Mark Corey

Outfielder Mark Corey looked like a surefire star after winning batting titles in his first two pro seasons. He tore up rookie ball in 1976, hitting .400 with 17 homers; the next year he hit .310 with 15 homers in Double-A. As it turned out, though, Corey never did break into the crowded Baltimore outfield. Not only was the competition heavy, a series of ailments – starting with a knee injury – eroded his promise. He appeared on three straight Topps “Future Stars” baseball cards from 1979 to 1981, but came to the plate just 64 times in 59 games for the Orioles over that period. He never made it back to the majors after 1981, although his career continued in the minors (with a short stint in Japan and a one-year layoff) through 1987.

Looking back in 2012, Corey offered deep personal insight. “In retrospect, I suppose my strength turned out to be my weakness. My strength was a combination of physical ability, mental toughness, attitude, and confidence. My hitting approach was line to line with driving gap power. Early in my professional career I was never afraid to strike out. I had a knack for hitting with two strikes … fouling off tough pitches, working the count until the pitcher made a mistake, and then punishing the ball.

“As the major leagues became more of a reality instead of a possibility, I succumbed to suggestion and strayed from this formula for success by trying to become a pull hitter in order to increase my home-run production and take advantage of Memorial Stadium. After all, the Orioles of that day were built on ‘pitching, defense and the three-run homer.’

“It took all of a few plate appearances to ruin a lifetime of mechanics and several years to get back to what got me there in the first place. I fell in love with the long ball. My stats reflected this. My average plummeted, strikeouts shot up and there was no big increase in home runs. I became the ultimate BP hitter that did not carry over to the game. My attitude suffered, and as I struggled, I blamed everyone and everything but the man in the mirror. Before I knew it I was a suspect instead of a prospect.”

Mark Mundell Corey was born on November 3, 1955, in Tucumcari, New Mexico. By the end of the 2011 season, 24 natives of the “Land of Enchantment” had made it to the majors, the most notable being Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner. Tucumcari was the hometown of Mark’s mother, Emily Jean Mundell.1 Emily married a pilot named Charles Corey, who worked for United Airlines.2 They had three sons; Charles and Richard came before Mark.

The Corey boys grew up in Aurora, Colorado. Young Mark showed baseball talent early on, playing sandlot ball with older children.3 He attended Aurora Central High School, graduating in 1974. Corey was an all-conference and all-state baseball player, appearing both in the outfield and at first base. “I played football and basketball too,” he recalled in 2012, “but baseball was always my favorite. I always liked the baseball Cardinals.”

He got no scholarship offers from major colleges, which was something of a surprise. He then went to Central Arizona Junior College “because it had a good baseball program.” The coach told him not to come, but he went anyway – and won a job. In two years he hit .429 and .409.

“I majored in arts and parties,” he remembered with a grin [in 1977]. “And rattlesnake hunting – that was fun. I finished one credit short of graduating, but I was there for the baseball anyway.”4 In 2012, Corey reaffirmed, “My focus was baseball and my goal was the major leagues.” He added, however, “I wish I would have paid more attention to academics.”

The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Corey in the sixth round of the January 1975 amateur draft, but he elected to stay in school. Then in January 1976, the Orioles made him their second-round pick. The Central Arizona Vaqueros won the National Junior College Athletic Association baseball championship in 1976, even though Corey went into a slump during the JUCO World Series. “I was just getting over the flu, which hit me during regional play in Utah,” Mark said in 2012. “I did not play there nor did I do well in the JUCO Series. That shows just how good the team was. Central Arizona was talented, deep, and relentless.”

Baltimore scout Ray Poitevint remained high on the 20-year-old Corey, despite the slump. “I’ll tell you something,” said Poitevint, one of the prominent talent evaluators who helped lay the foundation for the team’s greatest era. “If I’d only seen Corey in this tournament, I’d still want to sign him. He has all the tools. He runs well for a big guy and plays defense.”5

Poitevint said that the slump was a good test of the prospect’s mental toughness. “It’s all up here,” he added while touching his right temple. “It’s what’s in a player’s head that makes the difference.” Poitevint had been “sticking like glue” to Central Arizona and the entire junior-college baseball scene in his capacity as scouting supervisor for the Orioles throughout the western US, plus Central America and Mexico.6 In late 1973, he had signed Dennis Martínez out of Nicaragua.

Right after signing with Baltimore, Corey was named a second-team junior-college All-American. He reported to rookie ball in Bluefield (West Virginia). In 70 games that summer, he won the Appalachian League’s Triple Crown, also leading in runs and triples. He was the league’s MVP and Topps Minor League Player of the Year.

The cheerful young blond, who had grown to a powerful 6-feet-2 and 195 pounds, was modest about his accomplishments. After vaulting to Double-A Charlotte in 1977, he said, “I wasn’t even thinking about the majors. If you let your head get big and fly away thinking about things like that instead of the job at hand, you’ll go downhill fast – right off a cliff.”7

Corey did not get off to a strong start against the higher level of competition in the Southern League, but he remained confident. “Wait’ll I get to know the pitchers a little better,” he said quietly. “I’ll rip a hole in this league.”8 He won another Louisville Slugger Silver Bat award for leading the league in hitting.9 He also tied for fourth in homers (three men had 17, including teammate Tom Chism) and tied for third in RBIs (76). That July, he said, “I’ve got work to do, I still have trouble with a hard slider, up and away. And my outfielding needs work.”10

In March 1978 The Sporting News said that Corey had opened eyes with his hitting. The article added, “He is rated an accomplished outfielder who can run and throw. . . . [He] could force his way to the big leagues in a hurry, a la [Eddie] Murray, if he continues to improve.”11 “Minor-league batting instructor Ralph Rowe could spend all day babbling about the phenom,” wrote Ken Nigro, Orioles beat reporter for the Baltimore Sun.12 However, Corey was out until early June. He had to recover from not one but two knee operations to remove cartilage: one near the end of camp and another in May.13

Corey gave background on his joint problem in 2012. “I originally hurt my right knee in 1977 at Charlotte while sliding into third. The base was not flat to the ground and during the slide my lower leg became entrapped under the base. I had open zipper surgery for cartilage damage – arthroscopic surgery was not yet on the scene – around Thanksgiving time in Denver.

“That next spring I was having a very good camp and felt I actually had a chance to stick with the big club. My knee, however, disagreed. It was constantly swollen and inflamed. The first surgery was not successful, as the doctor could not access the injury with the tools on hand. Bottom line, surgery and rehab without a repair.

“Late in the 1978 camp, Ralph Salvon, the Orioles trainer, came to me in the locker room and gave me the option of immediate surgery or at the end of the upcoming season. I had no idea he was telling me I had made the team. . . . Duh. I opted for the surgery.”

Upon his return, Corey joined Triple-A Rochester, where he got off to a 25-for-59 start.14 Inevitably he cooled off, perhaps in part because the knee acted up in July. He still finished with a high average (.324), but had just five homers in 74 games, though he got 40 RBIs. That September there was talk that he might get his first taste of the big leagues, but it didn’t happen. Even so, he was still described as “the system’s big hope for the future.”15

In the winter of 1978-79, the Orioles sent Corey to play ball in Puerto Rico and monitored his progress. His stay with the Caguas Criollos was brief, as he developed irritation in his repaired knee. General manager Hank Peters remarked, “There was some concern at first, but the doctors have assured us that the problem was nothing more than a natural reaction to the operation. We have been told there is no reason why Mark won’t be able to go full tilt once we’re in spring training.”16

In September 1979 the Sun wrote, “The left-field job was Mark Corey’s in spring training until he flubbed his chance and Gary Roenicke won it by default.”17 To be precise, “after a blazing start, Corey played himself off the club with an 0-for-20 slump.”18 The Orioles were also considering him for right field, enabling Ken Singleton to move to left, because Singleton “lack[ed] the speed to cover right field in many ballparks.”19

Corey returned to Rochester, and it was a disappointing season, even though Baltimore manager Earl Weaver was “rooting like hell” for the prospect.20 His average fell off to .249, with 10 homers and 30 RBIs. Again his schedule was curtailed, to just 92 games, as he missed time with a pulled muscle, a prostate infection, and a strained back. The frustrations of that season were visible in May, when (after a 10-3 loss) “Corey screamed at a laughing teammate, tore up a locker room partition and destroyed a styrofoam water cooler.”21

Despite his modest numbers, the big club called Corey up when rosters expanded in September. “Rochester was in Toledo,” he remembered in 2012. “[Manager] Doc Edwards pulled me aside before the game and said I would not be playing for Rochester anymore. I figured I had been released or traded. He then smiled and told me to get my a** to the airport as I was going to ‘The Show.’ ” Corey got into 13 games as a substitute that month. His first hit in the majors came in his eighth at-bat, off Cleveland’s Larry Andersen at Municipal Stadium on September 28. He got his other hit for the O’s that year two days later, a tenth-inning single off Sid Monge. He stole second but was left stranded, and the Indians won in the 11th.

When asked for his memories of Earl Weaver, Corey replied, “He was and probably still is an alpha competitor. All he wanted to do was win. He and his staff stuck with me and gave me chances when other teams may not have. He did love to argue and would say the sun was setting if another said it was rising. . . . I think in part to see how that person would respond.”

As Ken Nigro described it, Corey was struggling for a second chance in spring training 1980. “He fielded grounders in the outfield, and no one paid any attention. A little later, he took batting practice and no one stopped to watch.” He had not played winter ball during the offseason. “He stayed home in Evergreen, and claim[ed] the rest did him a world of good. ‘I lifted weights, ran and got my body in shape,’ Corey said.”22

With all the capable veteran outfielders on the Orioles, though, there was simply no room for Corey. He started the 1980 season at Rochester once more, and his production dipped still further (.230-3-25 in 82 games). Even so, Baltimore called him up in mid-June after Gary Roenicke broke his wrist while sliding. Rochester teammate John Valle said, “Earl Weaver knows Corey is a better hitter than his stats show.”23 Corey spent about a month with the Orioles, hitting his one and only homer in the majors at Memorial Stadium on July 14. It was a two-run shot off Paul Splittorff of the Kansas City Royals, and Corey could still recall it in detail more than three decades later.

“I remember beginning to feel comfortable and confident at the plate. The speed of the pitches did not matter and I was seeing the ball well and making solid contact. I had been getting some playing time since my call-up when Gary went on the DL. I had always been a slow starter at every level. When I would I find my groove the momentum would seem to build and build. That is the feeling I was getting that night.

“The home run itself was nothing spectacular. The pitch was a slider up and in, and I just kept my hands inside the ball. It had good hang time, though, and it seemed like an eternity before the ball disappeared over the left-field fence.

“After the game the team was on the road to Milwaukee, I think. I actually went with the team and thought I might get an extension since Eddie Murray had suffered an eye injury and might go on the DL after Gary came off. I was not in my hotel room more than 20-30 minutes when the phone rang. Earl asked me to come up to his room. I thought he was going to keep me around a while longer. No such luck. It was back to the airport and back to the minors.”

Corey made it back to Baltimore in September and wound up appearing in a career-high 36 big-league games in 1980. His average was a respectable .278 (10-for-36), but he drove in only that pair of runs.

Corey went to Instructional League in the fall and returned to Caguas that winter, but he cut the Puerto Rican stint short after going 1-for-16 with 10 strikeouts. When he returned to spring training, the Orioles “appear[ed] to have soured on [the] outfielder,” wrote the Sun.24 Yet near the end of March, the same paper came back with, “Don’t give up on Mark Corey yet. Hitting coach Ralph Rowe seems to be getting through to him about being more selective, getting a good pitch to hit.”25

However, he began the year at Rochester yet again, appearing in 23 games for the Red Wings – one of those being the 33-inning marathon against the Pawtucket Red Sox that started on April 18. By the time that game resumed, on June 23, Corey had gone on loan to the St. Louis Cardinals organization. He remarked, “This is a new season for me. I was getting stale there [Rochester].”26 He appeared in 52 games for the Cards’ top affiliate, Springfield, as a pulled hamstring cost him 20 games and pancreatitis 13 more.27 He posted an overall batting line of .287-7-28 and the Orioles gave him his final call-up that September. Corey was 0-for-8 in 10 games, finishing his big-league career with a .211 average.

The 1982 season was a winding journey for the outfielder, who was by then 26 years old. He played just one game for Rochester and 14 for Evansville, the Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers (again on loan). He also was demoted to Charlotte for 48 games, and after he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers organization in late July, he played 36 games for their Double-A farm club, El Paso. Ray Poitevint was behind the trade. Poitevint was a member of the “Dalton Gang,” the trusted lieutenants of former Orioles general manager Harry Dalton. In October 1977 he joined Dalton with the California Angels. Shortly thereafter, Dalton became GM in Milwaukee, and again Poitevint became one of his key aides.

The Brewers brought Corey to spring training in 1983 as a nonroster invitee. He played 87 games for their Triple-A team in Vancouver that summer. He enjoyed a nice rebound, hitting .273 with 19 homers and 64 RBIs while serving mainly as a designated hitter. He deserved a call-up from Milwaukee but didn’t get one, and then went to camp with the San Francisco Giants in 1984.

It’s not surprising that Corey didn’t accept a minor-league assignment after not making the Giants’ roster. Instead, he joined the Kintetsu Buffaloes of Japan’s Pacific League that June. Both of the Buffaloes’ allotted gaijin (foreign players) – Don Money and Richard Duran – had left the club in May, reportedly because of poor player conditions. Their replacements were Dick Davis and Corey.28 Here too, Ray Poitevint lent a big hand. Poitevint had ties to Japan that went back to the early ’50s, and he found spots there for numerous American players.29 Corey’s Japanese experience didn’t last long, though: just 31 games (.215-3-8).

“I really enjoyed parts of my time in Japan,” he said in 2012, “others not so much. The focus, determination, and discipline of not only the players and coaches, but Japanese society as a whole, was truly something to behold. Theirs is quite the model of efficiency. Friendly people and good beer too.

“I flew to Osaka to ‘try out’ for the team. The tryout was two-three days of batting and fielding practice for me and a chance for the team to get an inexpensive look at a player they probably never heard of.

“Upon signing a contract I had to fly back to the States to get a work visa, etc. My playing career then began for the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes. In my first five or so games I had a couple of home runs and was off to good start. Then for some reason I took up residency on the bench for several days. A developing pattern – play a few days, sit a week – became the norm. It seemed like any time I started to get it going, I would get pulled out of the lineup in the middle of the game or even the inning.

“Dick Davis and I had assigned interpreters named Fuji and Masa. I was glad we had them – they were very helpful and they turned out to be good friends. Through them, I would ask the manager why. I was told not to worry about it and to go have a beer in the locker room. The club house for gaijin, by the way, was a room across the hall from the ‘other’ players’ locker room. I don’t know if that was by design or if there was not enough space to put us in with the Japanese players.

“At any rate I never did get a clear answer to my queries. As it turned out, the club had already signed, for the next season, and at a high salary, another player to fill the void left by the departures of Don Money and Rich Duran. The club already had signed Dick Davis for several years, leaving only one spot open. I have been told by reliable sources the club would have suffered a ‘loss of face’ if a lower-paid temporary player had performed well in the interim. It doesn’t really matter and I got a free all-expense-paid trip to Japan out of the deal, a country I might never have had the opportunity to visit otherwise. I felt fortunate.”

Corey sat out the 1985 season but joined the Montreal Expos organization that fall. “I am not sure if comeback is the right word,” he remarked in 2012. “I just was not ready to quit. I still had my ‘recaptured’ swing, which had become more refined and powerful, and I had matured both physically and mentally. There was another chapter or two to write and I felt I could get back to the majors. I was willing to start at any level and had written letters to all of the organizations. Most responded with form letters stating, ‘Thank you for your interest but. . .’ However, the Expos’ minor-league coaches and coordinators, many of whom were former Oriole employees, knew of me. Ralph Rowe, Bob Gebhard, and Pat Daugherty, among others, decided to give me another shot. I will be forever grateful to them.”

In March 1986 the Ottawa Citizen described Corey, working out at the minor-league complex, as having “a major-league swing and a linebacker’s body.” The article quoted Ralph Rowe, who had become the Expos’ minor-league hitting instructor after spending 1981 through 1984 as big-league batting coach at Baltimore. “There was a time when he was the best prospect in the Baltimore organization . . . but he was behind too many people. If I’d been Earl Weaver I would have done the same thing.”30 Corey could well have been better off if the Orioles had traded him; the Seattle Mariners had been asking for him back in April 1979.31

“That year in 1986 saw me start out in Double-A Jacksonville of the Southern League,” said Corey. “My manager was Tommy Thompson. After making the team he told me at the start of the season I would play every day. On some level I feel his purpose was twofold: 1) I would solidify the middle of the order with an experienced dangerous bat and 2) I could help the younger players grow and learn. It did not matter to me at the time. All I knew was I had another chance. In retrospect I hope I was of some help to the younger players. Thank you, Tommy!

“I had a 27-game hitting streak, and during the streak Jim Fanning, Bob Gebhard, and some of the Expos’ minor-league front-office staff came to town for a series. Bob met with me. He told me the distance from Jacksonville to Montreal was no greater than from Indianapolis (AAA). He wanted me to stay at AA and to be ready for a call-up.

“The night of what would have been game number 28 in the streak was the telling moment in my attempts to get back to the bigs. I did not quite avoid an inside pitch, which resulted in what the doctor said was a ‘boxer’s fracture’ of the fifth metacarpal of my left hand. I had dealt with injury my whole career and this one was just another. The kicker was that André Dawson got hurt a few days later and went on the DL. There was no guarantee I would have gotten the call, but I believe I would have.

“The doctor said six weeks rest. I came back in four weeks and had not lost any bat speed or rhythm. I was back on track and hoping for a late season call-up. During my last at-bat for Jacksonville that season there were two audible cracks: the crack of the bat and the crack of my hand as the bone was re-broken. I knew then my last chance had passed me by. By the way, that last at-bat was a home run.”

Corey split his final season, 1987, between Indianapolis and Portland, the Triple-A farm club of the Minnesota Twins. At age 31, he then retired. He wasn’t quite through with pro baseball, though. When the Senior Professional Baseball Association (SPBA) started play in the late fall of 1989, Corey joined the action. He got into 12 games and hit .226.

“At this point in time I had no thoughts of another try at pro ball,” he remembered in 2012. “I was working as a bread delivery driver for a company in Denver when an old college buddy of mine called. Jim Morley had this idea for the senior league and asked me if I was interested in playing. The catch was I had to go in as a pitcher or a catcher because of the age limitations on position players. I was too young to come in as an outfielder or infielder. I jumped at the chance and went as a catcher. What fun! I played for the St. Petersburg Pelicans and the Orlando Juice. Note of infamy: Myself, Gerry Pirtle, Bake McBride, and Jerry Martin were traded from St. Pete to Orlando in a ‘blockbuster’ four-for-one trade for Ken Landreaux.

“I recall during training camp, St. Pete was playing at Winter Haven one day. I came into the game for the last couple of innings to spell Butch Benton at the catcher position, this to justify my spot on the team. Jon Matlack was pitching, Roy Howell was at third base and Gary Rajsich was at first base. The batter, Bill Madlock, hit a skyrocket popup that started out behind the plate but would end up between the mound and home. The first words out of my mouth after flinging my mask into the chest of the umpire were, ‘Roy, where the #*!! are you?’ Out of the corner of my eye I saw him standing at third with arms folded across his chest and laughing with abandon. Same thing with Gary.

“After spinning around like a drunken sailor and tripping over my mask, I fell flat on my back, stuck out my glove and actually caught the ball. Players from both benches erupted in laughter so hard I thought the paramedics would have to come administer oxygen. Boy, did I catch hell on the bus ride back to St. Pete.”

As of 1990, Corey was back in Evergreen, selling real estate.32 In February 1992 the Colorado Rockies hired him as a part-time scout.33 Later that year, the club assigned him to cover the Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas and southern Missouri territory.34 He brought in at least one major leaguer: Luther Hackman, Colorado’s sixth-round draft pick in 1994, who pitched 149 games in the majors from 1999 to 2003. Corey scouted with the Rockies for roughly four years and joined the Cincinnati organization in December 1999.35 His most notable find for the Reds came from his old school, Central Arizona. Pitcher David Shafer, a 32nd-round pick in the 2001 draft, got as high as Triple-A in 2007 and 2008.36

“Scouting consisted of many lonely nights on the road, fast food, and a lot of ghost chases. On the other hand, it afforded me the opportunity to stay in the game, renew old acquaintances and meet many fine people, most notably John Gracio, a true friend with a great baseball mind. He and his wife, Carol, are very special to me.”

Corey married Beth Beemer on September 11, 1993. They were subsequently divorced but had two children, son Colten and daughter Carsyn. “I began working for America West Airlines in Phoenix in January 2004. I transferred to Denver after three years and work as an operations/ramp lead. America West and USAir merged into US Airways after my transfer.”

After coming back to Colorado, Corey resided near where he grew up, in Evergreen. In January 2009, when Aurora Central High inducted Mark into its Legends Club, the Aurora Sentinel carried a smiling photo of him, still looking fit, trim, and athletic.37 There was a legacy from his playing days, though: “I have had right knee replacement surgery three times since January 2008.”

Mark Corey has abundant memories of his baseball career, but as he said in 2012, “I would have to say my fondest are of the people I met, the places I traveled to, and the players. They are all etched into my soul even if I can’t recall all of their names. I could go on and on.”38

He singled out one particular on-field moment, which took place during the 1979 season. On Tuesday, September 25, in a midweek night game at home against Detroit, he made a fine running catch to preserve a 2-2 tie in the ninth inning (although the next batter, Ron LeFlore, singled to score the eventual winning run). “I was in right field and Ricky Peters was at bat. Ray Miller had moved me in tighter to the line and closer to the infield as the pitching plan was to get Peters to hit to the opposite field. It worked and the ball was flared down the line. My only thought was to catch that ball before it hit the ground. The foul areas were pretty tight and there was a waist-high chain-link fence that separated an enclosure from the field just past the first-base dugout where the groundskeepers kept some of their equipment.

“As I closed on the ball, which was tailing away from me, the gap between me and that fence narrowed quickly. Somehow at the last second I was able to catch the ball off my shoe tops before it hit the ground and at the same time avoid a head-on collision with the fence. I ended up lying on top of the fence like a fulcrum. The fence collapsed under my struggle to free myself. I was able to regain my balance and throw from my knees to Eddie Murray at first to try for a double play.

“Upon returning to my position in the outfield, I became aware of the crowd noise but had no idea they were chanting my name: COREY, COREY. You get the picture. Then Al Bumbry, in center field, got my attention and urged me to tip my cap to the crowd. I did so and their response was so overwhelming it sent shivers down my spine. That one has stuck with me over the years and it wasn’t even a full house that night. The presence of my mother and father at the game made it all the more special.”

Grateful acknowledgment to Mark Corey for his memories (via e-mail, February 21, 2012).

Sources

http://www.baseball-reference.com

http://www.retrosheet.org

Bennett, Brian, On a Silver Diamond: The Story of Rochester Community Baseball from 1956-1996 (Scottsville, New York: Triphammer Publishing, 1997).

http://japanbaseballdaily.com (Japanese statistics)

http://central.aurorak12.org/files/2011/02/Legends-Corey.pdf

Notes