The Great Offensive Explosion of 1996 – One and Done

The Great Offensive Explosion of 1996 – One and Done

Coming off of the strike in 1994, baseball needed a way to bring the fans back to the game.  What better way to do it than by hitting dingers?  I’m going to explore who set career highs for home runs in 1996.  These were the pioneers who set forth a great decade of run scoring.

Before I begin, I’m not even going to address what role performance enhancing drugs may have played in this.  I’m sure it was everywhere, and at the time, no one cared.  Not really sure what triggered everyone’s attitude to change.  But man, it was a fun time to watch baseball.  Not that it isn’t fun now, but an 11-10 game, to me, is much more fun to watch than a 1-0 sleeper.

By my count, 605 players appeared in some sort of offensive capacity in 1996.  This doesn’t include pitchers, because half the teams weren’t batting at all (no interleague yet, bro), and even if they were, pitcher home runs are more of a small sample size exercise than anything else.

I traded my dingers
for this sweet hat.

The first thing I’m going to do is to delete out all players that didn’t have a home run at all.  They obviously didn’t set career highs.  I guess they could have tied them though.  That eliminates 147 players.  Names like, well, hmm.  Trying to find someone you might have actually heard of.  Oh, here’s a few.  A 22-year old Bobby Abreu only registered 22 at bats for the Astros in a late season callup.  A 24-year old Raul Ibanez only had 5 at bats.  And the player with the most career home runs that only hit a single one in 1996?  Vladimir Guerrero.  He hit 449 for his career, but only one in 27 at bats in his first taste of the big leagues.  Most of these players just had a handful of at bats during the season, but Bip Roberts registered 339 at bats as a utility player for the Royals, hitting 21 doubles and two triples, driving in 52 runs, all without hitting a single dinger.

Today, we’re going to examine the nine guys that, despite only hitting one home run, set their career single-season high.  For six of them, that would be the only home run of their career.  The other three also had other seasons where they only managed to hit one home run.  Let’s get started!

Allen Battle

Allen Battle was originally drafted in the 45^th round of the 1990 draft by the Chicago White Sox (ironically one position behind the Phillies drafting Jeffrey Gunn).  Battle would not sign, and would be drafted a year later in the 10^th round by the St. Louis Cardinals.  He would immediately be assigned to the Cardinals rookie ball affiliate Johnson City, where he hit .387 in 17 games.  He would be promoted to single A Savannah, where he would come back to Earth, only hitting .243 in 48 games.  He started in single A again in 1992 at Springfield, hitting .302 in 67 games and earning a promotion to high A St. Petersburg, where he would hit .320 in 60 games.  He would hit a total of five home runs in 1992 and steal 43 bases along the way.

In 1993, he would be promoted to AA Arkansas, where he would hit .274 adding 12 triples and three home runs along with 20 stolen bases.  He would reach AAA Louisville in 1994, having one of his best professional seasons, hitting .313 with 104 runs scored, 44 doubles, seven triples and six home runs, and adding 23 stolen bases.  He would start out 1995 in St. Louis, making his major league debut on April 26.  Pinch hitting for starter Ken Hill in the bottom of the 4^th, he would have a full count strike out against the Phillies’ Curt Schilling in a 7-6 win.  Three days later, pinch hitting for Brian Jordan (?), he would again fall victim to a full count strikeout to the Mets’ Dave Mlicki in the bottom of the 11^th in a 5-4 loss.  The next day, he would get his first career hit against the Mets’ Kevin Lomon as a pinch hitter for Rich DeLucia in a 3-0 victory.

He would only play in six games for the Cardinals in May, including his first start and first RBI in a 4-1 victory on May 25^th.  He would spend 47 games in Louisville in May and June before coming up to the show for good on July 5^th.  In his first four games back, he went 7-16 with three runs scored and his first three-hit game and first career double, with the Cardinals winning all four games.  Only getting 24 starts in 61 appearances for the Cardinals, he would finish the season hitting .271 in 118 at bats, with five doubles and only two RBIs, despite amassing 32 hits on the season.  And no dingers!

After the 1995 season, along with three other players you’ve never heard of, Battle would be traded to the Oakland A’s for Todd Stottlemyre.  Stottlemyre would go 35-29 for the Cardinals before they flipped him to the Rangers for Darren Oliver and TWO GRAND SLAMS IN ONE INNING!  The A’s wouldn’t get much from Battle though.  He would be with the big club through June 4^th in 1996, only appearing in one game with them after that.  We’re not here to talk about all of that junk though.  We’re here to talk about dingers.  On April 16^th, in the top of the 5^th inning, Battle would take the Rangers’ Bobby Witt deep for his first and only career home run, driving in himself and Scott Brosius as well in a 5-3 loss.  Fun fact – this game also featured Matt Stairs throwing out back to back runners – Kevin Elster and Darryl Hamilton – at second base from right field.

Battle would have a couple of hits the next day, raising his average above the .300 mark, but by May 23^rd, it fell below .200.  Other than three hitless at bats on August 14^th, he would spend the rest of the season at AAA Edmonton.  For the A’s, he hit .192 with three doubles, the one home run and five RBIs.  He did manage to steal 10 bases, including two in a game on three separate occasions.  Battle would never return to the big leagues, spending time in three different organizations over the next three seasons.  He had a pretty good season at AAA Ottawa for the Expos in 1998, hitting .304 with 11 home runs and 34 stolen bases, but by this time, the Expos had a pretty good right fielder with the big club.  After hitting .245 in the Cubs minor league system in 1999, he was done with baseball.

Matt Howard

Matt Howard was drafted in the 34^th round of the 1989 draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers.  Howard was assigned to the Dodgers rookie ball affiliate in Great Falls.  He excelled in his first professional stop, hitting .333 with three home runs and 23 stolen bases in 59 games.  This earned him a promotion to high A Bakersfield in 1990, where he hit .261 with one home run and 47 stolen bases in 137 games.  He would return to high A again in 1991, this time at Vero Beach.  He basically had the same season, hitting .261 again with three home runs and 50 stolen bases.  1992 would see a couple of promotions for Howard, first at AA San Antonio, where he hit .270 with two home runs and 18 stolen bases in 95 games, and then at AAA Albuquerque, where he hit .293 with two home runs and one stolen base in 36 games.

From there, Howard’s career pretty much stalled.  Over the next two years, he hit .284 with one home run and 20 stolen bases in 147 games between San Antonio and Albuquerque.  After the 1994 season, he became a free agent, and signed with the San Diego Padres in the offseason.  However, he was released before the start of Spring Training on February 3^rd.  He signed with the Baltimore Orioles at the end of April, and would spend the season at their AA affiliate in Bowie.  There, he would hit .303 with one home run and 22 stolen bases in 70 games.  At the end of the 1995 season, he once again would become a free agent.

Howard would sign with the New York Yankees for the 1996 season.  He would start the year at AAA Columbus, where across the season, he hit .347 with two home runs (but only nine stolen bases).  In mid-May, the Yankees called him up, and he made his major league debut on May 17^th in an 8-5 win vs. the California Angels.  He had three hitless at bats that game, but he would get his first career hit, RBI and run scored the next day off of the Angels’ Shad “Not Chad” Williams in a 7-3 victory.

Howard would have his finest game in the majors on June 8^th.  The Yankees would lose 9-7, but not due to the efforts of Howard.  Hitting second between Wade Boggs and Paul O’Neill, Howard would single in the first inning, eventually make his way to third, and STOLE HOME giving the Yankees the lead.  Kenny Rogers would give up eight runs for the Yankees by the time that Howard came up to lead off the fifth inning.  He would hit his only career home run off of Tigers starter Tom Urbani, the first of a trio of solo shots hit by the Yankees that inning.  By the time the ninth inning came around, the Yankees were down 9-5.  Howard led off the inning with a walk, and was knocked in by Bernie Williams two batters later.  The Yankees scratched another run across, but fell short that day.  The starting lineup on June 8^th featured players that hit 1746 career home runs.  1745 of those home runs were hit by players other than Matt Howard.  His steal of home that day was also the only stolen base of his career.

Howard would finish the 1996 campaign hitting .204 with one double, one home run, nine RBIs and one stolen base.  That would be the only season he would have in the majors.  But at least he got a ring!  He would spend the 1997 season back in Columbus as organizational depth, hitting .312 with six home runs and 22 stolen bases.  1998 would find him playing with the San Francisco Giants’ AAA affiliate in Fresno, where hit hit .278 with two home runs and 10 stolen bases.  He would spend his last professional season with the Pittsburgh Pirates’ AAA affiliate in Nashville, where he hit .293 with two home runs and 13 stolen bases.  Let’s not forget his pitching efforts in the minors.  In four games across his career, he threw 4.1 innings, allowing six runs, one walk and two strikeouts, with an ERA of 12.46.  He also allowed one home run.  Ironic.

Mike Hubbard

Mike Hubbard was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the eighth round of the 1992 draft.  The catcher was assigned to low A Geneva, where he hit .240 with three home runs.  He would advance to high A Daytona the next season, where he had better results, hitting .294 with one home run.  He even played one errorless game at second base.  Hubbard would check the AA box off his resume in 1994, advancing to Orlando, where he would hit .286 with 11 home runs.  He would spend most of the next season at AAA Iowa, where he hit .260 with five home runs.

The Cubs’ catching situation in 1995 was, at best, not good.  Six players spent time behind the dish that season, one of which was Hubbard.  On July 13^th, he would make his major league debut as a pinch hitter in an 11-5 loss to the Cincinnati Reds, drawing a walk off Chuck McElroy.  Brian McRae would strike out stranding him at first base.  Five days later, he would get his first hit against Bobby Jones in a 12-3 loss to the New York Mets.  Overall, in 23 at bats across 15 games, he would hit .174 with no home runs.

Hubbard would split time between Iowa and Chicago in 1996.  When down on the farm, he had decent success, hitting .293 with seven home runs.  In Chicago, however, he was proving himself to be more of a AAA player.  In nine June appearances spanning 21 at bats, he didn’t have a single hit, striking out 10 times and only producing one RBI on a sac fly.  He would have a couple of hits on the season before unexpectedly entering the game on August 7^th.

The Mets’ Brent Mayne would take out starting catcher Scott Servais in the middle of the sixth inning, pressing Hubbard into action.  In the bottom of the frame, he would ground into a double play, but in the bottom of the eighth, he would hit his first career home run off of Jerry Dipoto, briefly giving the Cubs a 7-6 lead.  It wouldn’t hold though, as the Mets would put up five runs in the top of the ninth.  This included a bases loaded triple in the first career three RBI game for Mets’ rookie Rey Ordonez.   A week later, Hubbard would have his final hit of the season.  He would finish the year hitting .105 with one home run.  He didn’t have a single walk in 38 at bats, with 15 strikeouts.

In 1997, Hubbard would again split time between Iowa and Chicago.  On May 7^th, in his first game with the Cubs, he would hit a solo home run.  That was the high point of his major league season though, as he finished the year hitting .203, with the one home run being his only extra base hit.  In 64 at bats, he would walk twice with 21 strikeouts.

1998 would find Hubbard with a new club – the Montreal Expos.  Spending time with both AAA Ottawa and the big club, he would hit career home run number three in a 14 inning, 5-3 loss to the Phillies on May 25^th.  Across 55 at bats in 32 games with Montreal, he hit .145 with one home run, with no walks and 17 strikeouts.

Hubbard wouldn’t play in the majors at all in 1999, and between 2000 and 2001, he would only play in seven games – two with the Atlanta Braves in 2000, and five with the Texas Rangers in 2001.  He would hit his fourth and final career home run on May 11^th, 2001, off of White Sox’ starter David Wells in a 6-5 loss to the Rangers.

Hubbard would spend parts of the next two seasons in the minors with a couple of different teams before finally hanging it up.  For his career, Hubbard would hit .167 with four home runs.  In 192 at bats, he would walk four times with 60 strikeouts.

Dax Jones

Dax Xenos Jones (first and middle names ARE spelled correctly) was originally drafted in the 49^th round of the 1988 draft by the Toronto Blue Jays.  Figuring he could do better, he went on to Creighton University, where he would improve his draft stock, this time being drafted in the eighth round of the 1991 draft by the Houston Astros.  Upon signing, the outfielder would join low A Everett, where he would hit .306 with five home runs, adding six triples and 15 stolen bases for good measure.

He would debut at A ball Clinton in 1992, hitting .298 with one home run and 18 stolen bases, before a late season promotion to AA Shreveport, where he hit .303 with one home run and two stolen bases.  He would spend another season at Shreveport in 1993, where he would hit .284 with four home runs and 13 stolen bases.  1995 and 1996 would see Jones at AAA Phoenix, where he would hit .278 and .267 respectively, with a combined six home runs.  Then came his magical 1996 season.

Jones would start 1996 again at AAA Phoenix, where he would hit .309 with six home runs and 13 stolen bases.  The Giants felt that Jones was now ready for the majors.  He would make his debut on July 11^th.  Pinch hitting for Marvin Benard, Jones would ground out to shortstop to end the game in an 8-3 loss to the Dodgers.  He would have to wait exactly one month to get his first career hit, and three days later, he would get his first career triple.  August 18^th is the day that you’re all here to hear about though.  On that day, Jones would start in center field.  In the top of the first, Barry Bonds would hit a two run home run.  Not to be outdone, Jones would strike for a two run, inside the park home run off of the Phillies’ Matt Beech, putting the Giants up 4-0.  After five innings, the Phillies were ahead 7-6, and despite manager Jim Fregosi’s attempts to lose (Curt Schilling pinch hit in the bottom of the seventh), that would end up being the final score.  On the season, he hit .172 with two triples, one home run and two stolen bases.

Jones would never get any closer to Bonds’ career total of 326 home runs at the end of that day.  He would spend the entire season in Phoenix in 1997, hitting .255 with three home runs.  1998 would find him at the Astros’ AAA affiliate in New Orleans, where he hit .275 with one home run.  He would give it one more shot in 2000 in independent ball before finally calling it quits.

Jesse Levis

Jesse Levis was originally drafted in the 36^th round of the 1986 draft by the Philadelphia Phillies.  Both he and fellow 36^th rounder Scott Erickson decided not to sign and attend college instead.  Both players would improve their stock, and were drafted in the fourth round of the 1989 draft (along with Jeff Bagwell).  Levis would sign with the Cleveland Indians, where he would be assigned to their rookie ball affiliate in Burlington.  After punishing the competition with a .344 average and four home runs, he would move up to single A Kinston, hitting .299 with two home runs.  He even managed to get one hitless at bat at AAA Colorado Springs.  He would get to settle down in 1990, playing the entire season at high A Kinston, where he hit .296 with seven home runs.  He also had a very good 64/42 walk/strikeout ratio, all while fielding the catching position at a .991 fielding percentage.  1991 would find Levis at AA Canton-Akron, where he wouldn’t have quite as much success.  He hit .264 with six home runs.

In 1992, even though With Sandy Alomar Jr. had the starting job locked down in Cleveland, and Junior Ortiz being the primary backup, Levis broke camp with the big team.  He would make his major league debut on April 24^th, grounding out as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the eighth for Felix Fermin in a 5-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.  Officially signaling to the Kansas City Royals the game was over, he would pinch hit for Albert Belle on May 4^th, and promptly picked up his first career hit off of Mike Boddicker in an 11-6 loss.  Towards the middle of May, he would return to AAA Colorado Springs.  There, he did not disappoint, hitting .364 with six home runs.  He would return to the Tribe at the end of the season.  He would hit his first career home run off of the Detroit Tigers’ Kurt Knudsen on September 26^th in a 7-4 victory.  He would finish the season hitting .279 with the one home run.

Levis would split time between Cleveland and their new AAA affiliate in Charlotte in 1993.  With the big club, in 31 games he would only manage 63 at bats, hitting .175 with no home runs.  In Charlotte, across 47 games, he would only hit .248 with two home runs.  He would only manage one at bat with Cleveland in 1994, making it count, picking up a pinch hit single in the ninth inning of a 4-3 loss to the New York Yankees on May 9^th.  He would spend the rest of his time in Charlotte, where he hit .285 with 10 home runs.  Cleveland would have yet another AAA affiliate in 1995 in Buffalo, and this is where Levis would play the majority of his season.  There, he hit .311 with four home runs.  He did manage to get 18 at bats in 12 games with the Indians, hitting .333 with no home runs.

Just as the season was about to start in 1996, the Indians traded Levis to the Brewers.  His lone home run of the season came on September 10^th, leading off the top of the seventh with a shot off of Boston Red Sox’ reliever Kerry Lacy.  This proved to be the game winner, as it up the Brewers up 11-9.  In a game that would feature career home run number 150 for Mo Vaughn, the Sox put up another run in the bottom of the eighth, but Mike Fetters came in and closed the door in the bottom of the ninth to seal the victory.  Overall, Levis would hit .236 with the one home run, and set career highs in games played, at bats, runs, RBIs and walks.  He would also hit his lone career triple.

Levis would only play in 121 games with the Brewers over the next two seasons, hitting a combined .295 with one home run.  He would sign with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for the 1999 season, but after hitting a solid .352 with three home runs across 40 games, he was released at the end of July.  The Indians would sign him for the remainder of the season.  In Cleveland, he hit .154 with no home runs in 10 games.  After spending time in the Braves minor league system in 2000, he would resign with the Brewers for 2001, but would only play in 12 games with them at the end of the season, hitting .242 with no home runs.  He would play parts of three more minor league seasons with the Reds, Phillies and Mets before finally calling it a career.

Ray Montgomery

Ray Montgomery was drafted in the 13^th round of the 1990 draft by the Houston Astros.  The outfielder was assigned to low A Auburn, where he hit just .233 with no home runs.  He would spend the 1991 season at A ball Burlington, doing a little better, hitting .252 with three home runs.  He also stole 16 bases.  He was also caught stealing 14 times.  He would only play in 51 games at AA Jackson in 1992, hitting .209 with one home run.  In 1993, he played mostly in Jackson again, faring much better, hitting .281 with 10 home runs.  This would earn him a promotion to AAA Tucson, where in the last 15 games of the season, he hit .340 with two home runs.  Montgomery would spend his fifth minor league season back in Tucson in 1994, where he hit .256 with seven home runs on the season.

He would split the 1995 season between Jackson and Tucson, when he developed a sudden power surge.  Between the two stops, he hit .301 with 21 home runs.  Ten of those home runs came in Jackson in just 127 at bats.  He would continue his home run binge in 1996 in Tucson.  There, in 359 at bats across 100 games, he hit .306 with a team leading 22 home runs.  He would take a break in hitting home runs in the southwest to make his major league debut on July 3^rd.  Entering the game as a pinch runner for Mike Simms in the bottom of the seventh, he didn’t get an at bat that day.  The Florida Marlins would put up three runs in the top of the ninth, which featured the second to last walk of Andre Dawson’s career and Kevin Brown pinch running for him, but the Astros would hang on for a 4-3 victory.

The next day, as the nation celebrated its 220^th birthday, Montgomery would get his first career at bat, hit, and run.  Once again entering the game for Simms, he would single off of Atlanta Braves’ reliever Pedro Borbon to lead off the ninth, and come around to score two batters later on Craig Biggio’s single as the Astros won 5-2.

Montgomery would get five hitless at bats across two games before his epic at bat on July 24^th.  He would once again enter the game as a pinch hitter, this time for Astros’ reliever Xavier Hernandez in the bottom of the tenth.  John Cangelosi led off the inning with a strikeout against San Diego Padres’ reliever Ron Villone.  Ricky Gutierrez would then single, setting up Montgomery.  He would drive an 0-1 pitch to center field for his only home run of 1996 (and career), and the Astros walked off with a 6-4 victory.

Two days later, Montgomery would play in his last game in Houston before returning to Tucson.  When he came back up after the minor league season was over, he only managed six at bats in six games, with his only hit being a two run double on September 15^th.  He would finish the season hitting .214 with one home run.  His three hits did manage four RBIs.

Montgomery would spend most of the first half of 1997 in Houston.  In the Astros’ fourth game of the season, he would pinch hit in the bottom of the eleventh, and he would come around to score the winning run in a 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.  Two days later, he would score the tying run after reaching on an error in the eighth in another 3-2 win over the Cardinals.  He wouldn’t have much success the rest of the season.  He would play in his final game with the Astros on June 17^th before returning to AAA New Orleans.  With the Astros, he hit .235 with no home runs.  He would only play in 20 games with the Zephyrs, but there he hit .288 with six home runs in just 73 at bats.

In 1998, Montgomery would make his last appearances in the majors, getting two hits in five at bats across six games in the middle of the season.  He would spend most of the season in New Orleans, where he hit .290 with nine home runs.  He would sign with the Pittsburgh Pirates for the 1999 season, and spend the next two seasons with them at AAA Nashville, hitting a combined .298 with 23 home runs across 161 games.  He would have one more professional season in 2001, this time with the Mets’ AAA affiliate in Norfolk, where he hit .320 with seven home runs in 57 games.

Luis Ortiz

Luis Ortiz was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the eighth round of the 1991 draft (seven spots behind fellow solo-dinger hitter Dax Jones).  Upon his signing, the corner infielder was assigned to the GCL Red Sox, where he would hit .333 with four home runs in 42 games.  He would spend all of 1992 with high A Lynchburg, where he hit .290 with 10 home runs.  He would jump all the way to AAA Pawtucket for the 1993 season, where he had perhaps his finest professional season, hitting .294 with 18 home runsin 102 games.  His 13 walks vs. 74 strikeouts were certainly concerning to most, but apparently, not to the Red Sox.  They decided it was time to bring him up.

Ortiz would make his major league debut on August 31^st, going two for three with the only RBI of the day for the Red Sox against the Texas Rangers’ Kenny Rogers in an 8-1 loss.  He would only get nine at bats with one hit in eight games the rest of the season, finishing up hitting .250 with no home runs.

Ortiz would spend most of the 1994 season in Pawtucket, where in 81 games, he hit .312 with six home runs, but he did improve his walk/strikeout ratio with an even 29 of both.  He would only play in seven games with the Red Sox in 1994, getting three hits in 18 at bats with no home runs.  Two of his three hits were doubles, and he added six RBIs.

After the 1994 season, Ortiz was traded with Otis Nixon to the Rangers for Jose Canseco (perhaps the Red Sox were looking for pitching depth).  He would spend the first part of the season at AAA Oklahoma City, where he hit .306 with two home runs.  The Rangers’ starting third baseman, Dean Palmer, got off to a fantastic start to the season in 1995, hitting .333 with nine home runs through the first 35 games before injury struck.  This opened the door for Ortiz.  On June 4^th, he would start at third base for the Rangers.  In his second at bat of the day, he would hit a home run off of the first pitch he saw from Minnesota Twins’ starter Eddie Guardado in a 7-2 victory.  Across 108 at bats in 57 games with the Rangers, he would hit .231 with one home run and 18 RBIs.

A healthy Palmer meant Ortiz would spend most of his time back at Oklahoma City in 1996.  There, in 124 games, he hit .317 with 14 home runs.  He would only play in three games for the Rangers in a late season callup.  He would get a start on the last game of the regular season, as the Rangers rested most of their starters gearing up for a playoff run.  In his final game as a member of the California Angels*, Chuck Finley would serve up a solo home run to Ortiz in his first at bat.  He would later triple in the fifth inning, but would be thrown out at home trying to score on a wild pitch from Finley.

*Finley would spend three more seasons with the Angels, who would change their name to the Anaheim Angels for the 1997 season (see what I did there).  I was trying to find interesting side notes in all of these games where these guys hit their only home run, but aside from Tim Salmon’s 10^th career triple, not much else happened in this season-ending mail-it-in game.

Ortiz would spend the first part of the 1997 season in Japan with the Yakult Swallows, but after hitting just .172 with no home runs in 20 games, he would return to the states, back with the Rangers in Oklahoma City.  Back in more familiar settings, he hit .305 with one home run in 22 games.  He would spend the 1998 season with the Kansas City Royals’ AAA affiliate in Omaha, hitting .304 with five home runs in 44 games.

We could go on and on about minor league seasons, but the bottom line is that Ortiz would never return to the majors.  Between 1999 and 2004, playing for various teams in AAA, Mexico and independent leagues, he hit a combined .288 with 51 home runs in 729 games.

Arquimedez Pozo

Arquimedez Pozo was signed by the Seattle Mariners as a free agent out of the Domincan Republic in August of 1990.  He wouldn’t make his professional appearance until the spring of 1992, when he reported to low A Bellingham.  There, the 18 year old second baseman hit .322 with seven home runs in 39 games.  That earned him a promotion to high A San Bernardino, where he struggled somewhat against competition that was an average of four years older, hitting .261 with three home runs in 54 games.  He would play the entire 1993 season at high A Riverside, where he hit .342 with 13 home runs (adding 44 doubles and three triples) to go along with an even 56 walks and strikeouts.

Pozo would advance to AA Jacksonville for the 1994 season, hitting .289 with 14 home runs.  1995 would find him at AAA Tacoma, where he hit .300 with 10 home runs.  After the minor league season ended, he would get the call to Seattle.  On September 12^th, he would make his major league debut, popping out as a pinch hitter for Joey Cora in a 14-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins.  That would be the only at bat he would get on the season.

In 1996, Pozo would spend most of the first half of the season back at AAA Tacoma, where he would hit .279 with 15 home runs.  On July 23^rd, he would be traded to the Boston Red Sox for Jeff Manto.  Two days later, he would make his Red Sox debut, getting his first major league hit and RBI in a 16-6 loss to the Twins.  Two days later, he would hit his first career triple and add three more RBIs in a 9-5 win over the Twins.

I actually have this
baseball card!

The next day, Pozo would make his second start at second base for the Red Sox.  He would have an RBI groundout in the top of the seventh, bringing closing the gap to 6-4 in favor of the Twins.  The Twins would add three in the bottom of the eighth, seeming putting the game out of reach.  The Twins’ Greg Hansell gave up a single to Troy O’Leary and a walk to Mike Stanley, before being relieved by Eddie Guardado.  Guardado himself walked Jeff Frye before Pozo stepped to the plate.  In the last game of the Kevin Mitchell era in Boston, Pozo jumped all over an 0-1 pitch from Guardado and sent it over the left field wall, unloading the bases and pulling the Red Sox within a run.  John Valentin would add a single off of new reliever Dan Naulty before Mo Vaughn grounded into a double play and Mitchell flew out to left field to end the game.

Pozo’s grand slam that day would be the high point of his career.  He would add a hit in his next two games, but would go hitless in 22 at bats across nine games in August.  He would be sent down to AAA Pawtucket to finish out the minor league season, where he hit .243 with one home run.  He would return to Boston for the rest of the season, getting four more hits in 16 at bats.  For the major league season, he would end up hitting .172 with one home run and 11 RBIs.

Most of the 1997 season saw Pozo back in Pawtucket.  There, mainly playing third base, he hit .284 with 22 home runs.  He would only play in four games in Boston, hitting .267 with no home runs in 17 plate appearances across four games.  He would remain in Boston’s system for the 1998 campaign, hitting .305 with 12 home runs at Pawtucket.

At this point, he was done with baseball in America.  He would play in Japan for the Yokohama Bay Stars in 1999, appearing on the same team as Bobby Rose, who hit .369 with 37 home runs and 153 RBIs that season, the second most in Japanese baseball history.  Pozo himself didn’t have a bad year, hitting .297 with nine home runs.  In 2000, he would split his time between Mexico and Korea, where he hit a combined .238 with 10 home runs.  That would be his last season in professional ball – at age 26, he was done.  Pozo’s stay in the majors was brief, and although he only hit .189 overall, his 14 hits in 26 major league games included six extra base hits, and he drove in 14 runs.

Tony Rodriguez

This is the only image
the internet can find of
Tony Rodriguez.  Time
has forgotten him.

Tony Rodriguez was drafted in the 10^th round of the 1991 draft by the Boston Red Sox, 19 spots behind today’s first victim – Allen Battle.  Upon his signing, the infielder would be assigned to low A Elmira, where he hit .257 with one home run, adding 29 stolen bases vs. just being caught four times.  This earned him a promotion to high A Lynchburg for the 1992 season.  There, he found himself overmatched, hitting .223 with one home run.  His stolen base total fell to 11, and he was caught six times.  All of this while striking out 84 times vs. drawing a walk only 25 times.

Apparently, the Red Sox saw something in Rodriguez, as they promoted him to AA New Britain in 1993.  He would not not disappoint, hitting .228 with no home runs.  His days as a stolen base threat were basically over, as he stole eight bases against being caught seven times.  He would play for three teams in 1994.  He had 15 games at high A Sarasota, where he hit .224, six games at AA New Britain, where he hit .150, and 64 games at Pawtucket, where he hit .254 with four home runs.  At Pawtucket, he only drew five walks in 183 plate appearances with 22 strikeouts.  He would return to Pawtucket in 1995, firmly establishing himself as a known quantity, hitting .268 with no home runs.

In 1996, Rodriguez would again play most of his season in Pawtucket, where he would hit .245 with three home runs.  Mysteriously, the Red Sox would call him up in early July.  The only reason I can see is they needed to make room for Nomar Garciaparra while he was raking at Pawtucket.  Whatever the reason, Rodriguez would make his major league debut on July 6^th as a pinch runner for Mike Stanley in a 4-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles.  Six days later, he would get his first major league at bat, where he struck out facing the Tigers’ Gregg Olson in the ninth inning of an 11-3 loss.  He would get his first major league hit and RBI on July 25^th in the bottom of the ninth against Greg Hansell, putting the finishing touches on a 16-6 loss to the Twins.

On August 7^th, Rodriguez would get the start at shortstop, hitting ninth (one spot ahead of Arquimedez Pozo).  He would ground out in his first at bat, but would step to the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth inning, singling home Mike Greenwell and Troy O’Leary.  In his next at bat in the bottom of the seventh, he would deposit a 1-0 pitch over the Green Monster off of Blue Jays’ starter Pat Hentgen, who was on his way to winning the Cy Young Award that year.  Red Sox’ starter Tom Gordon would throw the third of his four career shutouts that day, three-hitting the Blue Jays on the way to an 8-0 victory.  The first hit that Gordon surrendered that day was to Ed Sprague, on a 3-0 count (nice).

Rodriguez would actually get the majority of starts at shortstop for the Red Sox in August of 1996.  Then August 31^st happened.  Garciaparra would make his major league debut.  The next day, Garciaparra would have three hits, including his first career home run.  Rodriguez would only appear in two more games the rest of the season – once as a defensive replacement, and once as a pinch hitter.  He would finish the season hitting .239 with one home run.  For the 1997 season, he would return to Pawtucket, where in 82 games, he hit .249 with two home runs.  In 298 plate appearances, he only walked nine times, with 47 strikeouts.  The 23 year old Garciaparra would lead the league in hits and triples, while hitting .306 with 30 home runs and winning Rookie of the Year.  No longer in the market for a shortstop, the Red Sox cut Rodriguez loose after that season.

After spending just 13 games with the Seattle Mariners’ AA affiliate in Orlando, where he hit just .220, Rodriguez found himself heading to independent baseball in 1998.  He would play with the Nashua Pride through most of the 2001 season, hitting a combined .279 with 24 home runs.  He would play in 33 games for the Chicago Cubs’ AA affiliate in West Tennessee at the end of 2001, where he hit .282 with one home run.  Over the next four years, he would return to independent ball, where he would hit a combined .256 with 12 home runs.  Truly a jack of all trades, over the years, he would play every position except catcher.  In his pitching trials, he threw seven innings, allowing 14 hits and five runs, with one walk, three strikeouts and one hit batsman.

There you have it!  That’s the first round of players that hit career highs in home runs in 1996.  Our next look will include the 20^th Indiana Hoosier to play in the majors, a number two draft pick (of sorts), and a handful of other guys that set their single season career high in home runs with two.