Tribute to Cat
I mentioned in my post earlier this week that Andres Galarraga had decided to retire, but I felt his retirement warranted a bit more attention than that. Here is my tribute to the "Big Cat".
He was signed by Montreal as an undrafted free-agent on January 19, 1979. He spent his first five seasons of professional baseball at either the Rookie or A level before moving to AA in 1984 and AAA in 1985 and playing 24 games for Montreal in 1985. He hit his first MLB home run on September 21, 1985 at Busch Stadium against the St. Louis Cardinals off Kurt Kepshire.
He was signed by the Rockies as a free-agent on November 16, 1992. He got his first home run as a member of the Rockies on April 10, 1993 at Mile High Stadium vs. Montreal off Dennis Martinez. Galarraga almost instantly became a fan favorite and won the NL batting title that year. Galarraga totaled 172 home runs, 579 rbi and a .316 average for his career as a Rockie. Through 2004, he is in the top 5 all-time for Colorado in nearly every offensive category, including stolen bases.
Cat was a five time all-star, in 1998 with Montreal; 1993 and 1997 with Colorado; and 1998 and 2000 with Atlanta. As I was reading the many articles this week about Cat, the comment that stands out in my mind is that he certainly would have eclipsed 400 home runs for his career had he not been out an entire year fighting cancer. For some reason, the reality of that struck me, making me realize that beating cancer may be his most impressive accomplishment. Thanks Cat for the tremendous memories!
Inaugural DITR trivia question: There are two position players who, in their career as a Rockie, have one lone at-bat. Can you name either of them? Hint: One of the players went on to win two World Series. Leave your answer as a comment.
I have added a file of career Rockies' batting stats to the webpage.
He was signed by Montreal as an undrafted free-agent on January 19, 1979. He spent his first five seasons of professional baseball at either the Rookie or A level before moving to AA in 1984 and AAA in 1985 and playing 24 games for Montreal in 1985. He hit his first MLB home run on September 21, 1985 at Busch Stadium against the St. Louis Cardinals off Kurt Kepshire.
He was signed by the Rockies as a free-agent on November 16, 1992. He got his first home run as a member of the Rockies on April 10, 1993 at Mile High Stadium vs. Montreal off Dennis Martinez. Galarraga almost instantly became a fan favorite and won the NL batting title that year. Galarraga totaled 172 home runs, 579 rbi and a .316 average for his career as a Rockie. Through 2004, he is in the top 5 all-time for Colorado in nearly every offensive category, including stolen bases.
Cat was a five time all-star, in 1998 with Montreal; 1993 and 1997 with Colorado; and 1998 and 2000 with Atlanta. As I was reading the many articles this week about Cat, the comment that stands out in my mind is that he certainly would have eclipsed 400 home runs for his career had he not been out an entire year fighting cancer. For some reason, the reality of that struck me, making me realize that beating cancer may be his most impressive accomplishment. Thanks Cat for the tremendous memories!
Inaugural DITR trivia question: There are two position players who, in their career as a Rockie, have one lone at-bat. Can you name either of them? Hint: One of the players went on to win two World Series. Leave your answer as a comment.
I have added a file of career Rockies' batting stats to the webpage.
posted by Todd Nikkel | 1:45 PM
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