Hall of Scrubs

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Major League Spring Training camps are full of Triple-A sluggers who generally have no shot at making the team.  While scrappy mediocre prospects like Pittaro impress the heck out of major league managers, big sluggers from AAA rarely gain attention even though they hit monstrous homers during Spring Training games.  They show up as non-roster invitees and are shipped out when the regulars need to get more playing time.  Sluggers like Randy Ruiz of the Blue Jays and Joe Koshansky of the Rockies (now Rangers) are recent examples.

In 2005, Calvin Pickering bucked this trend.  He came to Spring Training with the lowly Royals and battled their All-Star incumbent at first base, Ken Harvey, for spot on the roster.  Kansas City was not happy with the lack of power from the hefty Ken Harvey and were delighted with the power and patience of the equally hefty Calvin Pickering.  To the surprise of minor league slugger fans everywhere, Calvin Pickering actually won the job with a great Spring season.

Unfortunately, as is the case with most Spring Training surprises, it did not last long.  Calvin was given only 7 games to retain his new job as the starting first baseman. Only 7 games?  It was simply not fair.  He did scuffle in those seven games, hitting only .143.  The Royals promptly demoted him in favor of Ken Harvey.  It was the end of Calvin’s major league career.

Calvin went to Korea in 2006 where he hit a ton of homers.  No surprise.  He returned to the U.S. to play independent league baseball in 2007.  A blogger for the Royals review (www.royalsreview.com) recently spotted him in the Atlantic League and is sharing a photo of Pickering that shows how the 6′5” slugger has grown considerably around the midsection.  He won’t be playing in the field anytime soon with that size.  You can view this picture at the following link provided by the Royals Review:

Gigantic Calvin Pickering playing for the Bridgeport Bluefish in the Atlantic League

Prior to his stint with the Royals, Calvin played in the majors for the Orioles, who drafted him in the 35th round out of the Virgin Islands, the Reds and the Red Sox.  He ended up hitting a total of 14 homers in 95 major league games.  In the minors, he regularly hit over 30 homers per season and was known as the Barry Bonds of AAA (back when that was a respectable comparison).

You can view Calvin’s stats at www.baseball-reference.com:
Calvin’s stats

Besides having the perfect name for a slugger, Champ Summers was a very unique baseball player. He was signed to his first pro contract at the age of 25 after starring in a softball league. His mother was a professional bowler and he was a former teen tennis star who once beat Jimmy Conners in a youth tournament.

After signing with Oakland in 1971, Champ spent three years in the minors before making his major league debut in Oakland in 1974. He had only 24 at bats and hit .125. Oakland dumped him off on the Cubs where he played for 2 years until going to the Reds in a trade for the great Dave Schneck. Champ finally got his break once the Reds traded him to the Tigers for another great pitcher - Sheldon Burnside. Yes, it was the seventies and Sheldon did have some killer sideburns.

Champ’s left-handed swing was perfect for Tiger Stadium. He was the regular DH and hit 20 homers in 1979 and 17 homers in 1980 for Detroit. His numbers declined in 1981, so Detroit shipped him to San Francisco for Enos Cabell. He spent two years there before finishing his career with the Padres in 1984.

You can view Champ Summers statistics at www.baseball-reference.com:

Champ’s stats