Cup of Coffee Club

[SoxJox]

A nicely researched and well written piece by White Sox fan Rick Paulis for The Awl.
 
The CoCC is the collection of players who have appeared in only one ML game.
 
An interesting contribution not included in the article but mentioned in the comment section: Larry Yount, Robin's older brother.  According to Wikipedia, the older Yount holds the unique distinction of being the only pitcher in Major League Baseball history to appear in the official record books without ever actually having faced a batter.
 
And our own Eric Van posted this comment about a Red Sox member of the club - Bill Schlesinger:
 

 
Great, great, story, and you miss a tremendous connection, one so arcane that only a certified Red Sox geek would notice (and which I didn't know until today).
 
 
Why was Bill Schlesinger languishing on the Red Sox bench in 1965? Because he had hit .341 / .407 / .624 with 37 HR, 117 RBI, and 18 SB, in 570 PA for Wellsville of the Class D New York-Penn league, in his first professional season. And under the arcane "bonus baby" rules of the day, he had to be kept on the big-league club the next year or be exposed to the "First Year Draft" (the Sox picked up both Reggie Smith and Sparky Lyle that way, while losing Amos Otis). Which is why they had to expose him on waivers in order to send him down to the minors. A lot of such players didn't get claimed -- Rico Petrocelli had cleared them at the end of spring training two years previously.
 
 
Now, why were folks so high on Schlesinger? Because it seemed like déjà vu. The year before, Wellsville had had a first-year player hit .363 / .409 / .730 with 24 HR and 74 RBI (in just 359 PA) in *his* first professional season. Granted, Schlesinger was 22 and that kid had been 18, but those are both ridiculous sets of numbers.
 
 
The Sox obviously had to protect Schelsinger's predecessor, only they actually gave him the starting LF job and moved Yaz to CF. Whereupon he proceeded to break the records for most HR by a teenager.
 
 
That guy, of course, was Tony Conigliaro. And Tony C was beaned in precisely the same place and suffered the identical injury, two years before Schlesinger. 
 
--- Eric M. Van

 
 

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

The Sox really liked that kid!

From Baseball Reference:
 

 
 

• October, 1963: Signed by the Boston Red Sox as an amateur free agent.
• May 7, 1965: Selected off waivers by the Kansas City Athletics from the Boston Red Sox as first-year waiver pick.
• June, 1966: Sent from the Kansas City Athletics to the Boston Red Sox in an unknown transaction. (Date given is approximate. Exact date is uncertain.)
• November 30, 1967: Traded by the Boston Red Sox with cash to the Chicago Cubs for Ray Culp.
• June, 1968: Purchased by the Boston Red Sox from the Chicago Cubs.
• May 5, 1969: Traded by the Boston Red Sox to the Philadelphia Phillies for Don Lock.

 

[SoxJox]

Seems like the old penny you can't get rid of...just keeps coming back for more.