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

Karim Garcia is another former major leaguer making news in the World Baseball Classic.  As the leader of a potent Mexican offense, Karim is hitting .385 with three homers and 5 RBI.  Fans of Garcia are certainly not surprised to hear this.  He has been tearing up the Japanese, Korean and Mexican leagues the last few years.  He is ready to do more damage this year as a member of the Lotte Giants in the Korean League, where he is known as the “Latino Bambino.” After his major league career, he learned a little patience at the plate and has emerged as an offensive force.

It is too bad he could not learn that in the big leagues.  He was given several opportunities to do so, but poor defense, lack of plate discipline, and an awful attitude lead to his early departure from many major league organizations.

Karim started out as a top prospect in the Dodgers organization.  He was picked as Sporting News Minor League Player of the year in 1995 and made his major league debut that year at the age of 19.  He was also ranked higher than Alex Rodriguez as a prospect in AAA Pacific Coast League.  He was certainly on the fast track,  but he failed in 3 brief stints with the Dodgers and was selected by the Diamondbacks in the 1997 expansion draft.

Arizona made him part of a platoon in the outfield and he responded with nine homers.  The power was the only part of his game.  His defense in the outfield made him a liability.  Arizona swindled the Tigers in the off-season by shipping him to Detroit for Luis Gonzales, who went on to lead the Diamondbacks to a World Series championship.  The Diamondbacks took advantage of the Randy Smith’s obsession with power-hitting prospects to pull off the best trade in their short history. 

Karim, a left-handed hitter,  used the short right field porch in Tiger Stadium in 1999 to hit 14 homers in 288 at bats.  But Detroit had enough of his antics after one season.  They dumped him off on the Orioles in 2000.  It was the beginning of his career as a journeyman.  The Orioles released him after he went 0 for 16.  The Indians picked him up in 2001, but released him even though he hit 5 homers in 45 at bats.  The Yankees picked him up and released him.  The Indians picked him up again.  He hit 16 homers in limited duty and had a .584 slugging percentage.  But the Indians couldn’t wait to dump him again and sold him to the Yankees in 2003. 

Karim had a decent year for the Yankees in 2003 and was a member of their ALCS and World Series rosters.  However, he embarassed himself that year by joining Yankees reliever, Jeff Nelson, to beat up a member of the Fenway Park grounds crew in the visitor’s bullpen during the ALCS. 

The Yankees let him leave as a free agent in the off-season.   The Mets picked him up and traded him to Baltimore where he was released a second time. It was the end of his major league career.

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

Karim’s stats

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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

Danny Boone played three years in the majors as a lefty middle reliever.  He was a top prospect after being  drafted by the Angels in the 2nd round in 1976.  It was the 5th time he had been drafted.  He opted not to sign the first four times.

The Angels gave up on him in 1980 and released him.  The Padres picked him up and he rewarded them with a great year out of the bullpen in 1981.  He had a 2.84 ERA and 2 saves.  Danny struggled in 1982 and the Padres traded him in mid-season to the Astros for Joe Pittman.  He finished the year with 2 saves, but had a 4.71 ERA.

Danny was back in the minors in 1983, and was out of baseball by 1984.  He came back to play in the Senior Professional Baseball League in 1989 and 1990 and impressed the major league scouts.  He got a contract with the Orioles and pitched for them in 1990 at the age 36.  He pitched in only 9 innings and had a 2.79 ERA.

Danny is also a direct descendant of the explorer Daniel Boone.  It is often reported incorrectly that the Ray/Bob/Bret/Aaron Boones were related to this explorer, too.  There is no relation.

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

Danny’s Stats

Enos Cabell enjoyed a long career in which he started for many years at third base for the Astros. Houston fans may dispute his induction into the Hall of Scrubs, but as a Detroit fan, I remember him only as a weak hitting first baseman. He was supposedly a great clubhouse guy who kept everyone in line and he was a good defensive player.

Enos recently appeared in the news because he is being sued by Vince Young for trying to register the “Invincible” trademark. I would never think those two athletes would ever be connected.

Enos played most of his career for Houston. After struggling in 1980 by hitting .272 with only 2 homers, he was traded to San Francisco. After playing part-time for one year with the Giants, he was shipped to Detroit for Champ Summers (the man who beat Jimmy Conners in a youth tennis tournament). For Detroit, he provided some stability at first base. However, after the 1983 season, the Tigers decided to sign Darrell Evans to be the new first baseman and let Enos go back to the Astros.

Enos was traded once again in 1985 to the Dodgers where he finished his career playing with one of his cousins - Ken Landreaux. Enos actually has two cousins who played baseball. Dick Davis is the other one. But Dick and Ken are not cousins. Quite complicated.

You can view Enos Cabell’s statistics at www.baseball-reference.com:

Enos’ Stats

Walter Young earned a unique nickname during his short playing career - Big. He got this nickname due to his enormous size - 6′5″, 320 lbs. As you may have guessed, Big Walter was a first baseman when he was forced to play in the field. He was, however, a subpar fielder. He also was a bit slow on the basepaths. But, man, did he have power.

Big Walter spent most of his career in the minors for the Pirates and Orioles. He hit 33 home runs at AA Bowie in the Orioles system in 2004. He also managed to steal 2 bases that year. How?

Baltimore promoted him to the majors in 2005 at the age of 25. He got 33 at bats as a 1B-DH. He hit only 1 homer and had a .303 batting average. It was the last we saw of him at the major league level.

The Padres claimed him on waivers in 2006, but he never played on their big league club. He was last seen playing for an independent league team in Winnipeg.

He is still young. Maybe he will return someday. I will keep an eye out for him. He would be hard to miss.

You can view Walter’s minor and major league stats at www.thebaseballcube.com:

Walter’s Stats

Let the great debate begin. Was John Shelby really a scrub? We say yes, and we say he was one of the best. Some people may claim he was a starting outfielder, a star performer. They point to his year in 1987 when he hit 21 homers and stole 16 bases. Guess what…. everybody hit 20 homers in 1987. Even Larry Sheets managed to do that.

John was a solid player, but he was no star. Other than his 1987 year, he averaged about 390 at bats with 9 homers and 10 steals. Not bad for a skinny kid from Kentucky.

The good news for Shelby fans is that his son, John Shelby, Jr., is a top prospect for the White Sox. He may emerge as the true star in that family.

John Shelby, Sr.’s career began in Baltimore as a platoon outfielder. He was a member of the championship team in 1983. In 1987, he was traded to L.A. where he established himself as a starter. He got a second ring in 1988 when Kirk Gibson led the Dodgers to World Series championship.

John struggled after 1988 and ended up as a reserve for the lowly Tigers in 1990 and 1991. He ended his career in Detroit after hitting .154 - well below the Mendoza line.

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

John’s Stats

Many Phillies fans may dispute Jeff Stone’s status as a scrub. Of course, those Phillies fans who do still think of Jeff as a future superstar are stuck in a 1984 time warp.

Jeff Stone was an outfielder for the Phillies from 1983 thru 1987. In 1984, he came out of nowhere to hit .362 in 185 at bats. His strat-o-matic card from that year is a classic.

Unfortunately, Jeff could not continue at that pace. He hit .265 in ‘85, .277 in ‘86 and .256 in ‘87. The Phillies managed to trade him along with the future Mike Schmidt - Mr. Rick Schu, to the Orioles, who no doubt thought they were going to resurrect both Stone’s career and Schu’s careers. Unfortunately, Stone stunk. He was released by the Orioles at the end of the season.

He stunk for the Rangers the next year and then came back strong in 1990, hitting .500 for the Red Sox. Of course, he only had 2 at bats that year.

Stone will always be remembered in Philly as a future superstar. Many fans will always think about what could have been if he could have maintained an average in the .350 - .375 range.

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

Jeff’s stats

Kevin Hickey was an excellent softball player in 1977. The White Sox were so impressed, that they signed him right out of the softball league at age 21.

He quickly adjusted to the faster pace of baseball and made his way to the majors in 1981 where he was primarily a scrubby left-handed middle reliever for the White Sox. He started his major league career with a respectable 3.65 ERA and 3 saves, and followed up that year with an even better ERA (3.00) and 6 saves in 1982. Just when he thought he had solidified his career as a scrubby reliever, he started to falter.

As part of the Division Championship team in 1983, Hickey failed as a late inning reliever. He had 5 saves, but his ERA ballooned to 5.00. Hickey was released by the White Sox and began a second career as a journeyman minor league reliever.

Despite having constant thoughts of returning to the safer confines of the softball field, Hickey stuck it out in minor league baseball and earned a return to the majors in 1989. He gave the Orioles one good year as a lefty specialist out of the bullpen before stinking it up for his final two years of his career.

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

Kevin’s stats

Sherman Obando from Panama caused quite a stir in 1992 when he was picked by the Baltimore Orioles from the New York Yankees in the Rule 5 Draft. He was heralded as one of the best power hitters in the minors. Unfortunately, he was not that strong in the field.

The Orioles held onto him in 1993 but he played sparingly. The Orioles projected him to be a future starter, but he never panned out. They unloaded him in 1996 in a trade with Montreal for Tony Tarasco.

Sherman hit 8 homers as a bench warmer in Montreal which helped him win the coveted Stan Papi Award.

Unfortunately, Sherman did not enjoy a long career as a scrub. He was out of the league after a subpar year in 1997.

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

Obando Stats