March (18)
March 2nd – Living hard on the field and off of it, Sammy Stewart struck out seven consecutive hitters in his debut and had a decade where he challenged for an ERA title out of the bullpen due to the amount of innings he piled up. However, Stewart was a cocaine addict off of the field, and he ended up serving multiple prison terms due to that addiction. He was 63.
The second of the major influencers in the development of the game in the Netherlands to pass in 2018, Theo Vleeshouwer put his stamp on the game for the Dutch with his writing for the national magazine on baseball and softball and in various roles as an executive.
March 3rd – While he had only one major league season, Curt Raydon was darned good in that one year, going 8-4 over 31 games, 20 of them starts, for the Pirates in 1958, with a 3.62 ERA. He developed arm soreness at the end of that season and never could get back to the majors, eventually moving back to his hometown in Illinois to become a policeman.
March 5th – After serving in the Army from 1953-1955, Bob Engel began an umpiring career that would eventually lead to a 25-year career in the National League. He umpired the 1972, 1979, and 1985 World Series. His career was abruptly ended when he was caught shoplifting baseball cards from a Costco in 1990.
March 6th – After 141 minor league home runs and multiple seasons hitting .300+, Steve Stroughter finally got his chance at the major leagues in 1982 at age 30, hitting .170/.235/.255 over 26 games with the Mariners. He struggled in 1983 with the Blue Jays AAA team before heading to Japan for part of a season.
March 13th – One of the best pitchers in the AAGPL, Gloria Cordes had the misfortune of playing with some poor teams over her career, which led to a 49-51 record over 5 seasons, but she had a career 2.82 ERA.
March 15th – While he spent a half-decade in the minor leagues, Augie Garrido is known for his work in the college ranks. He was the first coach to win the College World Series at two schools. He was also the winningest coach in college baseball until this past spring when Mike Martin passed his record a few months after Augie passed away.
A lone bright spot during a really bad era for the Kansas City Athletics, Ed Charles struggled to break through for multiple years in the minor leagues in spite of excellent numbers, as he was stuck behind Eddie Mathews in the Braves organization before he was traded to the A’s. He had his best year as a rookie at 29, hitting .288/.356/.454 with 17 home runs in 1962. He won a World Series in 1969 as a part-time player with the Mets in his final year as a major league player.
March 16th – A two-sport star in baseball and football, Ken Garland eschewed opportunities to play professional ball to get his master’s degree and become a teacher and coach in college for many years in both baseball and football.
March 18th – A star for both the University of Missouri’s baseball and football team, Jerry Schoonmaker was signed to a bonus contract with the Washington Senators, which meant that he could not go to the minors. He struggled in the majors without experience in the minors, and once he got to the minors, he ended up suffering an injury to his eye that cost him vision and ended his career.
March 19th – While he pitched for three major league seasons, Dick LeMay is much more well-known in the game due to his work as a scout for the Cubs, Phillies, and Expos. He had two stepsons reach the major leagues, Brad and Brian Holman.
March 21st – Signed out of the University of Kansas, Larry Miller spent 9 years in baseball, 3 of them in the major leagues, with a 4.71 ERA over 145 1/3 major league innings. He pitched his final season in AAA in 1969.
March 23rd – The first owner of the now-Miami Marlins, Wayne Huizenga is a controversial figure in Florida as his financial constraints led to the sell-off after the 1997 World Series championship. He sold the team in 1999 after he was unable to get a stadium for the team.
March 24th – The youngest player in the history of the American League, Carl Scheib made his major league debut at just 16 years old. Incredibly, he was just 27 when he left the major leagues after an 11-year career. Scheib won 45 games in 1070 2/3 innings, all with the A’s.
March 26th – A guy who ended up a local legend in Boston for his work in 1969-1970 in Red Sox, Jerry Moses was an All-Star in 1970 and hit .278 over his Red Sox career. He did spend 9 seasons in the majors, but he only played a total of 386 games.
March 27th – When your brothers are Ramon and Pedro, you may not have much chance to be under-hyped, but the hype Jesus Martinez received really made anything less than elite production a disappointment. He struggled in the Dodgers organization before moving on to four different organizations over four seasons as a reliever, but never reached the major leagues. He was just 44 when he passed of a heart attack.
March 29th – Ed Samcoff had a less-than-impressive major league career, but he did spend six seasons in the minor leagues and hit .291 over 795 games before leaving the game to work with Exxon for the next 30 years. He was 93.
The player with the most seasons in the major leagues that passed in 2018 was Rusty Staub. Sadly, Staub is a guy who has really not received any real consideration for the Hall of Fame, in spite of being one of the most “famous” players of his era, being the jewel of three organizations, anchoring two expansion teams in Houston and Montreal before becoming the face of the post-1969 New York Mets, helping to lead the team to the 1973 World Series.
Staub retired in 1985 with 23 years in the league, hitting .279/.362/.431 with 292 home runs. He made 6 All-Star teams and hit over .300 in 5 seasons.