Ben McDonald

When Louisiana State University junior Ben McDonald surrendered a home run versus Mississippi State University in 1989, the hitter raved, “It’s an honor to hit a homer off him. … It’s something to tell the grandkids.”1 An Alabama player retrieved the ball he’d knocked out of the park off McDonald so he could get the pitcher’s autograph.2

Months before the June amateur draft, the legend of “Big Ben” was spreading throughout baseball. He was an Olympic gold medalist capable of holding seven baseballs in one hand and an experienced alligator wrestler – “It’s not so hard, really. You just sneak up on them at night, shine a light in their eyes, and jump on their back”3 – with a taste for mustard sardines and adept at both grabbing rebounds and kicking barefooted field goals. It was inevitable that the 6-foot-7 righty would be selected first overall.

“He’s a more imposing specimen than Roger Clemens,” stated Baseball America editor Allan Simpson. “I know several scouts who consider Ben the best amateur pitcher they have ever seen.”4

His college coach, Skip Bertman, insisted, “[Ben] has a chance to be the best pitcher the [Baltimore] Orioles have ever had, including Jim Palmer.”5

“I think Ben was destined for greatness,” said LSU basketball coach Dale Brown. “He’s easily the best athlete to come out of this state in [my time at LSU] – and probably of all time.”6

“He’s going to be our Dwight Gooden, our Roger Clemens,” predicted Orioles coach and future manager Johnny Oates.7

With more than 35 years of insight, McDonald reflected on his injury-shortened, nine-season big-league career (1989-97), during which he won 78 games and lost 70 with a 3.91 earned-run average. “Expectations can be a cruel thing,” he shared.

***

Larry Benard McDonald was born November 24, 1967, in a Baton Rouge hospital to Larry and Rebecca McDonald of Denham Springs, Louisiana, about 15 miles east of the city. As a kid growing up on several acres of rural land, the self-labeled “ol’ country boy” who “just loved sports” had plenty of space to play whatever he wanted and become an all-around athlete. “I never got burned out, but I’ll tell you this,” McDonald said. “If my dad would have told me when I was 10 years old, ‘You’re gonna play 100 baseball games,’ … I probably would have. … But it was always a different sport every couple of months.”

His parents encouraged him in anything he tried, and he attributed that variety to the successes he had later in his career. Young McDonald was always a little taller than his teammates and other kids his age, but also a bit gangly and clumsy at times. He credited basketball with improving his agility and coordination. “Baseball is a finesse game, and I always felt like I could throw strikes at a young age [because] basketball helped my hand-eye-foot coordination and all those things,” he explained.

In baseball, McDonald gravitated to being a pitcher, not out of any particular love for the position but because the first league he joined didn’t have tee-ball and he was one of the few six-year-olds who could throw balls in the strike zone with any consistency.

As a sophomore on Denham Springs High School’s baseball team, McDonald posted a record of 8-2 on a team that lost the Louisiana 4A state championship game. The following year, he went 13-3 with an earned run average of 1.75, earning him District Most Valuable Player and All-State honors. And as a senior, he threw five shutouts, two no-hitters, and struck out 103 batters while only allowing 22 hits on his way to a 12-1 record with a 0.73 ERA. He also led the Denham Springs Yellowjackets to their first 4A championship, throwing 208 pitches and striking out 20 in a 13-inning quarterfinal game, then returning two days later to pitch the last four innings of the title game, all of which made him a unanimous selection for Outstanding Player of the All-State team, as well as District MVP.

McDonald was also on the golf team for one year and earned All-State honorable mention as a punter/kicker in football. He had wanted to play quarterback, but coaches told him he was “too tall, too skinny, and too valuable” to risk under center.

His true love, however, was basketball. As a junior, McDonald made the All-State Second Team and won District MVP, averaging 20.2 points and 10.2 rebounds per game.8 As a senior in the fall of 1985, he accepted a scholarship offer from LSU basketball coach Dale Brown, who called McDonald “the most versatile athlete we’ve recruited.”9

In baseball’s 1987 June amateur draft, the Atlanta Braves took McDonald in the 27th round and offered him a $10,000 signing bonus. When he turned down the offer, they increased it and kept going until $65,000 was on the table. Still, McDonald took the LSU scholarship, which he believed could lead to professional basketball.

Injuries and other players’ academic eligibility issues thrust McDonald into a starting role in just his second game. He scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds in a 73-61 win over Arkansas State University. “Ben did an excellent job,” Brown praised. “I’m really proud of him. … He doesn’t play like a freshman.”10 LSU made the NCAA basketball tournament as a #10 seed and nearly made a run to the 1988 Final Four, losing the Midwest Regional Final by one point to eventual champion Indiana.11

Because the basketball team had gone deep in the tournament, McDonald couldn’t join the baseball team until halfway into the season. He became part of a pitching staff considered by most to be the best in country – Bertman would jokingly disagree, conceding that “the New York Mets are better”12 – which included future major-leaguers Mark Guthrie, Russ Springer, and All-American reliever Barry Manuel.

On April 1, 1987, McDonald made his LSU baseball debut, a one-inning relief appearance in which he struck out two of the three Centenary College batters he faced. On April 12, he made his first collegiate start and recorded his first NCAA win with help from home runs by All-American Albert Belle and future major-league teammate Jack Voigt. Two weeks later, Bertman moved him to the starting rotation, calling him “as talented a freshman as I’ve ever worked with. I look for him to be our ace next year.”13

In the postseason, LSU won the South II Regional to earn a slot in the College World Series.14 Against Oklahoma State, McDonald surrendered an RBI double to Robin Ventura – extending Ventura’s NCAA-record hitting streak to 58 games – and was tagged with the loss.

LSU matched up with #1-ranked Stanford  in a game with elimination on the line for the loser. After nine innings, they were tied, 2-2. LSU scored three in the 10th, but with two runners on, Bertman called on McDonald, who hit Ed Sprague to load the bases, then gave up a walk-off grand slam to Stanford freshman Paul Carey.15

McDonald went home to Denham Springs. His parents had recorded the game off ESPN, and after his family fell asleep, he would stay up watching his performance on a loop. After a week, he packed his bags to play summer ball in the Alaskan Baseball League. In his first start for the Anchorage Glacier Pilots, the Mat-Su Miners taunted McDonald by sending over a lineup card with “Paul Carey” written in for every position.

McDonald responded with a one-hit shutout that broke Mat-Su’s six-game winning streak.

“[I] really started to excel that summer in the Alaskan Summer League after my freshman year, that’s when [my] fastball started ticking up to 96, 97 [miles per hour],” McDonald recalled. “I loved basketball, but [I realized] baseball could very well be my ticket to the next level.”

He returned to college with renewed confidence – and a new split-finger fastball – but had to tell Coach Brown that he wouldn’t be playing basketball anymore.16 In his first full year as a baseball player, McDonald posted a record of 13-7 – one win shy of the school record – with an ERA of 2.65 and 144 strikeouts. He was named a first-team All-American and was invited to qualify for the Olympics.

As one of the few underclassmen to make the team, he had a chance to learn from older players bound for the minors, including his roommate, Andy Benes, who had been selected first overall in the June 1988 draft. “That’s when the light bulb kind of went on for me,” McDonalds recalled, “because I threw a bullpen next to Andy Benes… and I said to myself confidently, ‘This guy’s not better than I am. I’m as good as he is right now and I’m a year younger.’”

In exhibitions leading up to September’s Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, McDonald went 6-2, including the only win against the vaunted Cuban team, and was tabbed to start the team’s Olympic opener. He threw a 5-3 complete-game win over the host South Korean team, striking out 10 batters. Days later, he threw another complete game, beating Puerto Rico and sending the team to the gold medal game against Japan, which Team USA won, 5-3. McDonald’s performance also started the buzz that would dominate the next nine months of his life: the idea that he’d be the top pick in baseball’s June 1989 draft.17

Denham Springs honored him on his return with an event that drew 3,000 people (almost half the town’s population), during which the road leading to the park where he’d pitched Little League was renamed “Ben McDonald Boulevard.”

As a preseason All-American by Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball magazines, everything he did was scrutinized. “I didn’t get to enjoy my junior year at LSU probably like I should have,” McDonald admitted. “There were games… I’d go out and throw a complete game and give up two runs but strike out 14, and some reporter would say, ‘You had an off night.’ … So, while it was a heck of a year… struck out 200 batters and all that stuff, I still didn’t get to enjoy it because of the expectations.”

Yet McDonald somehow managed to exceed many of those expectations. In March, he broke the SEC record for consecutive scoreless innings pitched by holding opponents without a run for 44 2/3 innings, surpassing the old mark of 37. Through the season, he struck out 202 batters, another SEC record that stood for nearly 35 years,18 and recorded a 14-2 record19 in leading the Tigers back to the College World Series. He won Baseball America’s College Player of the Year honors and the Golden Spikes Award, given to college baseball’s best overall player. To top it off, he received the highest rating ever given to a pitcher by the Major League Scouting Bureau.

“I don’t know anybody who doesn’t have him ranked number one,” said Kansas City Royals general manager John Schuerholz. “He can pitch [in the majors] right now.”20

“Who’s the best pitcher in the American League? Roger Clemens? Well, this kid could be as good as Roger Clemens,” declared Bertman.21 He predicted McDonald would improve in the pros because defenses were better and batters couldn’t use aluminum bats.22

The Baltimore Orioles – who’d opened 1988 with a major-league record 21-game losing streak and finished with just 54 wins against 107 losses – had the first pick in the 1989 draft. Though they tried to be coy about it, there was little chance they weren’t selecting McDonald. All 28 of Baltimore’s scouts – as well as Orioles greats Palmer and Brooks Robinson – agreed with the decision to take McDonald first overall.23 “One would assume the Baltimore Sun knew something if they send a writer all the way down here,” Rebecca McDonald noted.24

Returning to Omaha, the Tigers drew record-breaking crowds for both of Ben’s starts.25 They lost their opener, then won their next two games before Texas eliminated them. McDonald had been on the mound for both losses, giving him the dubious distinction of being the first pitcher ever to have a 0-4 record in the CWS, though that did nothing to deter the Orioles.

Making the pick was easy for the Orioles, but signing McDonald wouldn’t be. Long before the draft, it was widely understood that signing McDonald would require a signing bonus that would dwarf the record-high $240,000 the Padres paid Benes in 1988. But Larry McDonald, who was handling the negotiations, wanted more than just one fat payday for his son. “Kids go to the minor leagues and play for $800 a month,” the elder McDonald explained. “I just don’t want that happening to Ben.”26 He was demanding a three-year contract worth around $1 million.27

As negotiations stretched on, Ben McDonald headed to Massachusetts to pitch in the Cape Cod League with other collegiate players preparing for their 1990 seasons. “I’m hoping something gets worked out,” he said. “I want to play pro ball, but I’m prepared to go back to school.”28

The McDonalds also met with representatives of Donald Trump, who offered a $2 million signing bonus to reject the majors altogether and become the first player to sign on with a new alternate league. “I flew into New York, stayed in Trump Towers,” McDonald said. “I didn’t meet with Donald Trump, but I met with the guy that was in charge of this new baseball league that they were talking about putting together.”29

During the negotiations, McDonald received a letter from Cal Ripken Jr., encouraging him to continue talks and not to give up on becoming an Oriole. “I remember in his letter, he said, ‘Baltimore has some of the greatest fans in the world. You’re gonna love them and they’re gonna love you,’” McDonald paraphrased.

Finally, as August drew to a close, the Orioles and the McDonalds reached a compromise. Ten weeks after he was drafted, McDonald signed a three-year contract worth approximately $900,000, including a $350,000 signing bonus.

He was assigned to the Frederick Keys of the High-A Carolina League, playing a 50-mile drive west along Interstate 70 from Baltimore. He made two starts before the calendar flipped to September and McDonald was among the Orioles’ minor league call-ups. He made his major league debut on September 6, 1989, replacing Curt Schilling in the third inning of a 9-0 loss to the Cleveland Indians.30 Because the Orioles were in a playoff chase, his six relief appearances came only in games in which the Orioles were already trailing.

During the following spring training, manager Frank Robinson told him he was going to be the Opening Day starter. “And said, ‘Listen, you’ve gotta win 20 games this year or the Orioles don’t have a chance.’ … I’ve got seven innings in the big leagues … and this guy is telling me I gotta win 20,” McDonald recalled.

He was getting a familiar feeling from college: the weight of others’ expectations. “[It] followed me to Baltimore, being the first pick. Everybody said, ‘He’s the savior. He graded out higher than anybody in the history of the [draft]. … So I, again, tried to live up to expectations of what people thought of me and what I should be doing, and that was a big mistake because I was never satisfied.”

McDonald didn’t win 20, nor did he start the opener. In his last spring training start, he strained a hip muscle and landed on the disabled list. After three starts in Double-A Hagerstown, McDonald was reassigned to Triple-A Rochester. He made seven starts but kept having setbacks from recurring blisters on the middle finger of his pitching hand. Eventually, these were determined to be caused by the raised seams on the baseballs used in the International League, so the Orioles recalled him to their main roster in July, figuring it was better for him to complete his rehab in Baltimore’s bullpen.

With half the season over and the Orioles 11 games out of first place with a 34-42 record, he finally made his 1990 debut with two scoreless relief innings in a 7-2 loss to the Texas Rangers. McDonald held opponents scoreless through his first four appearances and surrendered only a single run in his first seven appearances, the last of which was a four-hit shutout of the Chicago White Sox in his first major-league start. He went on to win his next four games, the first rookie to go 5-0 in his first five starts since Fernando Valenzuela won his first eight in 1981, and finished eighth in Rookie of the Year voting.

In 1991, Robinson again tabbed McDonald to be the Opening Day starter, but an elbow injury kept him sidelined for the first 10 games of the season. When he returned, he struggled. In his first five games back, he went 1-2 with a 7.36 ERA, allowing 36 baserunners in 22 innings.31 Part of the problem was that Ben had never called his own pitches. In college, Bertman would signal from the dugout, and in his first two seasons, he’d throw what veteran catchers Mickey Tettleton, Jamie Quirk, and Bob Melvin asked for.

Now, he was paired with rookie catcher Chris Hoiles. “I was new to it, Chris was new to it,” McDonald recalled. “We were sitting there one day, drinking a beer after a ball game, just going, ‘Oh man, what are we doing wrong?’

“And Cal just kind of sticks his head into the training room. He said, ‘You guys don’t have a clue what you’re doing, do you?’” The shortstop sat down and devised a plan in which he would call the pitches from his position, signaling the pitch type with the way he held his glove and location by tapping an imaginary strike zone on his jersey.

“I’d be looking at Chris Hoiles, trying to get the sign. I could see his eyes.” McDonald chuckled. “[He’s] looking over my right shoulder. … Then the fingers would go down. … Cal called every pitch I threw that year.” Ripken also sat down with the duo for post-game debriefings to discuss why he called what he called in various situations.32

The following season, McDonald got a new half-million-dollar contract, a new stadium to call home in Oriole Park at Camden Yards, and a new mentor when the Orioles signed free agent pitcher Rick Sutcliffe. The 1984 Cy Young Award winner, taught Ben many of the finer points of pitching and understanding batters, including giving pop quizzes on the bench, asking “What are you thinking in this situation if that’s you out there?”33

He also convinced McDonald to stop being so hard on himself. After a bad start, the young pitcher was known to trash clubhouses and punish himself, for example, by going for a 60-minute run the next day instead of his customary 20. “Ben’s desire to do well probably hurt him,” stated Sutcliffe. “If he didn’t throw a shutout, he felt like he let the team down. This is a kid who really cares.”34

McDonald started the third game of the 1992 season against Cleveland, christening Camden Yards with the first of five consecutive winning decisions. But his biggest win was staying healthy for an entire season, making 35 starts and pitching over 200 innings for the first time in his career, an accomplishment he repeated in 1993 and was on pace to do again in 1994 until the players’ strike ended the season in August. McDonald made the final start of the Orioles’ season in Yankee Stadium.

During the extended offseason, McDonald married Nicole Smith, also of Denham Springs, on November 19, 1994. They have two children: daughter Jorie and son Jase.

In 1995, McDonald went through arbitration for the first time. He had to sit through an arbitration hearing one morning, then pitch against Seattle Mariners ace Randy Johnson hours later. He called it, “Five hours of them telling me how bad I was, then patting me on the butt saying, ‘Go get ‘em tonight!’”35 He admitted, “Whether I win or lose, I’m still going to be upset.”36

The arbitrator ruled in favor of McDonald, awarding him a salary of $4.5 million for 1995, instead of the $3.2 million the Orioles had offered. After the Orioles lost the case, rumors began circulating that the front office might be willing to let McDonald walk in free agency rather than deal with his agent, Scott Boras.37 Orioles owner Peter Angelos denied the rumor. “He’s been with the Orioles since the beginning of his career. … Next year, he’ll be given a legitimate offer. In my mind, Ben is an Oriole,” Angelos insisted.38

McDonald went winless until May 31 and spent three months on the disabled list with tendinitis in his right shoulder. He expressed his willingness to take a pay cut to remain with the team – “I’m a firm believer in getting paid on performance,” he stated. “I’m not getting a raise next year.”39 Also, Ripken said the Orioles needed McDonald if they expected to remain competitive. Even so, Baltimore didn’t offer him a contract.

The Milwaukee Brewers signed McDonald to an incentive-laden contract in January 1996. “Ben McDonald was the pitcher we were most interested in,” said Brewers GM Sal Bando, noting the pitcher’s age, size, and ability. “On top of that, we felt that Ben is just scratching at the beginning of a great career.”40 The 28-year-old was guaranteed $5.75 million over two years, with various performance bonuses and a third-year option that could increase the contract’s value to $13.3 million.

The 1996 season was one of McDonald’s best: making 35 starts, throwing over 220 innings, and hitting many of the incentives that boosted his contract’s value in the coming years. In 1997, McDonald remained a workhorse for a losing Milwaukee team, and by the All-Star break, it was widely accepted that he would be a prime trade target.

In the first game after the All-Star Game, McDonald returned to Baltimore and put on a show for contenders who might be in the market for a starter down the stretch. McDonald had a no-hitter through six innings  but benched himself with a sore shoulder before the seventh. “Six or seven years ago, I would have kept pitching and who knows what would have happened?” the 29-year-old said, convinced it was the mature decision. “I’d like to pitch six or seven more years. I think [flirting with a no-hitter] will happen again.”41

McDonald made his next start but again complained about shoulder stiffness. Eventually, the problem was diagnosed as a torn rotator cuff that required season-ending surgery. In the following offseason, Milwaukee traded McDonald to reigning AL champion Cleveland with the understanding that he wouldn’t be able to pitch until May.42 During a spring-training rehab throwing session, he complained of a similar stiffness. An MRI confirmed that the surgery had been ineffective and needed to be redone, costing him the 1998 season.43

Twelve months after his second surgery, he signed a minor-league deal with the second-year Tampa Bay Devil Rays, eyeing a June return. After a series of setbacks, he underwent a third shoulder surgery, forcing him to officially retire at 31 years old.

Decades later, McDonald recognizes that his penchant for caring that Sutcliffe described may have contributed to his injury-shortened career. Wanting to please his coaches, he was always willing to take on any challenge, be it throwing 200-plus pitches in a high school game or throwing a complete game win for LSU one night, then going back out to earn a save two days later. “Between my sophomore year, [the Olympics, and] my junior year … I throw [approximately] 352 innings in 16 months as a 20- and 21-year-old,” McDonald observed. “Probably a little bit too much, but we didn’t know then what we know now as far as arm care and taking care of yourself and all those things.”

McDonald was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008, and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2010. In 2012, McDonald began working as a color commentator, covering college baseball for ESPN and the SEC Network. When the college season was over, he returned to the Orioles, providing color commentary for TV and radio.

Thirty years after he was taken #1 overall, McDonald was asked to be the Orioles representative at the June 2019 draft. The team had the first selection again, with which GM Mike Elias took Oregon State University catcher Adley Rutschman.

Last revised: October 29, 2025

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Ben McDonald for participating in the SABR Oral History project, from which many of the quotes in this article came, and to Tessa Sayers of the Baltimore Orioles for helping to arrange the interview with Ben.

This article was reviewed by Rory Costello and Bill Lamb and fact-checked by Ray Danner.

Photo credits: Ben McDonald, Baltimore Orioles and Trading Card Database.

Sources

Unless cited elsewhere in the Notes below, all quotes in this article are from the author’s personal interview with Ben McDonald on July 28, 2025, transcripts and audio of which can be found in the SABR Oral History Collection. In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author accessed Baseball-Reference.com, Stathead.com, and Retrosheet.org.

Notes

1 J.R. Ball, “LSU’s Big Ben Having Stellar Baseball Year,” Shreveport Times, May 10, 1989: 1B.

2 Bill Glauber, “McDonald Heads TSN Honorees,” The Sporting News, July 3, 1989: 24.

3 Ball, “LSU’s Big Ben Having Stellar Baseball Year.”

4 “McDonald Adds One More Honor to List,” Shreveport Journal, June 2, 1989: 3C.

5 Henneman, “Big Ben.” At this time, Palmer was just waiting one more year before he’d be eligible for the Hall of Fame. In 1990, the three-time Cy Young-winner was elected on his first ballot.

6 Jim Henneman, “Big Ben,” Baltimore Sun, May 26, 1989: E1.

7 Tim Verducci, “The M&M Boys: Plain and Peanut,” Sports Illustrated, July 18, 1994, https://vault.si.com/vault/1994/07/18/the-mm-boys-plain-and-peanut.

8 The following summer, he attended basketball camp at Louisiana Tech University and was named the top offensive player. “Eagles: Tech’s Camp One of Most Successful,” Monroe (Louisiana) News-Star, June 15, 1985: 4C.

9 Bob Tompkins, “Wilson, Jovanovich Expected to Keep LSU in Spotlight,” Alexandria-Pineville (Louisiana) Town Talk, October 15, 1986: B-3. Brown was inducted to the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014.

10 Scott Ferrell, “McDonald’s Improvement Sparks LSU,” Opelousas (Louisiana) Daily World, December 5, 1986: 9.

11 The Tigers upset #7 Georgia Tech, #2 Temple, and #3 DePaul to get to the Elite Eight. They led Indiana by nine points with just over five minutes to play and withstood a Hoosiers run to lead 75-74 with 20 seconds remaining.

12 David Lanier, “LSU Ready to Make a Strong Pitch in Baseball Today,” Shreveport Times, February 15, 1987: 3-C.

13 Bob Tompkins, “McDonald Cuts the Mustard,” Alexandria-Pineville Town Talk, April 26, 1987: B-8.

14 McDonald was the only player in the nation to make it to the final eight in two sports’ championship tournaments.

15 Stanford went on to win the national championship, defeating Oklahoma State.

16 Brown believed McDonald could play in the NBA if he prioritized basketball, even keeping him on scholarship in case he changed his mind. This came into play later that fall when a significant portion of the team came down with mono. Coach Brown called and asked McDonald to return because there weren’t even enough players to practice. McDonald agreed but insisted that at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, he was fully committed to baseball.

17 “He would be a fine consolation prize for the Baltimore Orioles or Atlanta Braves.” Kevin Horrigan, “‘Big Ben’ McDonald Pitches U.S. into Gold Medal Game,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 27, 1988: 6C. At the time of this article’s publication, Baltimore and Atlanta were separated by half a game in the race for the worst record in the majors with just over a week left in the season.

18 University of Tennessee’s Todd Helton broke the scoreless innings record with 47 2/3 in 1994; LSU’s Paul Skenes broke the strikeout record with 209 in 2023.

19 McDonald didn’t tie the school record for wins, however, because teammate Curt Leskanic won 15 games, setting a new record.

20 Henneman, “Big Ben.”

21 Glauber, “McDonald Heads TSN Honorees.”

22 Glenn Guilbeau, “Draft Should Make McDonald LSU’s Latest Fat Cat,” Alexandria Town Talk, June 5, 1989: B-1.

23 “McDonald Goes to the Orioles as First Draftee,” Associated Press via Shreveport Times, June 6, 1989: 1B; Guilbeau, “Draft Should Make McDonald LSU’s Latest Fat Cat.”

24 Glenn Guilbeau, “Orioles Size Up LSU’s McDonald,” Alexandria Town Talk, April 21, 1989: B-4.

25 The opener against Miami attracted 17,407; the loss to Texas had 16,072 in the stands, the most ever for a semi-final game.

26 Tim Kurkjian, “McDonald’s Father Says Negotiations Have Stalled,” Baltimore Sun, June 27, 1989: 3B. Major league franchises rarely made multiyear deals with players before they reached free agency. Larry McDonald was trying to secure his son’s future by getting a longer commitment with more guaranteed money. He was also pushing for a clause ensuring his son would make the major-league roster before the end of 1989, ensuring he’d continue to make a major-league salary even if he were demoted to the minors.

27 He based his contract request on the deal Bo Jackson got from the Kansas City Royals in 1986, which was done because Bo had the leverage to walk away and just play football. “They gave him the contract to play baseball…” Larry McDonald argued. “Bo didn’t accomplish in college baseball what Ben has. … Ben is the lowest risk of all time.” Tim Kurkjian, “McDonald’s Father Says He’s ‘Embarrassed’ by Club’s Contract Offer to His Son,” Baltimore Sun, June 22, 1989: 5E. Larry McDonald said the Orioles offered a $255,000 signing bonus, just slightly more than Atlanta had given #2 pick Tyler Houston. “It’s two-percent more. Ben is three years older, he has played [in the] College World Series and the Olympics. [That high school catcher] hasn’t done any of that.”

28 Kurkjian, “McDonald’s Father Says Negotiations Have Stalled.” Ben McDonald would only make one start for the Orleans Cardinals of the Cape Cod League before returning home. “There was just too much fanfare up there. That’s what he wanted to get away from,” his father said. Tim Kurkjian, “Too Much Attention Causes McDonald to Quit Cape Cod,” Baltimore Sun, June 25, 1989: 1B.

29 Dan Connolly, “‘Just an Old Country Boy That Wanted to Go Play Baseball’: Ben McDonald, 30 Years After His Wild Orioles Summer,” The Athletic, May 31, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/1003900/2019/05/31/just-an-old-country-boy-that-wanted-to-go-play-baseball-it-has-been-30-years-since-cant-miss-ben-mcdonald-made-draft-and-financial-history/. The idea was similar to the United States Football League, the failed competitor to the National Football League, in which Trump owned the New Jersey Generals. Contemporary reporting makes a point of the league just being a rough idea “without a name, a commissioner, or any solid structure. … [and] no official cities in which to play.” Tim Kurkjian, “McDonald Might Consider New League,” Baltimore Sun, July 29, 1989: 5B. Beyond Trump, Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson and Pittsburgh Penguins owner Edward DeBartolo Sr. were also rumored to be involved. Murray Chass, “Rival League Gearing Up to Confront Baseball,” The Sporting News, August 21, 1989: 52.

30 The first big-league batter McDonald faced was Cory Snyder, who grounded into an inning-ending double play.

31 His lone quality start in this five-game span came against the California Angels, who finished last in the AL West. If you exclude this game, he went 0-2 with a 10.13 ERA and allowed 32 baserunners in 16 innings in the other four games. 

32 While taking on this added responsibility, Ripken was also playing the best season of his career, winning his second AL MVP, as well as a Silver Slugger and Gold Glove.

33 Tim Verducci, “The M&M Boys: Plain and Peanut,” Sports Illustrated, July 18, 1994, https://vault.si.com/vault/1994/07/18/the-mm-boys-plain-and-peanut.

34 Verducci, “The M&M Boys.”

35 Ken Rosenthal, “McDonald Has Rough Morning, Tough Evening,” Baltimore Sun, June 6, 1995: 1C. Typically, arbitration takes place in February, before spring training, but due to the strike-altered schedule, it took place during the season.

36 Buster Olney, “Coppinger Moves Up in Class,” Baltimore Sun, June 5, 1995: 6C.

37 Boras also represented Kevin Brown, another Orioles pitcher slated to hit the free agent market after the 1995 season. Baltimore didn’t re-sign Brown, who went to the Florida Marlins.

38 Buster Olney, “No McDonald Rift,” Baltimore Sun, August 4, 1995: 6C.

39 Brad Snyder, “McDonald Leaves O’s 1-Hit Reminder in Win,” Baltimore Sun, October 1, 1995: 8D.

40 Drew Olson, “McDonald Could Get $13 Million,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, January 23, 1996: 1.

41 Joe Strauss, “Big Ben Tolls as O’s Clocked, 3-1,” Baltimore Sun, July 12, 1997: C1

42 Cleveland also got relievers Mike Fetters and Ron Villone; Milwaukee received outfielder Marquis Grissom and pitcher Jeff Juden.

43 The Brewers agreed to take McDonald back in exchange for Single-A prospect Mark Watson.