Minor League Baseball Players

[cmcgill]

In a Springfield College uniform while coach

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1936 Owensboro

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1949 Newark

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1947 Topeka

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1948 Independence

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1944

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1914 Quincy

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1955 Boise

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1920

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1956 Atlanta

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1956 Atlanta

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1956 Atlanta

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1966 Atlanta

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1948 in high school uniform

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1955 Atlanta

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1941

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1930 Selma

[Cusick]

Thanks, cmcgill, for the additional pages of photos. I can help a little with the two photos in the latest batch for which you weren't able to associate specific years. Pitcher Stan Corbett was on the Detroit Tigers' spring roster in 1938, so the photo is probably from that year. Pitcher Bob Cruze is harder to pin down, because he was on the Tigers' spring roster for multiple years. He made that 40-man roster in 1952, 1953, 1954, and 1955.

[PinsonHOF]

Here is an 80's minor league slugger from the low minors, 6'6 first baseman Wes Kent. Kent played in the White Sox organization from 1981 to 1985 and a brief two game stint with Florence , Toronto's Sally League affiliate in 1986. In 1982 Kent in his best year hit 27 home runs between Niagara Falls and Appleton. I read one source that seem to credit Wes Kent with a spring training appearance with the White Sox and an anecdote about Carlton Fisk. I could not verify that. In 1984 Kent hit nineteen home runs accompanied by 220 strikeouts. His downfall. I am enclosing two cards of Wes Kent playing for the Appleton Foxes where he spent time from '81 to '83.

[Cusick]

Thanks, Pinson, for posting the Wes Kent cards and providing what turned out to be a lead to his being a "phantom" player with the Chicago White Sox in 1983.

Kent's connection to Carlton Fisk was not during spring training. Instead, it happened during the regular season. An article in the Arizona Daily Star of October 3, 1983 explained the tale. In mid-June, Kent was brought to Chicago by the White Sox and ordered to spend a week with Charlie Lau, the Sox' batting coach. According to the article, the Sox motivation was because they had invested so much in Kent when they made him their #2 draft pick in 1980, they wanted to see if they could give him a better chance to develop. While Kent was with the Sox, his locker was next to Fisk's. The Sox also went on a 7-1 winning streak while he was there.

Kent had been such a good luck charm for the Sox that when his week was up, he thought about pleading with the front office for an extension, but decided that discretion was the better course.

P.S. Given that the above referenced article indicated that the White Sox record stood at 29-33 when Wes Kent came up with the team, his stint as a phantom in the majors must have been for the period of June 19-26, 1983. The White Sox did indeed have a 7-1 record during that period.