Hall of Scrubs

The June draft is approaching and there is a lot of excitement in Michigan about the top high school player,  Daniel Fields from U-D Jesuit.  There is a good story of how Daniel hit a home run at Comerica Park off of the batting practice pitcher at the age of 12. 

The batting practice pitcher for Daniel Fields was his father, Bruce, who was a bench coach for the Tigers at the time.  At one time, there was a lot of excitement about Bruce Fields in Michigan, too.  He was a top prospect for the Tigers after he hit .368 for their AAA team, Nashville, in 1986.  He even got into the Donruss Rated Rookie card set, but the picture on the card is of Darnell Coles.  It was a big mixup for Donruss.

He was called up at the end of ‘86, but hit “only” .279 in the majors.  It was not enough to make Sparky happy since Bruce did not have much power or speed.

Bruce spent all of 1987 at AAA and was traded in the off-season to the Mariners for Stan Clarke.  He played a little in Seattle in 1988 and hit .269.  He got only 3 at bats in 1989 and hit .333.  He spent most of that year tearing up AAA again with a .351 batting average.

Bruce was a top minor league hitter who just never got a shot at holding down a major league job.  He went right into coaching and managing when he retired and was regarded as a major league manager prospect after leading Toledo for a couple of years.  However, after spending time on Alan Trammell’s coaching staff during some of the worst seasons ever in Detroit, he has not received much attention as a potential candidate for manager positions.  Recently, he has been a minor league hitting instructor.

Hopefully, Daniel Fields will make it to the majors and have a better career than his father did.  It sounds like he has a lot more power than Bruce had.

You can view Bruce Fields stats at www.baseball-reference.com:

Bruce’s stats

After Fernandomania hit Major League Baseball in 1981, several teams started looking to Mexico for pitching. The White Sox thought they had quite the find in 1982 when they purchased 25 year old Salome Barojas from the Mexico City Reds on April 1st. They immediately placed Salome in their bullpen and he responded nicely by recording 21 saves.

Salome Barojas made the cover of Baseball Digest magazine as he became a top reliever in the American League. He followed his debut season with another stellar year in 1983, helping the White Sox win the American League West. His ERA in 1983 was 2.47 and he had 12 saves.

In 1984, the White Sox became tired of Salome’s wildness and traded him to the Mariners for Jerry Don Gleaton and Gene Nelson. Seattle made Salome a starter and he did ok. He won 6 games and had a 3.97 ERA. Certainly, he was good enough to stick with a major league team as a 4th or 5th starter.

The bottom fell out in 1985, however. He went 0-5 with a 5.98 ERA. Seattle released him in the off-season and he returned to the Mexico City Reds.

The Phillies purchased him from Mexico City in July 1988 but he pitched sparingly and ended the year with a 8.31 ERA.

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

Salome’s Stats

Gene Kingsale was the typical no-hit, speedy centerfielder who was always so close to becoming a great leadoff hitter when he was a top prospect for the Baltimore Orioles in the late nineties.  If only he could bunt more or hit it on the ground more.  If only he could get more walks.  Sadly, he never could improve those skills in the US.  But the coaches of the Netherlands national team seemed to have unlocked that potential.

This former scrubby centerfielder is making news recently as the leadoff hitter for the Netherlands team that upset the Dominican Republic in the first round of the World Baseball Classic.  He has found success in the Netherlands that he could not find in the majors.  I doubt it will result in a return to the majors. Once a player ends up playing in the Netherlands League, he generally stays in the Netherlands.

Kingsale got several opportunities to prove himself in Baltimore before they waived him in 2001.  He never hit over .250 for the Orioles.  The Mariners claimed him off waivers , but they only gave him 18 at bats before waiving him again.  The Padres claimed him this time and handed him the regular centerfield job in 2002.  He responded by hitting .278 and stealing 9 bases.  The Padres then traded him to the lowly Tigers in 2003 for catcher Mike Rivera (NL Stan Papi Award winner in 2006).  In Detroit, Gene joined the ranks of Gary Pettis and Kimera Bartee by hitting a measly .208 as the regular centerfielder.  They gave up on him after 120 AB’s.  It was his last year in the majors.

In addition to being a star of the Netherlands, Gene’s other claims to fame are that he was the first major leaguer to come from Aruba and he was also knighted by the person in Aruba who does that type of thing (likely a major baseball fan).

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

Gene’s Stats

After a three year stint in Japan, Tony Bernazard signed with the Tigers before the 1991 season in what he hoped would be a grand return to Major League Baseball.  The Tigers’ GM, Bill Lajoie, was on a roll with signing  free agents from Japan after picking up Cecil Fielder the year before, so it seemed like Tony would surely have a career season in Detroit.  At the time, I was a major Tiger fan and produced a weekly newsletter about their off-season.  It was a minor publication.  My parents were the only subscribers.  In my column, I predicted that Tony would surpass his season high home run total of 17 that he had for the Indians in 1987, and he would surpass is season high stolen base total of 23 in 1983 to become the first Tigers second baseman to have a 20-20 season.

I was wrong on both counts.  Bill Lajoie was wrong, too.  Tony was a major flop.  He had 12 at bats, hit .167 and was released in May.  It was his last season in the majors.  I had forgotten about him altogether until I recently went on a trip to Frankenmuth, Michigan.  The hotel I stayed at proudly displayed a photo of Tony that was taken at a Tigers’ Fest in 1991.  I found it rather strange that the hotel owner would find something remarkable enough about meeting Tony to put him up on his wall of fame.  Tony did have a decent major league career.  Just not for Detroit.

Prior to going to Japan, Tony did have one decent year as a starting second baseman for the Indians in 1986.  He hit .301 with 17 homers and 73 RBI.  His other years in the majors were mostly mediocre.  He did have one very bad year in 1984 for the Indians as well.  He hit .221 with an awful slugging percentage of .287.

In 1983, Tony was the starting second baseman on the White Sox, a team that was headed for the division championship, but he was traded in the middle of the season to the lowly Mariners for Julio Cruz, who was a much faster second baseman.  He spent the rest of the year playing for the Mariners before being traded to the Indians in the off-season for Gorman Thomas and Jack Perconte. 

After 3 years in Cleveland and a half-season in Oakland, Tony played for the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks in Japan.

Tony is currently a Vice President in the New York Mets front office and is often considered a candidate for General Manager positions in the majors.

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

Tony’s stats