‘We’re not guaranteed 3,000 at-bats.’ What it’s like to have a one-game MLB career
LA TimesThe first time Jeff Banister stepped into a big-league clubhouse, it was 9 o’clock. Then there’s Archibald Wright “Moonlight” Graham, who twice hit better than.325 in eight minor league seasons but didn’t get an at-bat in the majors, playing two innings in right field for the New York Giants in 1905 without touching the ball. But he caught a break on the first step of the minor league ladder when John Boles, a special assistant with the Mariners, saw Bantz play for Seattle’s rookie-level team in Pulaski, Va. “He actually came up to me after the game and said, ‘You’ve got a chance,’” Bantz remembered. “And he didn’t know my name.” Asked about Kruger four years later Maddon, a catcher who spent four years in the low minors, remembered the ninth inning of that one-sided game. “I was physically strong enough to force the ball over the shortstop’s head.” John Paciorek recorded three hits in his one MLB game with the Houston Colt 45’s, now the Astros.
Discover Related