easily let him go, as he is a good man in his position.”14 Indeed, Erie did not release the “popular” player; this would not be the last time unfortunate circumstances caused a setback to Boyd’s major-league career plans.15

Serving as the Drummers’ backstop during the 1890 and 1891 seasons, Boyd received media praise for his play. Meaning it as a compliment, the Pittsburg Dispatch stated early in the 1890 campaign that “Boyd will bother many people” in the league.16 And although the Erie Daily Times likewise lauded his play behind the plate, it additionally exposed a different, darker side of Boyd that arose during a June 30, 1891, game against Meadville. “Frank Boyd is a good catcher, but the public will not tolerate many displays of temper like that given yesterday,” the newspaper opined.17 Unsportsmanlike instances such as this continued to plague Boyd throughout his career, giving him a bad reputation among his opponents.

The offseason after the 1891 campaign proved to be filled with both intrigue and excitement for the 23-year-old. Leveraging his teaching background, Boyd was hired as a detective by the Edinboro State Normal School in Pennsylvania to surveil a principal thought to be stealing funds from the school’s financial manager. “[Boyd] matriculated and began to ‘brush up’ in the day time, and watched [the principal] from a secret hiding place, covering [the financial manager’s] safe and desk at night,” reported the Pittsburg Dispatch. “After two months’ watching Boyd gave up his job, failing to detect [the principal] or anybody else.”18 Although unsuccessful in ferreting out the alleged thief, the catcher was successful in generating interest from several minor-league clubs spanning the Illinois-Iowa League, Western League, and Wisconsin-Michigan League.19 Boyd eventually opted to jump to the Eastern League, however, opening the 1892 season with the Elmira Gladiators before spending the second half with the Buffalo Bisons. All told, he hit a disappointing .227 in 97 games.20

While working as a hotel clerk during the offseason, Boyd was reportedly was being targeted by the NL’s Boston Beaneaters, despite coming off an Eastern League campaign as a middling hitter at best.21 Although a deal with Boston never came to fruition, another NL team, the Cleveland Spiders, signed Boyd to a contract for the 1893 season. “Though unlike most hotel clerks, he wears very few diamonds,” observed Cleveland manager Patsy Tebeau upon meeting his new player. “The biggest he had on when I saw him was only an inch in circumference. That is quite modest, being that Boyd is a hotel clerk.”22 Initial scouting reports for the new Spiders catcher were generally favorable, with the Cleveland Leader noting that Boyd was reputedly “a fairly good man behind the bat,” while the Cleveland Plain Dealer commented that he was “physically a big fellow and looks as though he could stand behind the bat for a week at a time.”23 The Sporting News offered this assessment of the backstop: “Boyd is a large, well-molded man, with the qualifications of a good catcher, in that he has a good arm and is an accurate thrower.”24 And Frank Knauss, an Eastern League competitor of Boyd’s, deemed him to be “a clever catcher,” and opined that “Cleveland has made no mistake in signing him.”25

As Cleveland headed south for spring training, expectations indeed grew for the big catcher, with the Cleveland Leader now proclaiming that Boyd “from all accounts will develop into a really valuable player behind the bat.”26 Although a finger injury limited his preseason playing time, Boyd nonetheless was included on the club’s roster to begin the 1893 regular season.27 After spending the first nine games on the bench, Boyd was tabbed by manager Tebeau to get the start behind the plate in the May 18 game against the Cincinnati Reds. His batterymate that day was none other than future Hall of Famer Cy Young. In the 21-4 drubbing of the Reds, Boyd “rapped a beauty to left” for an RBI double in his first plate appearance “which a speedy man might have drawn into a triple.”28 All told, he went 1-for-5 with a walk, three runs scored, and three RBIs in his big-league debut. Despite some mild criticisms of his handling of foul flies, the 25-year-old acquitted himself quite nicely in the field.29 “The young man is clean cut and vigorous looking and his work was like that of an old-timer,” commented the Cleveland Plain Dealer on Boyd’s performance. “He gave Young perfect support. His throwing was a sight for sore eyes.”30 And The Sporting News echoed the positive sentiment: “He caught well, giving ‘Cy’ Young excellent support and the opinion prevails that the youngster will do.”31 The next day in another trouncing of Cincinnati, the rookie backstop caught John Clarkson, another future Hall of Famer. Unlike in his debut, however, this time Boyd only saw action as a ninth-inning defensive replacement. It was his final appearance in the big leagues – perhaps again due in large part to unfortunate circumstances.

Earlier in 1893, the Eastern League contended that the NL had been pilfering its talent without providing proper compensation as per an agreement between the two parties. Boyd, who had come to Cleveland via the Eastern League’s Buffalo club, was one of the players stuck in the middle of the squabbling. Although the Spiders believed till the end that they held a legitimate claim on Boyd’s services, NL President Nick Young intervened and opted to settle the dispute in June by returning the catcher to the Eastern League and Buffalo.32 “Boyd says with all possible emphasis that he will not play with the Bisons,” reported the Cleveland Plain Dealer after Young’s decision.33 Indeed, Boyd did not immediately sign with Buffalo. He still kept himself sharp, however, by playing for independent Pennsylvania clubs in Marienville, Titusville, and Franklin, before finally relenting and rejoining the Bisons in August.34

Although the catcher hit a respectable .313 in 39 games to cap his 1893 campaign back in Buffalo, his season was again tainted by instances of unsportsmanlike play. After an August game against Erie, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that “Boyd had a stick about 18 or 20 inches in length, sharpened on one end, which he used as his weapon, and during the earlier part of the game, while Bill] Kuehne was about to field a ground hit he deliberately threw it in front of Bill, thereby causing him to slip up on the play.”35 Later in that game, he used the same tactic during a foul fly, and was this time fined by the umpire. And while coaching third base in a September contest again versus Erie, Boyd was “warned not to exercise his voice” while he “crazily danced” and “sonorously” taunted the opposition.36 Nonetheless, the “lively chirruper” was back with Buffalo for the 1894 season, hitting a solid .318 in 82 games and impressing with his fine throwing arm.37

After his three consecutive seasons in Buffalo, Boyd spent the rest of his baseball career hopping from town to town. In 1895 the “rowdy and scrappy” catcher became the player-manager for the Franklin (Pennsylvania) Braves of newly formed Iron and Oil League, where his uncivil behavior continued.38 “Frank Boyd’s team, down in Franklin, is getting itself badly disliked by their boorish and dirty ball playing of late,” reported the Buffalo Enquirer. “One day last week the Oil City team was compelled to arm itself with bats and threaten to brain any of the spectators who laid hands on either the players or the umpire, whom they tried to mob at the instigation of Boyd, it is said.”39 Nonetheless, Franklin’s mayor awarded a diamond pin to the “great favorite” in an August ceremony, after which the backstop departed to Detroit to join the Western League’s Tigers upon receiving their more lucrative offer.40 He hit .258 in 23 games with Detroit.41

Returning to the Eastern League for the 1896 campaign, Boyd joined the Rochester Blackbirds, for whom he posted respectable batting numbers while displaying “brilliant backstop work.”42 There, the “ironman” became a fan favorite upon catching in nearly every game during the season.43 After Boyd jumped to the league-rival Scranton Red Sox for the 1897 season, his batting average declined over 50 points to .204 – perhaps a result of the prior year’s heavy workload.44 His offensive struggles continued in 1898 when he hit .192 in 97 games back at Rochester (and Ottawa when the team relocated there during the season).

Despite now being deemed a “has been” and “bunco man” in the media, Boyd remained in the Eastern League to begin the 1899 campaign, this time with the Hartford Indians, but was released early on by manager Billy Barnie because he had been “so slow in throwing that bases were stolen with impunity.”45 He later briefly joined the Bristol Bell Makers of the Connecticut League but was commissioned to finish the season as an Eastern League umpire. While umpiring a game in Syracuse on Sunday, July 2, Boyd and some members of the home team were arrested and charged with Sabbath breaking.46 Things did not improve after that incident. “It was the hardest work I ever put in in my life,” Boyd said of his umpiring experience. “To begin with, knowing every player in the league, made the task still more severe, for where you would expect the men you formerly played with to help you out, they were the worst of the lot, and had no more respect for one’s feelings than a dog would have. I would rather play than umpire any time.”47

With his skills on the decline, the 32-year-old nonetheless was offered the opportunity to return to Bristol as a player-manager in 1900 – while simultaneously being pursued by the Wheeling Stogies of the Interstate League. Bristol, however, believed it held a legal claim to Boyd’s services. “But Boyd will play here or in no league,” proclaimed Bristol’s secretary, James Cray. “We not only have his contract duly signed, sealed and delivered, but he has also accepted advance money from us. We intend to compel him to live up to his agreement if there is any baseball law that can be invoked to do so.”48 Once the dispute was settled, however, the catcher joined Wheeling’s roster to begin the season. After he finished the campaign hitting a dreadful .208 in 84 games with the Stogies, Boyd’s baseball career was over.

In his post-baseball years, Boyd settled down in Oil City, Pennsylvania, with his “well-to-do” wife, Mary.49 Strange circumstances surrounded their marriage. According to the Cleveland Leader, Boyd’s soon-to-be bride charged him with an unspecified crime while he was on the road during the 1893 baseball season. Arrested out of town, he posted bail, returned home, and got married the very next day. His new wife then dropped the charges.50 Despite their rocky beginning, the couple raised five children: Frank, Jane, John, Loretta, and Mary. Census information indicates Boyd was an Oil City alderman in 1900. The next year he joined the South Penn Oil Company. There, Boyd spent 32 years primarily working in the land title and tax department before retiring. He was a member of St. Joseph (Catholic) Church and the Oil City Elks Lodge.51 After a four-year battle, Boyd succumbed to hypertensive cardiovascular disease and decompensation on December 16, 1937. He was buried in St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Oil City.

Despite his reputation for dirty play on the baseball field, Boyd exhibited a softer side in his later years. “He was a very modest, self-effacing man, very intelligent and well-informed on many subjects,” wrote his daughter, Jane, in a 1973 letter to historian Clifford Kachline of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. “He had a very engaging smile and a good sense of humor. When the ball-playing boys on the block would see him coming home from work you could hear, ‘Throw me one, Mr. Boyd, throw me one, please!’ He never came in the home until he had thrown a ball to each boy.”52

Sources

In addition to the sources listed in the Notes, the author accessed Boyd’s file from the library of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York; Ancestry.com; Baseball-Reference.com; Chronicling America; GenealogyBank.com; NewspaperArchive.com; Newspapers.com; Paper of Record; and Retrosheet.org.

Notes

1 David Nemec, The Rank and File of 19th Century Major League Baseball: Biographies of 1,084 Players, Owners, Managers and Umpires (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2012), 92.

2 “West Middletown Walking Tour to Focus on Underground Railroad,” Observer-Reporter (Washington, Pennsylvania), April 7, 2016, observer-reporter.com/news/localnews/west-middletown-walking-tour-to-focus-on-underground-railroad/article_3d24e0a8-c86a-5471-99f8-2f8793894d70.html, accessed June 24, 2019.

3 64th Congress 1st Session, Senate Documents Vol. 14: Eighteenth Report of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution October 11, 1914, to October 11, 1915 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1916), 169.

4 “Frank J. Boyd Is Dead Here,” Oil City (Pennsylvania) Derrick, December 17, 1937: 5.

5 “West Middletown Ball Players,” Canonsburg (Pennsylvania) Notes, May 10, 1888: 1.

6 “West Middletown-Burgettstown,” Canonsburg (Pennsylvania) Notes, September 15, 1887: 1; “Middletown in Line,” Pittsburg Dispatch, February 12, 1889: 6.

7 “Base Ball,” Wheeling (West Virginia) Daily Register, March 8, 1889: 4.

8 “Base Ball.”

9 “Other Games,” Pittsburg Dispatch, May 5, 1889: 6; “The Duquesnes Downed,” Pittsburg Dispatch, July 12, 1889: 6.

10 “A Successful Trip,” Pittsburg Dispatch, July 21, 1889: 6.

11 “Bad State of Affairs,” Erie (Pennsylvania) Daily Times, September 17, 1889: 3; “Downed the Nocks Again,” Pittsburg Dispatch, September 13, 1889: 6.

12 “Baseball Melange,” Erie (Pennsylvania) Daily Times, September 26, 1889: 1; “The Situation in Pittsburgh,” Pittsburgh Post, December 4, 1889: 6.

13 “City News in Brief,” Erie (Pennsylvania) Daily Times, November 26, 1889: 4.

14 “The Situation in Pittsburgh.”

15 “General Sporting Notes,” Erie (Pennsylvania) Daily Times, November 29, 1892: 1.

16 “Mr. Schmitt Was Great,” Pittsburg Dispatch, April 17, 1890: 6.

17 “On the Diamond,” Erie (Pennsylvania) Daily Times, July 1, 1891: 1.

18 “Cooper Still Ahead,” Pittsburg Dispatch, February 11, 1892: 7.

19 “Local Baseball Notes,” Erie (Pennsylvania) Daily Times, February 9, 1892: 4.

20 “Eastern League,” Buffalo Courier, March 4, 1893: 8.

21 “General Sporting Notes.”

22 “Signed Two Men,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, January 28, 1893: 5.

23 “The Sporting World,” Cleveland Leader, January 24, 1893: 3; “Signed Two Men.”

24 “Cleveland Signs Two Players,” The Sporting News, February 4, 1893: 1.

25 “Signed Two Men.”

26 “On Their Way South,” Cleveland Leader, March 28, 1893: 3.

27 “Cuppy Is Rounding To [sic],” Cleveland Leader, April 9, 1893: 3.

28 “Twenty-Three Hits,” Cleveland Leader, May 19, 1893: 3; “A Farce,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 19, 1893: 5.

29 “Twenty-Three Hits.”

30 “A Farce.”

31 “Those Awful Spiders,” The Sporting News, May 27, 1893: 5.

32 Nemec.

33 “The Disabled Spiders,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, June 17, 1893: 7.

34 “Boyd’s Work Was Good,” Cleveland Leader, June 25, 1893: 3; “Boyd Batted Well,” Cleveland Leader, July 2, 1893: 3; “Base Ball Notes,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 18, 1893: 5.

35 “Base Ball Notes,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, August 20, 1893: 6.

36 “It Came in the Ninth,” Buffalo Courier, September 6, 1893: 8.

37 “Sporting,” Buffalo Courier, March 3, 1895: 20; “Down to Business,” Buffalo Courier, April 19, 1894: 8.

38 “Four Straight,” Buffalo Enquirer, August 24, 1895: 10.

39 “Luck Changed,” Buffalo Enquirer, August 7, 1895: 8.

40 “Four Straight”; “Base Hits,” Evening Democrat (Warren, Pennsylvania), August 23, 1895: 4.

41 “Work of a League,” Saint Paul Daily Globe, December 1, 1895: 14.

42 “Eastern League Players’ Averages,” Scranton (Pennsylvania) Tribune, November 23, 1896: 3; “Base Ball Comment,” Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania) Record, January 20, 1897: 7.

43 Nemec; “Morton Returned from His Trip,” Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, February 18, 1898: 14.

44 “Averages of Eastern League,” Philadelphia Inquirer, January 31, 1898: 4.

45 “World of Sports,” Waterbury (Connecticut) Democrat, May 22, 1899: 8; “The National Game,” Hartford Daily Courant, May 29, 1899: 2.

46 “Base Ballists Arrested,” Scranton (Pennsylvania) Times, July 3, 1899: 1.

47 “It Sickened Boyd,” Ottawa Journal, September 7, 1899: 3.

48 “Bristol Managers Anxious,” New Haven Register, May 4, 1900: 9.

49 “A Catcher Caught,” Cleveland Leader, July 1, 1893: 2.

50 “A Catcher Caught.”

51 “Frank J. Boyd Is Dead Here.”

52 Copy of letter written by Jane Boyd Thomas to Clifford Kachline dated September 22, 1973, from Boyd’s file in the library of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.

The Angels and Brown both got off to good starts in 2009. The Angels, who had won four of the previous five American League West Division titles, won 12 of their first 15 Cactus League games with Brown leading the team with 9 RBIs.

On March 22 Brown went 6-for-6 with two solo home runs and a run-scoring triple in the Angels’ 18-12 victory over Kansas City. The effort raised his spring average to .543 (19-for-35) with a team-high 15 RBIs.

Despite those impressive numbers, Brown appeared destined to return to Triple-A Salt Lake for a third season.

“Leadoff batter Chone Figgins is entrenched at third base, the Angels are committed to Kendrys Morales at first base and veteran utility infielder Robb Quinlan is the likely backup at both positions,” a sportswriter’s analysis said. “And with Manager Mike Scioscia leaning toward opening the season with 12 pitchers, there could be one less bench player.”1

Brown said he was just trying to get the attention of Angels management.

“I’m just showcasing what I can do, trying to make them look my way,” Brown said. “I know they know I can hit in Triple A. They know I need an opportunity, a real opportunity in the major leagues. I’ve had tastes. I’ve never played (started) two days in a row.”2

Scioscia said Brown had “jumped up on our depth chart. But we have some guys ahead of him at some spots. If there’s no role, he’ll be at Triple A.”3

Despite hitting .468 for the spring with a team-high 19 RBIs, Brown was demoted to Salt Lake two days before the season opener. The demotion came after the Angels had presented Brown with the team’s Fred Haney Award, as the team’s outstanding player in spring training.

“This guy has opened a lot of our eyes,” Scioscia said.4

Brown was born to Robert and Louanne Brown on August 8, 1982 in Bellevue, Washington.

The family moved to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, soon after that and Matt grew up there. Robert Brown was a general contractor who ran his own firm, R.L. Brown Construction Company.5 Matt started playing baseball when he was 5 years old and he developed into an All-State player.

Brown was a pitcher and shortstop during his three years on the Coeur d’Alene varsity baseball team. As a senior in 2001, he earned All-State honors after helping the Vikings win the Idaho state title. He batted .556 with 9 home runs and 41 RBIs. As a pitcher he was 6-1 with a 2.46 ERA.

“Matt is a great athlete,” said Brian Holgate, Brown’s high-school baseball coach. “Sports came easy for him. Once he started focusing on baseball, he really blossomed. He was recruited, but (I) wouldn’t say heavily recruited.”6

As Coeur d’Alene’s season had progressed, Brown garnered a lot of attention.

“There was so much interest in the last month,” Holgate said. “We had at least 10 scouts at every game and at practices. When we were taking (batting practice) before our first game at state, there were at least 10 scouts. From his sophomore to senior year, there’s no kid I’ve ever seen

improve as much as Matt Brown.”7

Brown was selected by the Anaheim Angels in the 10th round of the 2001 amateur free-agent draft. Brown, who had scholarship offers from Oregon State and several smaller colleges, signed with the Angels on June 12, the day of his high school graduation.

“Before we met with (Anaheim officials), I sat down with my family and we talked about everything,” Brown said. “This seems like the best opportunity right now.”8

Brown began his professional career with the Angels’ Arizona Summer League team in Mesa. He got off to a slow start, hitting .163 with one home run and 21 RBIs in 46 games. After the ASL season, he played in the Arizona Instructional League and was named a co-winner of the Angels’ Dick Wantz Memorial Trophy as the organization’s Instructional League player who showed the most dedication and improvement.

Returning to Mesa and the ASL to start the 2002 season, Brpwn batted .361 with 2 home runs and 22 RBIs in 28 games and made just one error at third base. He was sent to Provo of the rookie-level Pioneer League in July. With Provo, he batted .296 in 32 games.

Brown started the 2003 season with Cedar Rapids of the Class-A Midwest League. After hitting .207 in 49 games, he was sent back to Provo. With Provo, he regrouped to hit a team-high 11 home runs (third best in the Pioneer League) and drive in 52 runs (tied for second) in 65 games. The Angels won the Pioneer League South Division title with a 54-22 record and reached the championship series of the league playoffs, where they were swept by Billings, 2-0.

Brown spent the entire 2004 season with Cedar Rapids, hitting .233 with 23 home runs (third in the Midwest League) and 82 RBIs (fifth). He played in the Midwest League All-Star Game.

At Rancho Cucamonga of the Class-A California League in 2005, Brown hit .262 with 39 doubles, 12 home runs, and 65 RBIs. He was promoted to Arkansas of the Double-A Texas League for the 2006 season. He led the Travelers in hits, runs scored, at-bats, and games played as he hit .293 with 19 home runs and 79 RBIs. He was third in the Texas League in doubles (41) and fifth in extra-base hits (63). After the season he was added to the Angels’ 40-man roster.

In 2007 Brown got his first invitation to spring training with the Angels, a promotion to Triple-A Salt Lake, and two brief stints with the Angels.

In 13 spring-training games with the Angels he went 6-for-17 with 3 home runs and 7 RBIs. Even though he was sent to the Angels’ minor-league camp on March 18, his three home runs tied (with Gary Matthews Jr.) for the team lead in home runs.

Brown got off to a good start with the Salt Lake Bees, hitting .290 with 3 home runs and 21 RBIs in 29 games, to earn a recall by the Angels on May 8.

Brown made his major-league debut on May 10, 2007, in a day game at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. He entered the game against Cleveland as a defensive replacement at third base in the top of the eighth inning. In the bottom of the inning, facing Cleveland reliever Aaron Fultz, he flied out to left field in his first major-league at-bat.

In the top of the ninth, Brown made an outstanding defensive play for the final out of Kelvim Escobar’s 8-0 shutout. With runners at first and third, Brown fielded a ball hit by Jason Michaels cleanly near the foul line and made a long throw to first baseman Robb Quinlan to retire Michaels.

That was the only appearance of his first stint with the Angels before he was returned to Salt Lake on May 15.

Brown was called up again on July 30. Over 17 days he played in three games (one start) before being returned to Salt Lake. He went 0-for-4 in the three games.

In 110 games with Salt Lake, Brown hit .276 with 30 doubles, 19 home runs, and 60 RBIs. He hit two home runs in a game three times. The Bees won the PCL’s North Division with a 74-69 record before losing to Sacramento, three games to two, in the first round of the playoffs.

Brown was not recalled by the Angels in September. The team won the AL West title before being swept by Boston in the Division Series.

During the winter of 2007-08, Brown played briefly with Leones del Escogido of the Dominican Winter League. He batted .148 in eight games.

In his second spring training with the Angels, Brown appeared in 11 games, going 4-for-13. A highlight came in the Angels’ 5-4, 10-inning victory over Arizona in Tempe on March 15. He tied the game with a solo home run in the eighth inning and then tripled to lead off the 10th inning and scored the winning run.

Brown began the season with Salt Lake, and he and the Bees got off to a torrid start. The Bees opened the season with eight consecutive victories. After a loss, they won their next 13 games and were 21-1 on April 27. The Bees had outscored their opponents 161-81 in their first 22 games as they fashioned the PCL’s best season start.

Brown played a key role in the record-setting streak, hitting .429 with 6 home runs, 10 doubles, and 21 RBIs in the first 22 games.

“What’s exciting about Salt Lake is they have a lot of guys who are going to help us,” said Angels manager Mike Scioscia. “It’s not a veteran team beating up on kids. All of those guys are on our depth chart.”9

Brown was named the Angels’ Organizational Player of the Month for April after hitting .425 for the month and leading all of the minor leagues in total bases (80), extra-base hits (tied with 20), and runs scored (26). He was third in the minor leagues in average and hits and fifth in slugging percentage (.755).

The Angels recalled Brown on April 29. He started on April 30, going 0-for-4 in the Angels’ 6-1 victory over Oakland in Anaheim.

The next day, Brown got his first major-league hit. In the top of the eighth inning, with Oakland leading 15-6, Brown replaced Figgins at second base. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Brown hit a two-run double to right off Oakland reliever Dallas Braden. After the game, he was sent back to Salt Lake.

He was recalled on May 12 and made two starts, going 0-for-4 in each game, before being sent back to Salt Lake on May 22.

On July 16, Brown was the starting third baseman for the PCL in the Triple-A All-Star game in Louisville.

The PCL trailed the International League All-Stars 2-0 after eight innings before scoring six runs in the top of the ninth. Brown’s RBI single – his second hit of the game – tied the game, 2-2. Brown eventually scored and the PCL added three more runs to take a 6-2 lead before holding on for a 6-5 victory. Brown was named the PCL’s Top Star of the game.

At the end of July, Brown joined the US baseball team for the Beijing Olympics. Brown, who celebrated his 26th birthday on the day of the Opening Ceremonies, batted .281 with 2 home runs and a team-high 10 RBIs in nine games as Team USA, coached by Davey Johnson, earned the Bronze Medal. Brown drove in three runs in Team USA’s victory over Japan in the Bronze Medal game.

Brown was recalled by the Angels on September 8. He played sparingly, going 0-for-6 in six appearances as the Angels repeated as the AL West champion.

For the season, Brown hit .320 with 21 home runs and 67 RBIs in 97 games with Salt Lake and was 1-for-19 in 11 games with the Angels.

After his torrid spring training in 2009, Brown got off to a slow start with Salt Lake. He was batting just .211 in the first week of May. He ended up hitting .245 with 13 home runs and 69 RBIs in 107 games. He was not recalled in September by the Angels, who earned their fifth AL West Division title.

In December of 2009, Brown was granted free agency and he signed a minor-league contract with the Texas Rangers in January 2010. The contract included an invitation to spring training as a nonroster player. He got an extended look by the Rangers during spring training, hitting .270 with 2 home runs and 6 RBIs in 27 exhibition games, but he was sent to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

In early May Brown was sidelined with a strained left oblique. He missed nearly two months of action, returning to the Oklahoma City lineup on July 1. He went 13-for-39 in his first nine games after returning to the lineup and hit .249 with 10 home runs and 32 RBIs in 79 games with Oklahoma City.

After the season, Brown signed a minor-league contract with the Minnesota Twins. With the Twins in spring training of 2011, he batted .304 with 3 RBIs in 17 games. He was sent to Rochester of the International League. He batted .225 with 3 home runs and 10 RBIs in 34 games before being released on June 3.

In 2012 Brown played briefly for Monclova of the Mexican League. He batted .169 in 17 games.

After 12 seasons and at the age of 30, Brown’s playing career was over. His career minor-league totals show a .266 batting average with 137 home runs and 589 RBIs in 1,034 games. In his five seasons at Triple-A, he had a .270 average with 66 home runs and 238 RBIs in 427 games.

In 15 major-league games, he was 1-for-24 with 3 RBIs.

After retiring, Brown returned to Washington and went to work as a lineman.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, milb.com, Newspapers.com, Retrosheet.org, thebaseballcube.com, and the 2008 and 2009 Angels Information Guides.

Notes

1 Mike DiGiovanna, “Brown’s Efforts Appear Futile,” Los Angeles Times, March 23, 2009: C4.

2 DiGiovanna.

3 DiGiovanna.

4 Kevin Baxter, “Brown Among Final Cuts,” Los Angeles Times, April 5, 2009: C11.

5 Thank you to Melissa Searle of the Coeur d’Alene (Idaho) Public Library for providing information about the Brown family, which was found in the 1993 Coeur d’Alene city directory.

6 Brian Holgate, email correspondence, August 13, 2020.

7 Greg Lee and Jim Meehan, “Angels Draft CdA Star,” Spokane (Washington) Spokesman Review, June 6, 2001: 12.

8 “Brown Hopes to Fly with the Angels,” Spokane Spokesman-Review, June 13, 2001: 14.

9 Mike DiGiovanna, “Bootcheck Back, but Others Ill,” Los Angeles Times, April 28, 2008: D7.

Cacek was born to Vince and Betty (Nemec) Cacek in Hollywood, California on September 10, 1954. Vince Cacek was born in Bridgewater, South Dakota, and was raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he met Betty. He served in the Navy during World War II, and in management with Collins Radio Company, was transferred to California in 1952.3 He later became an executive at Southland Marketing, which at the time was the largest liquor distributor in the world. Later in his career he was a consultant for Arthur Andersen and ITT.4

As a youngster Vince Cacek had played on a Cedar Rapids American Legion team that played against a St. Louis American Legion team that starred Larry Berra, later to be famous as Yogi. There is a story of Cacek hitting a smash 390 feet to the gap for a triple and Berra answering with a merely 300-foot home run down the line. In California, Vince played semipro baseball and caught the attention of the Hollywood Stars, the Los Angeles Angels, and even the Chicago Cubs. He opted not to join the low minors as a 24-year-old with a fine job, a wife, a young daughter, and a child on the way.5 He was a relaxed and supportive role model for Craig, serving as president of the Panorama City American Little League and always as Craig’s go-to hitting instructor. It was not unusual for him to say, “Stay aggressive, go up there and swing from your ass!”6

Betty Cacek was a strong influence as well. A homemaker who was involved in community affairs, she had rallied support for sewage improvements. Later she worked as the membership secretary at the Mid-Valley YMCA and as a receptionist at a travel agency. Craig’s older sister, Christine, like her brother, made a career in special education.

Craig started playing organized baseball in Little League as an 8-year-old. As one of two younger boys in his first Little League season with Panorama City American, he was drilled by a 12-year-old pitcher. The beaning made young Cacek scared and afraid to “step in the bucket.” Vince Cacek was there with supportive words that would go on to help Craig throughout his career: “If they hit you every time, it wouldn’t be a game.”7

Growing up in Los Angeles with the arrival of the Dodgers, it was often assumed that all baseball-loving boys would bleed Dodger blue. Not so for Cacek, who was a proud Yankees fan. With his parents’ Iowa roots, they would visit family in Cedar Rapids. On television, the Yankees were broadcast. Quickly, Mickey Mantle became his favorite. The 1963 World Series between the Dodgers and Yankees brought 9-year-old Craig to devastation as the Dodgers won. He even wrote a poem to the Yankees that he sent to the team in consolation. Late in 1968, he got to see Mantle hit a home run in person, and it was a great thrill.8

Cacek starred for James Monroe High School under legendary high-school coach Denny Holt, who coached the Monroe Vikings from 1959 until 1981. “I didn’t tolerate much foolishness,” Holt recalled. “In fact, I didn’t tolerate any.”9 The Monroe Viking teams made the Los Angeles City final five times, winning the championship with a 19-0 record in 1971. The California Interscholastic Federation — Los Angeles Section holds the city final annually at Dodger Stadium. Many try but few high school teams play on the hallowed grounds of their heroes. Cacek started in right field for the Vikings squad as a junior and earned All-League honors. On a talent-loaded roster, three players (John Flinn, Kim Andrew, and Cacek) eventually reached the major leagues. After winning the Los Angeles City championship, All-City right fielder Cacek said, “We all grew up watching Sandy] Koufax and Don] Drysdale and dreaming to play there and to be there, oh my God. I remember leaving the parking lot and being shocked.”10

In 1972, as one of two returning starters from the 1971 squad, Cacek had the opportunity to sit with the Dodgers in the dugout for a 1972 game at Dodger Stadium.11 Walt Alston, Bill Buckner, and Frank Robinson made an impression on the shaggy-haired high-school slugger. While the Dodgers were taking batting practice, Cacek saw a young Steve Garvey doing an interview with Vin Scully behind the cage. In awe, he approached Garvey afterward and learned sage ballplayer advice on interviews, “Take all you can get, kid.”12

Cacek had an impressive senior season, batting .574 and earning Mid-Valley League Player of the Year, All City and Athlete of the Semester honors. The Vikings extended their winning streak to 34 games but fell short of repeating the City championship.13 Cacek credited his father’s people skills with advancing his case to be drafted. Vince Cacek had become friendly with Dutch Zwilling, the Federal League home-run king, and Harry Minor, both New York Mets scouts, Larry Barton Jr., a Reds scout, and even Casey Stengel. It was speculated that Cacek would attend the University of Southern California. Cacek, however, had no plans to go to college. “School and baseball together was not what I wanted to do. I was not the best student and I wanted to just play ball.”14 On June 6, 1972, he was drafted by the Mets in the ninth round of the amateur draft. He signed a contract with a $16,000 bonus.

The 1972 draft class was talented. Gary Carter and Dennis Eckersley would earn Hall of Fame honors. Several others became All-Stars and pennant-winning managers. Ellis Valentine, Mike Hargrove, Willie Randolph, and Chet Lemon, also from Los Angeles, started their professional careers in that draft.

After signing with the Mets, Cacek reported to the Marion (Virginia) Mets of the rookie-level Appalachian League. Cacek put up a solid .267/.376/.475 slash line (BA/OBP/SLG) with 54 hits in 61 games for the eighth-place squad. From Marion, he progressed through the Mets minor-league system with stops at Pompano Beach, Visalia, where he converted to first base, and then Jackson in the Texas League, where he set the team record for batting average.15

After the season the Mets traded Cacek to the Houston Astros for Manny Lantigua. Lantigua, a career minor-leaguer, would meet Cacek again as a teammate for the Pittsburgh Pirates Triple-A Portland Beavers club in 1979. Now firmly playing first base for the Memphis Blues in 1976 and the Charleston Charlies in 1977 when the Astros switched affiliates, both teams of the Triple-A International League. Cacek hit well, batting .324/.423/.429 in 1976 and putting up similar numbers with the Charlies before his 1977 call-up.

Cacek made his major-league debut on June 18with a pinch-hit appearance in the seventh inning against the Mets at Shea Stadium. The game was tied, 3-3, when Julio Gonzalez tripled off Jerry Koosman. Cacek was sent to hit for relief pitcher, Gene Pentz. A groundball to short for a quick 6-3 out kept Gonzales at third. César Cedeño, the next batter, drove in the run on a sacrifice fly. The run held up for a 4-3 Astros victory. Welcome to the show, Craig Cacek.

Cacek next played on June 20 against the Montreal Expos in Montreal. Bob Watson took a few days off due to a blood chemical imbalance.16 Cacek played first base in the three-game series. Facing a wild Jackie Brown in the first inning, he walked on four pitches with the bases loaded, earning his only RBI. The next day Cacek again started at first. In the top of the fifth, he took a dominant Steve Rogers up the middle into center for his first and only major-league hit.17 “It was a big hopper off the carpet over the head of Rogers. I think the shortstop scooped it up. There was no play at first,” he said. Time was called and the ball collected.18 Cacek reached second base on a fielding error but Roger Metzger struck out to retire the side.

Cacek started in two more games, pinch-hit and played first in two others, and was sent back to Charleston when Watson returned to the lineup. Terry Puhl took the roster spot and played 15 seasons with the Astros until 1990 and the Royals in 1991.19

Cacek recalled his time in the majors as traumatic for the 22-year-old. In a slump (0-for-30) at the time of his call-up, he never felt comfortable. It does not seem as if the Astros were really setting up Cacek for success. Virdon, like Holt, was a drill sergeant-style manager. Cacek never felt that Virdon liked him or that it was Virdon’s decision to bring him up. “I had no connection with Virdon like I did with Holt,” he said. “I felt pressure to perform in a way that I had not before. In retrospect, I was not ready. I did not know my teammates on the Astros, no connections. I know now I should have been kinder to myself.” In 21 plate appearances, Cacek put the ball in play 17 times. “These were just hit on the nose and did not find a hole,” he related, “There was a high fly drive in the fourth inning of a July 5 game versus the Padres that was foul down the line by half an inch. Had it been fair, it would likely have been a double and driven in two runs. Maybe that would have got me going.”20 Cacek lined out to short on the next pitch.21 That foul ball and lineout is a metaphor for how close Cacek was to having the big-league career of his dreams.

In comparison, Cacek noted that Jim Fuller, a hitter with great power, was told he would have 100 at-bats. “When I was sent back, I was in shock. As a ballplayer that identified as a hitter, he could not believe that ‘I went 0 for America.’” It was disappointment all around. Astros management in hindsight did not set up Cacek for success with comments such as “thought you were ready” remarked an unremembered scout in an uncomfortable elevator on the road that took a mental toll. Over time, Cacek has processed his cup of coffee in the show. In 21 at-bats, he had only three strikeouts. “I am proud about that. I always wanted to be a pure hitter and saw myself as a pure hitter.”22

In 11 professional seasons, one is bound to earn a few nicknames. “Coma” is an odd nickname for a ballplayer. In 1977 Cacek had come down with the flu during spring training and was bedridden in the team hotel for three days. When the inevitable “where’s Cacek?” questions in the locker room were bellowed, Dave Augustine answered, “He’s in a coma.” The name stuck and Cacek never minded it. “One-Speed” leaves less to the imagination. According to Cacek, “Honestly, I was never a real exciting ballplayer. I always hustled but it was always in one speed. Cannot recall when that one started but it fit.”23

Cacek had a shot at making the Astros in 1978. Cacek had had a solid spring training and knew he was close. In a game at Cocoa, Florida, then the Astros’ spring-training home, Cacek got to third base late in the game. According to Cacek, “The wind was blowing in and that always changed the way we had to play. There was a shallow fly ball to center and I went back to tag. The ball was caught, and I did not advance. They did not challenge with a throw. Just the ball back to the pitcher. The crowd began to boo. If third-base coach Bob Lillis had said anything, I did not hear it. Lillis and Virdon were livid. Jesus Alou would double in the next at-bat and I would score. I knew then and there that I was done with the Astros.”24

Being sent back down, Cacek wanted to play in the Pacific Coast League and Dave Hersh, then the youngest owner in pro baseball, worked a deal that brought him to the Portland Beavers in the Pittsburgh system. “I had no thoughts of making the Pirates, I just wanted to play in the PCL. Playing on the West Coast and a few trips to Hawaii.” Cacek loved Portland. It had a major-league town atmosphere and had a solid fan base, he said.25 The Beavers were talented with Dale Berra, Vance Law, and others who later played in the majors. With the change of scenery, Cacek responded, leading the PCL with 180 hits, batting .319, and earning all-star first-base honors. Scoring 92 runs and driving in 102 runs was apparently not enough for a September call-up. “They were looking for pitching for the playoff run. I knew that there was no chance.” Manager Johnny Lipon told him, “As far as I am concerned, you’re a major league hitter.” Cacek played winter ball in the Dominican Republic that year with Lipon. He struggled at the plate, but it was always something he wanted to do as a ballplayer.26

Spring training in 1980 was a fun and loose clubhouse of the reigning World Series champions. Willie Stargell jumped on a table holding a driver and teed off on a baseball that rocketed through the locker room, destroying a clock on a distant wall. Again, it was clear that Cacek, playing behind Stargell, would not make the Pirates and would return to Portland.27 In the 1980 season, Lipon moved to the Pirates Single-A ballclub and Doe Boyland saw more time at first base. After the 1981 season, the Pirates traded Cacek to the Angels as the Angels were preparing a trade to the Chunichi Dragons in Japan.28 The Dragons settled on Charlie Spikes, who had more home runs and major-league experience. Gene Mauch was at the helm of the California Angels and his protégé Moose Stubing was manager of the Spokane Indians in 1982. “I knew that it was the end of the line,” said Cacek. Stubing would bark, “You are in the lineup, it must be the second Tuesday of the month.” After starting in 12 games at first base and hitting in a total of 64 games that season, Cacek, at 27, retired from professional baseball.29 In 11 minor-league seasons, he had a slash line of .301/.401/.446.

Cacek quickly caught the attention of a Madison, Wisconsin, barnstorming team that went to the National Baseball Congress Tournament in Wichita, Kansas, in both 1982 and 1983. After that he did not hit a ball or put on a glove for nearly a decade. “When I hung it up, I had this thought to become a psychologist.” Cacek returned to California and went back to school at San Diego State, Pepperdine Professional School, and Long Beach State. He earned credentials and became a school counselor in special education, a role that he has enjoyed for three decades.30

Thinking that his playing days were long gone, Cacek was walking his dogs in Los Angeles’ Balboa Park in the summer of 1991. Reliving memories of a high-school playoff game at that ballfield 20 years earlier during the 1971 City championship, he saw a group of guys playing actual baseball, not men’s league slow-pitch softball. Hardball, real baseball, this caught his attention. Cacek approached the team manager, Nick Newton, and learned more about the team that would become known for a time as the NALU Hawaiian Buffaloes.31 In a legendary moment chronicled by teammate and Los Angeles Times writer Peter King, Cacek arrived late to a game, wheeling into the parking lot with his turn up to bat in the batting order. With his trademark “one-speed,” he ambled to the plate and promptly deposited the baseball 20 feet beyond the left-field fence for a home run.32 With the Buffalos, Cacek allowed himself to have fun with baseball again.

He played with the Buffalos and then three other teams — the Indians, Suns, and Padres — all of Santa Monica, in the Men’s Senior Baseball Association for over 10 years, and even worked to become a pitcher. On the mound, Cacek would face some interesting competition. Jose Canseco would reportedly go 0-for-2 with a strikeout and a fly ball to left. Tom Hayden, the noted liberal activist and Chicago Seven member, had an at-bat.33 Cacek tapped former Charlies teammate Randy Wiles for advice. Work fast, throw strikes, and change speeds, Wiles advised. Cacek threw mostly breaking stuff and even a knuckleball. He worked 100 innings per year for 10 years as a pitcher. At age 52, Cacek was the MVP in a 25-and-over league, having great hitting stats, and going 7-5 on the mound as a starting pitcher. Eventually, Cacek would play a game in Angel Stadium. Back in a major-league ballpark; fittingly, Craig Cacek got one walk and one hit.34

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and baseballalmanac.com.

Notes

1 His last game was July 5. He was on the roster until July 10. “Astros Recall Puhl to Majors,” Terre Haute (Indiana) Tribune, July 11, 1977: 11.

2 Author interview with Craig Cacek on November 6, 2019.

3 “Metro Deaths,” Cedar Rapids Gazette, September 11, 1983: 14a.

4 Craig Cacek, email correspondence with author, November 15, 2019.

5 Craig Cacek, telephone interview with author, November 6, 2019. (Hereafter Cacek telephone interview.).

6 Craig Cacek, email correspondence with author, November 15, 2019.

7 Cacek telephone interview.

8 Cacek telephone interview.

9 Steve Henderson, “Going Against the Flow,” Los Angeles Times, June 9, 1990: 302.

10 Eric Sondheimer, “Monroe’s Perfect Season Withstands Test of Time,” Los Angeles Times, June 5, 2001: 89.

11 John Stamm, “Consistent Cacek Trades Homers for Line Drives,” Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Mississippi), June 25, 1975: 39.

12 Cacek telephone interview.

13 Cacek telephone interview.

14 Cacek telephone interview. 

15 Rick Cleveland, “Winningham Finds It’s Getting Easier,” Jackson Clarion-Ledger, June 22, 1983: 15.

16 “Giants Give Astros a Lift,” San Mateo (California) Times, June 25, 1977: 8.

17 “Expos Crush Astros, 6-0,” Del Rio (Texas) News Herald, June 22, 1977: 10.

18 Cacek telephone interview.

19 “Astros Recall Puhl to Majors.”

20 Cacek telephone interview.

21 Back to Baseball, backtobaseball.com/game/SDN197707050/san-diego-padres/versus/houston-astros/1977/july/5/all-plays-summary/.

22 Cacek telephone interview.

23 Cacek telephone interview.

24 Cacek telephone interview; “Alou Is Back as Astros Nip Blue Jays, 3-2,” Austin American-Statesman, March 13, 1978: 29.

25 Cacek telephone interview.

26 Cacek telephone interview.

27 Cacek telephone interview.

28 “Names in the News,” Los Angeles Times, December 18, 1981: 59.

29 Cacek telephone interview.

30 Cacek telephone interview.

31 Peter King, “The Boys of Fall,” Los Angeles Times, October 22, 2000: 402.

32 King.

33 Robert D. McFadden, “Tom Hayden, Civil Rights and Antiwar Activist Turned Lawmaker, Dies at 76,” New York Times, October 25, 2016: B, 14.

34 Cacek telephone interview.