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Originally Posted by rlumpkin1@tampabay.rr.com
Anyone with photo's of these scouts? they were scouts for the Pilots. 1. Earl Silverthorn 2. Brad Kohler 3. Gordon Goldsberry
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Brad Kohler played ball at Pennsylvania's Easton High. After graduating in 1953, he attended an A's tryout camp and was signed as an outfielder. They farmed him out to Blackwell, OK (Class C). He sat on the bench for 10 days--never getting into a game--and was sent home. Military service followed. Upon his return, he had tryouts with the A's and Yankees. The Yankees seemed interested, but changed their minds.
Kohler became a scout for the White Sox, moved on to the Giants, and then scouted for the Pilots/Brewers. In 1974, he became one of the original scouts with the Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau. He was not a fan of ballplayers lifting weights, nor of coaches who oversold their players. He signed a number of future major leaguers, including Moose Haas, Kevin Kobel and Gary Lavelle. And he was the ONLY scout to file a report on 62nd round draft pick and future Hall of Famer Mike Piazza. His opinion was that Piazza had a long way to go to develop into a professional ballplayer, but would be worth drafting based on power alone. That report was filed two years before the Dodgers selected Piazza at the end of the '88 draft (allegedly as a favor to Tommy Lasorda).
Brad Kohler passed away in 2014 and this image accompanied his obituary.