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John Flaherty

Born:	October 21, 1967
Birthplace:	New York, New York
Hometown:
Height:	6' 1"
Weight:	200 lbs.
Bats:	Right
Throws:	Right
Drafted:	25th Round, 1988 by the Boston Red Sox
College:	George Washington University
High School:	St. Joseph's Regional (NJ)
Other Teams:	Detroit Tigers 1994-1996 San Diego Padres 1996-1997 Tampa Bay Rays 1998-2002 NY Yankees 2002-2005
Years with Boston:	1992-1993, spring training 2006

John Timothy Flaherty (born October 21, 1967) was drafted by the Red Sox in 1988. After rising through the Sox system, Flaherty broke into the majors in 1992 with the Red Sox. Flaherty was traded in 1994 to the Detroit Tigers, and from there went on to have a solid career as a mostly back-up catcher.

1 Overall Career
2 Moment in the Sun
3 Trivia
4 External Links

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Overall Career

John Flaherty was known as an excellent defensive catcher with not very much offensive prowress. Flaherty found himself playing a back-up role later in his career with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and New York Yankees, but was a starter with the San Diego Padres and early on with the Devil Rays. His career high in home-runs was 14 in 1999 with the Devil Rays. He finished his 14 year career playing in 1,047 games, hitting .252 with 80 homers and 395 RBI's.

In december of 2006, Flaherty signed with the Boston Red Sox as a free agent, competing with Ken Huckaby and Josh Bard for the role of Tim Wakefield's personal catcher. Legend has it that after one inning of attempting to catch Wakefield's knuckleball, Flaherty left his catching mitt on the plate and walked off the field, quitting baseball for good. Regardless of whether or not this is true, Flaherty retired from baseball on March 7th, 2006.

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Moment in the Sun

Flaherty may best be known for breaking up Pedro Martinez's no-hit bid in an August 29th, 2000 game between the Devil Rays and Red Sox. Martinez took a no-hitter into the 9th inning of the game, which also included a brawl in the 1st inning started by the Devil Rays' Gerald Williams charging Pedro. Leading off the inning, Flaherty singled to right, the first hit off Martinez. Pedro would go on to retire Ozzie Guillen, Jason Tyner, and Miguel Cairo to complete the one-hitter.

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