Brandon Puffer

Right-hander Brandon Puffer pitched in 85 major-league games, but is perhaps better known in some circles for the World Series Championship ring he earned in 2004 as a member (however briefly) of that year’s legendary Boston Red Sox – despite the only pitches he threw at Fenway Park being against the Red Sox, rather than for them.

“I think I could have been a great idiot,” he said the following year.1

The 2004 Red Sox were self-described as “The Idiots,” a moniker popularized by center fielder Johnny Damon.2 That year’s team won the Red Sox’ first World Series in 86 years (since 1918) and had done so only after coming back from being down three games to none in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series against the archrival New York Yankees.

One could look up Puffer’s name to see how he contributed to the team and not find his name listed in any of the statistics for the 2004 Red Sox. He was on the team for one day, sitting in the Red Sox bullpen at Fenway Park on September 2 and ready to work if called upon. The pen needed an extra arm available since it had worked 6⅓ innings in a 12-7 win over the Angels on September 1.3

In the Thursday evening game, starting pitcher Derek Lowe worked 7⅓ innings and manager Terry Francona called in relievers Mike Myers and Keith Foulke to wrap things up, which they did, facing five batters.

Johnny Damon hurt his right pinky finger diving back in to the first-base bag during the game, dislocating his finger. He went for X-rays right after the game, and the Red Sox felt they needed to make a move so they called up outfielder Adam Hyzdu – Pawtucket’s player of the month in August – and Puffer was designated for assignment.4 He never did appear in a game for the Red Sox.

Puffer had pitched at Fenway Park once earlier in the 2004 season – but against them, not for them. It happened on June 10, and he came to Boston as a member of the San Diego Padres. Curt Schilling started for the Red Sox and worked seven innings, giving up two runs. Ismael Valdéz was San Diego’s starter. He left after four-plus innings, having surrendered four runs. Padres manager Bruce Bochy had Puffer relieve Valdéz.5 Puffer had been with the big-league club for four weeks. He was 0-1 with an ERA of 4.15. This was his 12th appearance of the season. With two inherited runners on base and nobody out, the first batter he faced was David Ortiz, whom he struck out. He was instructed to intentionally walk Manny Ramírez, loading the bases. Nomar Garciaparra doubled off the left-field wall, driving in two runs, both charged to Valdéz. Puffer struck out Jason Varitek but then Kevin Millar doubled, driving in two more.

Puffer retired the side in order in the sixth. In the seventh he loaded the bases with nobody out but worked out of the jam. In all, he had worked long relief – three full innings – allowing two runs on four hits and a walk, striking out four. The game was a 9-3 loss for the Padres, the loss assigned to Valdez.

When Puffer reappeared at Fenway in September, he said, “Even just coming here as a visitor, just the buzz around here was unbelievable. Being able to put this uniform on and play here is even a lot sweeter.”6

Puffer put the Red Sox uniform on – wearing number 52 – but the next day he was gone again. On the morning of September 2, he got a call. He hadn’t left Pawtucket yet, though the season had just ended. “I had to get up there pretty quickly. So I did. As you can imagine, it was a whirlwind. I got a uniform, went out and played catch during batting practice. I’m still just kind of floating around at Fenway. I sat in the bullpen.” After the Damon injury and with Lowe having given the bullpen a break, the Red Sox called up Hyzdu. “They needed a roster spot, so they sent me out. I was there one full day. After batting practice the second day is when Francona and Theo Epstein and them called me in and told me the bad news. Terry was very gracious. He said, ‘Man, we don’t ever do this. I don’t understand this. I don’t know why they did this to you.’ I said, ‘I got a day here and I enjoyed every bit of it.’”

He’d spent one night in a Boston hotel. The Red Sox flew him back to Mission Viejo, leaving rather promptly. “I was supposed to fly out a day later, but my 10-year high-school reunion was the next day. I asked the traveling secretary if they could fly me out immediately so I could make my reunion. I was able to do that. They were great, all the way through. It was awesome. If you gave me the choice I’d rather have been at Fenway again, but …”7

On October 15 Puffer once more became a free agent. It was the fifth of 10 times he entered free agency. He never did pitch for the Red Sox but he did get a World Series ring. Principal owner John W. Henry wanted everyone who was on the team to get a ring – and Brandon Puffer had been there, in the bullpen, on the team, ready to work, albeit just for one day. The team reached out to him the following spring asking for his ring size.  It was an “18-carat white gold ring … encrusted with diamonds and adorned with a ruby ‘B.’”8

Brandon Puffer had a remarkable career. He had fallen in love with sports as a child and – though basketball was his favorite sport earlier on, it was in baseball that others saw him having greater potential.

Brandon Duane Puffer was born on October 5, 1975, in Downey, California, about a dozen miles southeast of Los Angeles. His parents were Gary and Liz Puffer, and Brandon had a younger brother, Todd. Gary Puffer worked for Oakley Sunglasses, starting when it was a much smaller company. “Most of the time, he worked in Health and Safety, making sure that the warehouse and stuff was up to code,” said Brandon. “He bounced around a little bit, managed different departments, but for the most part worked in Health and Safety.”9  

Since January 1994, Liz Puffer has worked in pastoral care at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, the so-called “megachurch” founded by Pastor Rick Warren. It’s the largest church in the state of California, and one of the largest churches in the country.10 “My mom just started volunteering at the church after Pastor Rick started it. It was smaller. We’d meet in the local high school auditorium. As the church grew, our family continued to go. They continued to elevate her role. I think she’s been with them over 30 years now. She’s Pastor Liz.” She works in pastoral care. In 2021 Liz Puffer and two others became the first women ordained as pastors, an act that engendered serious negativity within the Southern Baptist Convention.11

The family had moved from Downey to Mission Viejo a couple of years after Brandon was born, and shortly after Todd, who is a year and a half younger than Brandon, was born. At that point, he explained, “my grandma bought a little house in Mission Viejo, Orange County. She felt it would be a better place for us to grow up, so my parents rented from her, and then eventually bought the home. They’re still in the same home that we grew up in. It was a blessing to grow up there, for sure.”

Asked about his brother, Brandon said, “Todd – he’s pretty much my best friend. He played some football in junior college. He’s in the corporate world and has his own company now, in the finance space. [Source Tax Incentives, in Franklin, Tennessee.] He has an awesome family. He’s doing great.”12

Gary Puffer was a Dodgers fan and Brandon himself was a fan of pitchers like Fernando Valenzuela and Orel Hershiser – though he also became a big fan of Dave Winfield when Winfield threw a ball to him one day at Anaheim Stadium. He called himself a “tunnel-vision type of kid” who always wanted to be a professional ballplayer when he grew up.13

Come high-school time, Brandon attended Capistrano Valley High School in Mission Viejo.

At age 18, he was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the 27th round of the June 1994 amateur draft. He learned of his selection over the high-school intercom system: “Attention Capistrano Valley High School; your fellow Cougar, Brandon Puffer, has officially been selected in the Major League Baseball draft by the Minnesota Twins!”14 His signing scout was Scott Groot.15

It was nearly eight years before Puffer made it to the majors. Indeed, it wasn’t until that same year that he even rose as high as Triple A. He definitely paid his dues in the minors.

His first assignment was to Rookie-level ball in Lee County, Florida (at Fort Myers), with the Twins team in the Gulf Coast League. In the summer of 1994, he worked solely in relief, throwing 35⅓ innings in 18 games, 2-2 with a 3.06 ERA.16

After he returned to California, he learned to his surprise that his former high-school girlfriend (they had broken up before he got drafted) was seven months pregnant. It was a secret she had kept from her own father. She herself “sadly had to remove herself from the parenting scenario.” She and Brandon were still together throughout that first rookie ball season and only broke up after her mother said that was the only way they would sign over all custodial rights. Brandon’s parents filled the breach. Liz and Gary Puffer took Darrin in. The family had full custody since his very first day. “Saints,” he called his parents, “they are the ones who took primary responsibility for raising my son, Darrin.”17 Darrin was born on December 21, 1994. Brandon was a father at age 18. He has written that Darrin “never truly knew his birth mother.”18  

Darrin grew up with a father absent both while playing baseball and while in prison, but with the loving care of his grandparents. “He is an adventurer now,” Brandon said in March 2023. “I just got off the phone with him. He’s in Missoula, Montana, snowboarding. He’s heading to Alaska next week to do commercial fishing – the Deadliest Catch-type stuff. Make some money, and then he’ll go surf for a couple of months. He’s just living the dream.”

Brandon Puffer returned to Fort Myers the following summer, getting into 14 games (five of them starts) and was 0-3 with a 2.88 ERA. Now he was earning money – such as there was at rookie-level ball – to support himself but also to be able to contribute something toward raising Darrin. He did what he could to make money during the offseasons, and sometimes during the season. He variously worked as a food deliveryman, at a local golf club, local fitness center, working on warranties at Oakley, and as a “wine consultant” at Costco. 

It wasn’t as though he was playing in front of large crowds. “You had more people at your high-school games,” he said.19

In May 1996 the Twins released Puffer and he signed as a free agent with the California Angels, spending most of the time with the Boise Hawks of the Short Season-A Northwest League. There was one game for the Angels’ Rookie-level team (a loss) but 16 with the Hawks, for whom he was 2-0 despite a 4.45 ERA. In 1997 he pitched in six games for Boise and then in 10 games for the Class-A Midwest League Cedar Rapids Kernels. He had neither a win nor a loss all season.  The Angels released him in December, by which time they had renamed themselves the Anaheim Angels.20

The next month, in January 1988, Puffer signed with his third big-league organization, the Cincinnati Reds. He was 2-7 (6.93) for the Class-A Charleston (West Virginia) AlleyCats, but did markedly better for the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts, with a 3.12 ERA (no decisions) in seven appearances.

The Reds placed him in Iowa in 1999 with the Class-A Clinton LumberKings. He worked in 59 games, as a closer in 55 of them, and he recorded an excellent 1.99 ERA. The Reds released him, though, after the season. The Colorado Rockies signed him next, but by May 18, 2000, they had released him. He’d given up 13 earned runs in 14⅓ innings of work for Asheville.

It was in the year 2000 that Puffer married for the first time – to Jennifer, whom he had met in Charleston while he was with the AlleyCats. The couple had two daughters together – Morgan and Ashlynn.  The life of a ballplayer wasn’t easy, of course, moving from team to team and city to city, and at one point, they separated but then got back together again, after a couple of years. Though he had been sober for five years, in spring training 2004 “some of those old habits crept back.” They ended up getting divorced, but “[w]e remained close, for our girls. They’re in West Virginia with their mom. One’s in nursing school and the other’s a freshman in high school. Next week, we’ll have a grandson. I’ll be out there in two weeks to hang out with them and see my new grandson.”21

There was, later, a second marriage as well, to a woman who had been a single mom for a number of years. He was able to help her raise her two daughters and see them through middle school and high school. 

Puffer had a brief stint in independent baseball – the Atlantic League – where he pitched for the Somerset Patriots (Bridgewater, New Jersey) for two months before being signed by the Houston Astros. Houston is where he first got a shot in the majors, but it still took another couple of years to get there.

His first assignment was with the Kissimmee Cobras in the Florida State League, an Advanced A league. He closed 18 games with a 1.27 ERA. He was placed with Double-A Round Rock in 2001. Working relief in 56 games (closing 33 times), he was 6-1 with an ERA of 2.07. He began the 2002 season in Triple A, with the New Orleans Zephyrs, where he had a 1.80 ERA in 11 appearances at the highest level he had yet pitched. It was there during a game where he learned he had been called up to the big leagues by an announcement over the ballpark’s loudspeaker: “Brandon Puffer! You have been selected to join the Houston Astros!”22

Puffer’s major-league debut came in April. He joined the team in Cincinnati and manager Jimy Williams put him into his first game on April 17, to throw the bottom of the ninth in a game Houston was leading, 7-2. He struck out the first batter he faced, Todd Walker. He hit Jason LaRue in the back, walked Wilton Guerrero, but then got Barry Larkin to ground into a force play at second base, and then struck out Juan Encarnación.

Puffer didn’t give up a base hit until his third outing, but then he gave up four of them and was tagged for three runs. His first decision was a loss, in his fourth game, on April 23. His next decision was a win, but that didn’t come until his 22nd outing, on June 29 against the Texas Rangers. He had worked four innings of one-hit ball and seen the Astros come from a 5-0 deficit to an 8-5 win. Typically, though, he worked in short relief – he appeared in 55 games and threw 69 innings. His year-end record was 3-3 (4.43).

In 2003 Puffer spent most of the season in New Orleans again. He was called up to the Astros, first appearing on April 25 in Montreal and stuck with the team through the end of May, appearing in 11 games, without a decision, and with a 4.95 ERA. He got one other call and worked to six batters in two games over the July 4 weekend in Pittsburgh, but that was it – his end-of-season ERA was 5.14. With New Orleans, he did work in 44 games, 7-3 with a 2.91 ERA. The Astros released him in November.

San Diego was next; Puffer signed with the Padres in January 2004. After 22 appearances with the Triple-A Portland Beavers, he was called up to the major-league team, appearing in 14 Padres games from May 13 through July 1, 0-1 with an ERA of exactly 5.00. On July 2 he was traded to Boston, reporting to the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox. The Red Sox had planned to use him in the bullpen, but on that very same day they had acquired Jimmy Anderson in trade from the Chicago Cubs. They decided to go with Anderson and so optioned Puffer to the PawSox.23 There he worked in 24 games with a 3.26 ERA (3-2). As noted above, he was a member of the Boston Red Sox for just the one day – September 2 – assigned a uniform and a locker, worked out before the game, but sat out the game in the bullpen. 

It may seem difficult to believe, but having already been signed by seven major-league organizations, Puffer still had five more with which he signed before he retired.

In December 2004 he signed with the San Francisco Giants. They placed him with the 2005 Triple-A Pacific Coast League Fresno Grizzlies. He was called up in mid-June for a little more than a week, appearing in games on June 18, 23, and 26. He was hit for runs each time, and for five of them in 1⅓ innings on June 26 in Oakland, his last game in the major leagues. Working in 54 games for Fresno, his ERA for the year was a disappointing 5.52.

One sees in retrospect that Puffer’s time in the majors was over. His career record was 3-4 (5.09). As a batter in the National League, he seemed to be adept at striking out. He had eight plate appearances in 2002 without a hit and with five strikeouts. He did contribute with a sacrifice bunt in the August 20 game hosting the Cubs. Both baserunners advanced, and then both scored on José Vizcaino’s single. The two runs gave Houston a 7-4 lead, but was a game the Cubs ultimately won, 14-12. Puffer was charged with six of those runs, and the loss. By the end of his career, he had nine at-bats and had struck out seven times.

Fielding in the big leagues, Puffer committed only one error in 39 chances, with the Padres in 2004, ruining what would otherwise have been a career 1.000 fielding percentage to balance his .000 batting average. A run scored on the throwing error fielding a bunt, but it was the fifth run in a 7-1 loss to the Rockies.

The Astros gave Puffer another look in 2006, and it was back to Round Rock but he didn’t have nearly the success he had enjoyed the first time round. With a 4.47 ERA in 37 games, he was released on July 25 – signing three days later with the Oakland Athletics. He spent the rest of the season with their PCL club in Sacramento, but was released after the season.

Puffer played winter ball in Venezuela for Leones del Caracas, only recording 10 innings of work but four decisions. He is shown as 2-2 with a 1.80 ERA.24

In February 2007 Puffer signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but before the end of spring training he was released on March 20 – signing three days later with the Texas Rangers. He was 31 years old. He spent 2007 in Double A with the Frisco RoughRiders in Frisco, Texas, working in 51 games – all in relief – and finished 3-3 (3.20). A brief visit to Venezuela that winter saw him work all of two scoreless innings for LaGuaira. It was around this time that he began to think that his future might lie in coaching – as a bullpen coach. 

In 2008 Puffer turned 32 years old and he was hired by Frisco as a player-coach. He knew that part of his role with that team had been to serve as a sort of mentor to the younger players, someone they could look up to. It might well have led to a next step in baseball, transitioning to becoming a coach. He led chapel for the team. He pitched again and this time put up a dramatic won-lost record of 8-0 in 39 appearances, despite a 3.90 ERA.

Frisco made it to the league finals that year, but on September 12 was eliminated in the final game, 10-3, by the Arkansas Travelers. Hours later, Brandon Puffer began his journey from the bullpen to the state pen – the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville.

He had held himself apart from the others on the team, almost all significantly younger players, but the guys kept at him, urging him to come out and party. At the end of their season, he gave in. He’d taken Adderall before the game, and mixing it with alcohol was, in a sense, playing with fire. He says he’s always been an “all-in” type of guy. Just taking a drink or two in a social setting was not the way he was. He doesn’t remember all the details, but he did end up on trial on the charge of “burglary of a habitation with the intent to commit sexual assault.”

Even after the others had turned in, he was still going. There was an apartment in the complex where they were staying that had been the scene of a number of parties, and he decided to visit. The woman who lived there hadn’t locked the door and he let himself in uninvited (the “burglary” part of the charge) and “I tried to take my clothes off and get in bed with her.”25 “I’ll never forget the scream,” he wrote later.26 The next day he was in an orange jumpsuit. 

The felony charge could have seen him receive up to 99 years in prison. He was fortunate to have impressed a number of people he had encountered along his journey in life and even had Nolan Ryan appear as a character witness during his trial. Puffer was convicted on July 2, 2009, and sentenced to five years in prison. 

Prison was a learning experience, which he details at length in his book. The sound of his prison door clanking shut after he had entered his cell changed his life. There was indeed no way out, no technicality that might spare him from conviction. His first cellmate was a man serving three life sentences, having killed three people.

There came a moment of remarkable clarity; one might call it an epiphany. Essentially, that first day in the small, hot cell was the first day of the rest of his life. He has since developed the moniker of “Coach Puff Positive” and (even just to talk on the telephone or see him on a podcast) one instantly perceives the positive outlook he takes toward life. He says it began that very first day in prison. “I committed myself to being the best inmate I could be and initiating positive interactions with those I came in contact with.”27 He became known for his cheerful, positive demeanor in prison, maybe something of an anomaly – someone who just started smiling and adapted to prison life. It came from an acceptance of a situation that was literally inescapable, but also in that “surrender” – putting himself in the hands of God – he found peace and meaning.

Nonetheless, he was cut off from his two daughters and had almost no communication at all during his time in the penitentiary.

He served 3½ years of his sentence. He was released on September 21, 2012. Looking back on his time in prison, Puffer takes as positive an attitude as one can imagine. He says he was glad he went through the experience because of what he learned. He just wishes that there had not been a victim involved and that the families that were hurt had not been. He has reached out through the Victims Assistance Program to ask for forgiveness and to tell her how truly sorry he is, but understands that she may well prefer not to bring up any bad memories.

Puffer’s relationship with Round Rock Express owner Reid Ryan and family helped him land a position with the club after his discharge, working at its ballpark, Dell Diamond, doing maintenance work – pressure washing the facility, painting, and the like.28 He began to offer a few private lessons. In time he became an outreach coordinator for the club. “And then I branched off and started a youth and high school program.”29

With a friend, Brian Gordon, Puffer founded a new enterprise named GPS Texas Baseball. The two were teammates at Round Rock in 2006. Gordon had been a seventh-round draft pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks in June 1997 and he put in his time in minor-league ball as well – in all, playing 18 seasons of professional baseball.

Puffer talked about Gordon: “We met in the Round Rock/Austin area. We trained together in every offseason. We were both working at the Dell Diamond, the Triple-A team here. I would give pitching lessons. He would give hitting lessons. There were two cages. And we just became very close friends.”

“We created GPS to help advocate for youngsters to go and play in college. Our whole thing is to try to use our experience as baseball players – he played 10 years as an outfielder and eight as a pitcher. He played for the Yankees. Pitched for the Rangers. We try to use that experience to make them better baseball players, but more importantly just better young men. I always draw from my struggles and what I went through, to try to help them.”

“That my passion now. We just absolutely love it. We’re just trying to help these kids be better on and off the field.”30

Four players from the GPS program have been drafted by major-league teams: Matthew McMillan (Angels, 2018), Mason Montgomery (Rays, 2018). Jimmy Lewis (Dodgers, 2019), and Justin Lange (Padres, 2020). “It’s really neat to walk them through that process – what to expect, and all that good stuff.”31

In February 2023, a new chapter in life began as Brandon and Yvette Puffer married. Yvette founded and is the owner/operator of Sedro Trail Assisted Living & Memory Care, which serves elderly folks with Alzheimer’s needs at the end of life.32 

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and retrosheet.org. Thanks to Brandon Puffer for the March 2023 interview.

Notes

1 Henry Schulman, “Giants Notebook: Puffer’s Reward Has Nice Ring to It,” SFGate.com, March 29, 2005. https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/GIANTS-NOTEBOOK-Puffer-s-reward-has-nice-ring-2719621.php/. Accessed February 19, 2023.

2 For background to the moniker, see Ian Browne, “Genius Moniker: Origin of ’04 Sox ‘Idiots,’” MLB.com, February 5, 2021. https://www.mlb.com/news/2004-red-sox-idiots-nickname-explained. Accessed February 19, 2023. Damon’s autobiography is entitled Idiot: Beating “The Curse” and Enjoying the Game of Life, written with Peter Golenbock (New York: Crown, 2005).

3 Puffer had been acquired from the San Diego Padres on July 2 for a player to be named later and had been placed with the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox. Puffer had worked in 24 games, closing 21 of them, with a 3.25 ERA and a record of 3-2. The player named later was infielder-outfielder Peter Ciofrone, who spent eight seasons in the minor leagues but never made the majors. Thanks to Sarah Coffin and the Red Sox Baseball Operations Department for the information identifying Peter Ciofrone. 

4 Damon missed four games, returning on September 7. Hyzdu stuck with the team the rest of the season, playing in 17 games, usually as a late-inning defensive replacement. He hit .300 in 10 at-bats.

5 “We did get our butts kicked, so I feel like I contributed a little bit to the Red Sox that season.” Brandon Puffer, on Granger Smith Podcast, episode 80. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrDWf7WXD1w.

6 Bob Hohler, “Sore Shoulder Sidelines Ortiz,” Boston Globe, September 3, 2004: F6.

7 Puffer interview.

8 Peter Abraham, “A Red Sox 2004 World Series Ring Up for Grabs,” boston.com, August 15, 2013. There is a story behind the ring being “up for grabs.” At a low point, in trying to provide for his family, Puffer sold the ring. http://archive.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2013/08/a_red_sox_2004_series_ring_up_for_grabs.html. The night of Abraham’s column, the ring was going to be offered to the highest bidder on the television show Pawn Stars. The ring was apparently withdrawn from sale because one of the cast members objected, perhaps due to Puffer’s felony conviction. Puffer’s story leads one to think of another Red Sox player – Brayan Villareal – who got a ring as a member of the 2013 World Series champion Red Sox. He pitched in a total of one game (August 20 in San Francisco), facing one batter (Marco Scutaro). The bases were loaded in the bottom of the ninth, the score tied 2-2. Villareal thew four pitches, walking Scutaro, which forced in the winning run for the Giants.

9 Interview with Brandon Puffer on March 3, 2023. “When he started, it was extremely small. In fact, I took an offseason job there with him and there was three or four of us doing warranty. It was pretty cool to watch it grow when he was there. Afterwards, he was a driver for a couple of companies. He’s been medically disabled for quite a while now. He’s OK, but he went through some different things with brain surgery, a heart attack, and stuff.”

10 https://saddleback.com/.

11 Ruth Aguantia, “Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church Ordains Its First Female Pastors, Gets Mixed Reactions,” Christianity Daily, May 10, 2021. https://www.christianitydaily.com/articles/11796/20210510/rick-warren-s-saddleback-church-ordains-its-first-female-pastors-gets-mixed-reactions.htm, accessed February 22, 2023. Rick Warren retired in 2022. The “mixed reactions” culminated in the church being expelled from the Southern Baptist Convention in February 2023. See Peter Smith (Associated Press), “Southern Baptists Oust Popular Saddleback Church Over Woman Pastor,” wrdw.com, February 23, 2023. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/southern-baptists-boot-saddleback-church-woman-pastor-rcna71714. See also Deepa Bharath and Peter Smith (Associated Press), “Saddleback Church Doubles Down on Support for Female Pastors,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 1, 2023. https://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/saddleback-church-doubles-down-on-support-for-female-pastors/V5VSHPKYXFAN3ARSA7R5HJI3UM/. Accessed March 5, 2023.

12 Puffer interview.

13 Granger Smith podcast.

14 Brandon Puffer, From the Bullpen to the State Pen (North Haven, Connecticut: Streamline Books, 2022), 11.

15 “I got to know some of the other scouts a little better. They seemed to be around a little more frequently. The Twins kind of came out of nowhere. I don’t really remember him out there all that much, but we became closer after signing. We became pretty good friends.” Puffer interview.

16 Minor-league life could be a struggle. “Meals and hotel rooms were sometimes taken out of our salaries. And we rarely got to choose our meals … just kind of the same thing mostly every day. The buses we traveled in were pretty brutal as well. There’s just a lot about minor league baseball that isn’t ideal.” From the Bullpen to the State Pen, 20.

17 From the Bullpen to the State Pen, 31.

18 From the Bullpen to the State Pen, 25. Respecting her and her family, Puffer preferred not to name Darrin’s mother, who had managed to keep the pregnancy secret from her father, even for some period of time after Darrin was born.

19 Granger Smith podcast. In the March 2023 interview, he was asked about Fort Myers – spring training, extended spring training, and then rookie ball for the second summer in a row. “It was a long stretch there, in the same hotel room. As you know, the minor leagues don’t get paid very well. For me, I had to pay for medical insurance for Darrin and all those things. At the end of every two weeks, the max I would receive was like $200.”

20 The team name was changed on November 19. Bonnie Hayes, “On Deck: New Image; Stadium, Logo, Name are fresh … Now About the Team …,” Los Angeles Times, Orange County Edition, November 20, 1996: 1.

21 Puffer interview. During the two years they were separated, Puffer had another son, Brenton, born in 2005. “He’s a junior in high school. He lives in Southern California. He’s a left-handed pitcher.” For the first 14 years of Brenton’s life, his father says, it was “totally the opposite of what I did for Darrin by stepping up. It’s embarrassing to admit but I really just cowarded. One of my major prayers – along with making redemption with the young lady that was the victim – was that I would one day be able to make amends with Brenton. And I have. We message each other all the time. I’ve met him several times when I go out there to visit my parents. But for the first 14 years of his life, I had nothing to do with them. His mom graciously kind of slowly let me back in there. They’re still very guarded, which I understand. But he’s pursuing baseball. That’s his dream and passion.”

22 From the Bullpen to the State Pen, 36, 42.

23 Anderson himself was gone after July 14, having worked a total of six innings in five games with an ERA of 6.00. He joined Pawtucket, where he worked to seven batters in just one game, and no more.

24 I went to winter ball five or six years, to Puerto Rico and Venezuela. If my memory serves me, a lot of times they will call in imports just for the playoffs. You don’t go for the whole season. You just go for the holidays, for a round robin. I think that’s what it was. I was just down there for the playoff series.” Puffer interview.

25 Granger Smith podcast.

26 From the Bullpen to the State Pen, xv.

27 From the Bullpen to the State Pen, 100. In the March 2023 interview, he added, “Everybody has to choose how they’re going to do their time. I made the choice I was going to take a positive attitude. I was going to be a light in a pretty dark place. I saw a lot of things that you wouldn’t want to see. For the most part, I was just kind of able to keep my head down and stay positive.” There have been some fellow inmates with whom he has at least occasional contact. I’m heading up to Dallas right now for a baseball tournament I’m coaching and I connected with one of the guys I was doing time with, who lives up there. I had some people reach out to me and say, ‘Hey, you really encouraged me.’ It’s been pretty neat to be able to know that even in an environment like that you can have a positive impact.”

28 “Their family was so supportive of me throughout the year – including the time I was in prison – and Reid specifically told me to reach out after I had gotten out, because he’d have some work for me.” From the Bullpen to the State Pen, 125.

29 Granger Smith podcast.

30 Puffer interview. Brian Gordon appeared in five major-league games, three for the 2008 Texas Rangers and two for the 2011 New York Yankees. One of the other coaches, Ryan Langerhans, also has major-league experience, playing from 2002 through 2013 with six different big-league teams. For more on GPS Texas Baseball, see https://www.gpstexasbaseball.com/.

31 Puffer interview.

32 https://www.sedrotrailassistedliving.com/.