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Kenneth Daniels was the ultimate traveling man. In his 14 season big league career, he was traded four times and was a free agent five times. He played for 10 different franchises in 11 different cities. He had a very nice career along the way, getting named to three All Star squads and winning 2 World Series rings. Daniels now enjoys golfing, fishing and a quiet retirement to his house on the outskirts of Montreal. In his study, there are 13 jerseys from his professional career now hanging on display. He has one All Star jersey from each league, plus a one from Burlington, Columbus, Trenton, Los Angeles, Huntington, Texas, Durham, New Orleans, Scottsdale, Cleveland and Sioux Falls. His best seasons were the two he played in Los Angeles, which were both All Star seasons. In Seasons 5 and 6, he combined for 156 innings, 80 saves and a 2.99 ERA.
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Buck Giles had a very good 12 season career. For 9 of those seasons, he was a full time starter and one of the most consistent, productive players in the league. A true professional hitter, Giles could hit the ball to all fields for both power and average. Plus he was tough to strike out. He had 267 career home runs and 328 career doubles. He was a career .308 hitter, with an OBP of .361 while racking up over 1000 RBI and nearly 2000 hits. He was also highly durable. In the first seven seasons of his career, he appeared in at least 157 games, and appeared in 162 games in four of those seasons. During those seven seasons, he had a .304 AVG, while averaging 185 hits, 32 doubles, 26 home runs and 108 RBI per season. Giles might be the best player ever not to have made an All Star squad. He played most of his prime in New York City with the Country Boys. Giles now makes his living at the University of Wisconsin as a hitting and fielding instructor for the baseball team.
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Kirk Hughes was the very embodiment of designated hitter. He was a slow runner with a round form. He was a catcher at his four years at the University of Tennessee, but didn't have the defensive skills behind the plate to man the position in the pros. What he did have was prodigious power, excellent plate discipline and an uncanny eye for the strike zone. Hughes has a very productive 13 season career, nearly all of which he was a full time DH. His career .279/.373/.508 number are very impressive. He also accumulated 1677 hits, 371 home runs, 1139 RBI and 848 walks during his career. He won 2 Silver Slugger Awards and a World Series ring in Season 5. His best season was probably Season 2; which is ironically not one of his Silver Slugger seasons. His Season 2 production includes a .308 AVG, with 43 home runs and 110 RBI. Hughes has now moved to Montgomery where he owns and operates a real estate investment firm.
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Bob Tobin was a pro's pro. He played 7 of his 11 full time seasons with the St. Louis Redbirds. It was the perfect marriage. A class-act organization for a class-act player. Tobin was a favorite of many of the pitchers he called games for. To this day, future HoFers SP Julian Castillo, SP Damaso Solano and RP Shin-Soo Nakamura swear he's one of the best pitch callers in the business. He wasn't blessed with a cannon arm, but had a great feel for the game and always seemed to call the right pitch. It was a young Tobin who was the Redbirds regular backstop when they won the World Series in Season 4. But it wasn't just Tobin's game calling that made him such a good player, nor was it his leadership in the dugout. He was also a very good hitter. He didn't put up gaudy power numbers or drive in a ton of runs. But he was a tough out. He boasts a career AVG of .308 and a career OBP of .405. Tobin spent the last five seasons of his career split between Memphis and Jackson, where he was a solid veteran catcher for both clubs. Tobin has returned to St. Louis for his post-player career. He has accepted a job as part of the radio broadcast duo for the St. Louis Redbirds radio network.
Other Notable Retirements:
Al Romero
Alvin Handworth
Yorvit Montana
Dann Miceli
Ossie Curtis
Orlando Julio
Fergie Carreon
Carl Powell
For the Love of the Game Award: Many players dream of making it to the big leagues, landing that monster contract and winning the World Series. For every player who makes it big, for every Pedro Pascual there are dozens of other players that you’ve never heard of. Those players who will toil in the experience that is minor league baseball, but never make it to the bigs. Minor league baseball is a grind. Long bus rides, dank hotel rooms, alcoholic coaches, backwater towns, moldy locker rooms and gimmicky promotions all must be dealt with. The “For The Love of the Game Award” is given to the recently retired player who never made it to the bigs, but toiled in the minors. Every season we will giving this award to the player who most reminds us of Crash Davis and takes those blue chip prospects under his wing and shows them the ropes on their way to the top. These are the unsung pros upon which the Satchel Paige League is built. Those players who know they’ll probably never make it all the way, but show up every season and play simply for the love of the game. This season’s award goes to….
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Morris Stone has go to be the worst pitchers to manage to have a 15 season professional career (mostly in Pittsburgh's system), even in the minors. His career MILB ERA of 9.10 is impressive for all of the wrong reasons. He pitched in over 1,000 minor league innings and massed up nearly 1,000 walks to go along with it. Many have wondered why keep him around. In addition to being healthy and willing to eat up innings, Stone's enthusiasm was infectious. "Morris knew he would never get to the big leagues. But that didn't matter to him, he just loved playing baseball," said Ned Starr, formerly a pitching coach in Pittsburgh's minor leagues. "Whenever players would get frustrated about not getting their callup or getting their shot, all we had to do was get them to watch Morris. They'd see him go out and get lit up again and again, but he never got down. He just played and had fun. That would rub off on the players around him." Stone has returned to his home town of Philadelphia and managed to stay involved in the game he loves. He has accepted a job as a high school coach and is working toward his teaching credential in his spare time. He is also working with a local organization that helps at-risk youths with sports programs.
