30 Responses to “The Perseverance Of Max St. Pierre”

1. Mr. Dave Says:
   September 5th, 2010 at 11:09 am

   What surprises me about this is that he didn't bounce from organization to organization. He stayed with the Tigers the entire time. Usually a guy like this goes through quite a number of teams before getting a shot.

2. Spartan Bill Says:
   September 5th, 2010 at 11:24 am

   I am going to make a presumption here. It seems like the Tigers have determined that St. Pierre has some sort of future with the org other than player. I expect that he will wind up as a coach, MiLB manager, roving instructor or some sort of front office position. Leyland was quoted a few days ago promising St. Pierre would get into a game. As it happens Laird came up sore so yesterday worked out well, but this call-up was clearly baseballs equivalent as the Oscar for "meritorious service".

   And it's nice to see.

3. Neil Says:
   September 5th, 2010 at 12:13 pm

   Well, this is his moment of "fame". It's interesting that he's spent more time at AA than AAA. He must love the game a lot....never even getting a cup of coffee!

   Detroit almost let him get away in 2007.{jokes}

   I was browsing through some minor league stats the other day and found a similar case, Luis Figueroa, now with Las Vegas in the PCL. He's in his fourteenth year also but started when he was 23 and is now 36.

   Unlike St. Pierre, however, he is a career journeyman, having been in 9 different organizations for parts of his career.

4. Steve Lombardi Says:
   September 5th, 2010 at 12:56 pm

   FWIW, the Tigers have a history of giving guys the prize after a long wait... 😉

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Hostetler

   Hopefully, St-Pierre can avoid the infamy that came to Hostetler 🙂

5. Zachary Says:
   September 5th, 2010 at 1:02 pm

   Good for Max! That kind of dedication to the game is impressive.

6. Neil Says:
   September 5th, 2010 at 2:05 pm

   @4
   Thanks for the link. I didn't know the Hostetler story. Poor guy, he carried it to his grave.

   The Tigers will have to make the World Series in the next few years for Max to become a goat of Hostetler's magnitude.

7. Dan W Says:
   September 5th, 2010 at 2:40 pm

   The amazing thing is his stats in the minors range from average to really below average. Outside of a season he never displayed anything that would garner one to go "this guy's really going to make it." It seems if you just hang on for a long time, you will get a cup of coffee no matter how below average you are.

8. Neil Says:
   September 5th, 2010 at 3:14 pm

   @3
   Ignore the last part of the post. Figueroa had 16 ML plate appearances spread over three cups of coffee in that 14-year span. Sorry.

   Makes Max Pierre pretty unique. Was it a "pity" callup as Bill suggests in @2?

9. Frank Clingenpeel Says:
   September 5th, 2010 at 4:28 pm

   I am assuming that, at least for this post, we are not considering Satchel Paige, who was supposedly well into his forties when he made his forst Indians appearance in 1948 -- either that, or you're counting his Negro league and Latin years as "major league", right?

10. Richard Says:
    September 5th, 2010 at 4:41 pm

    @ 4 Geez, sportswriters are kinda mean, aren't they? They won the World Series anyway!

11. kctor Says:
    September 5th, 2010 at 5:57 pm

    As for his stats. I heard about him 3 or 4 years ago, as being a really good defensive catcher. That would be the key to him lasting so long.

12. Fireworks Says:
    September 5th, 2010 at 7:07 pm

    @9 Frank Clingenpeel

    I don't think Satch's effort qualify as perseverance of the same sort, per se, because while Negro Leaguers certainly hoped that segregation would one day end, they didn't play in the Negro Leagues and go barnstorming year after year with the knowledge that if they performed well enough they could make the majors. While St. Pierre may have realized at some point that he really didn't exhibit the skills necessary to ensure his call-up, the possibility of playing well and being called up always remained.

    The core motivating factor of both a Negro Leaguer and a career minor league (notwithstanding that a star Negro League player and barnstormer could make a pretty good living) is their love of the game.

13. RichardKC Says:
    September 5th, 2010 at 9:02 pm

    Also, Luke May, who caught that game for the Royals, was making his major league debut after 707 minor league games. Not as impressive as St. Pierre, but it's interesting that two guys made their major league debuts as catchers against each other with a total of 1685 minor league games between them.

14. statboy Says:
    September 5th, 2010 at 9:17 pm

    John Lindsey just got called up by the Dodgers, after 16 years in the minors.

15. Mike Gaber Says:
    September 5th, 2010 at 9:40 pm

    @14 Yes Re: John Lindsey:

    It looks like in his case according to his stats (especially this year), Lindsey certainly deserved the call up. OPS this year 1,067, 25 homers at AAA Albuquerque.

    John Lindsey's MiLB stats 1995 thru 2010:

    http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=lindse004joh

16. Neil Says:
    September 6th, 2010 at 9:50 am

    @13
    Richard, a remarkable coincidence, and both at catcher. For St. Pierre and May, their position perhaps explains their minor-league longevity.
    @14 @15
    I wonder what John Lindsey's story is? He hasn't played at top defensive positions in the minors. And why would he have taken so many years to get through "A" ball?

    I don't see him in the 2010 Dodgers stats yet, so he hasn't made his ML debut. Moonlight Graham the second?

17. DoubleDiamond Says:
    September 6th, 2010 at 10:33 am

    I also noticed that St. Pierre has pretty much stayed with the same organization over the years and has never missed an entire year at any point along the way, whether to injury, leaving the sport voluntarily but later being drawn back, or not wanting to leave the sport but not finding a team willing to sign him. (Sometimes players in the latter situation will go the independent route, but I don't see any independent league data in the list above, unless stats from such teams are excluded.)

    I also noticed that he was 17 years old when he was drafted - not a going-on-18 player with a birthday in the second half of the year but a just-turned-17 player with a spring birthday. Even Bryce Harper is going to turn 18 later this year (and if he had started school in the school district where my rising senior niece, who will be 17 in October, goes to school, he would have started kindergarten in 1997 in the Class of 2010, although this district has since joined most of the rest of the nation with a September 1 birthday cut-off for starting school). He may have been very raw in his skills, especially since he also comes from a cold climate part of North America.

    His name has not become a clickable link yet on that 1997 26th round page yet. Once it does, he'll be shown as one of three players in that round to have made the majors, along with Andy Dominique, chosen by the Phillies, and D.J. Carrasco, picked by the Orioles. Just as the Tigers and Phillies had the first two overall picks that year (remember Matt Anderson and the Phillies' failed attempt to sign J.D. Drew?), they led off the 26th. Dominique, drafted as a third baseman, appeared in 9 games at first base and catcher for Boston and Toronto in 2004-2005. Carrasco, a pitcher, played for Kansas City in 2003-2005, then reappeared in the majors in 2009 with the White Sox. This year, he opened the season in Pittsburgh and was traded to Arizona as part of the Ryan Church deal. (I knew I had seen his name somewhere recently!) Carrasco didn't last long with the Orioles, having been released about a year after he was drafted.

18. Neil Says:
    September 6th, 2010 at 11:04 am

    @17
    Double, every set of statistics tells a story, doesn't it? Failed hopes, vanished dreams, perseverence, character...... Thanks for the post. I spent a while just thinking about and looking into what you had written about the three 1997 draftees.

    Perhaps the Max St. Pierre's, Luke May's and John Lindsey's of this world are the antidote to my cynicism about the greed of current players, agents, and owners.

19. Stephen Says:
    September 6th, 2010 at 12:06 pm

    As a lifelong minor league baseball addict, I realize that this is the culmination of "the dream" for these gentlemen. As to their longevity, a big part of it is that Max and John are both great people and fantastic teammates both players and coaches enjoy having around. Both, in their own way, earned this opportunity, and deserve it! I wish them the best, and hope this is not their only "cup!"

    My fellow who "shoulda and coulda" but never got a chance, and still bugs me, is Reed Secrist.

    http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=secris001ree

    2001 AAA MVP for Pirates, no call. But that's why the Pirates make money, right?

20. Spartan Bill Says:
    September 6th, 2010 at 2:17 pm

    My guy is a pitcher named Joe Law. I watched him pitch a no-hitter for Modesto against Gary Sheffield and the Stockon Ports in 1997. Crazy thing is, he even spent a day or two on the A's 25-man roster in (I believe) '88. B-R doesn't show it, but the A's had a tired bullpen and needed a warm body for a couple of days.

    He was sent down never to return to the show, and was last seen on an I-league team in 1992. I kept score of the game, and had him autograph the scorecard as soon as the game ended. I remember being honored because he asked me how many K's he had.

    The plan was I would wait until he got his 300th career W and use the scorecard to finance my retirement. Obviously that didn't work out.

    Does anyone have access to a transaction wire from 1988 so I can learn the exact dates of his call up?

21. Spartan Bill Says:
    September 6th, 2010 at 2:18 pm

    oops forgot to post a link to his minor league page.

    http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=law---001jos

22. Spartan Bill Says:
    September 6th, 2010 at 2:24 pm

    Is there such a thing as the Tennessee Minor League Hall of Fame?

    I noticed that Reed Secrist's career took him through Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga. That's the Grand Slam of Tennessee culture. He also played for a Lynchburg too, but that team is based in Virginia. It isn't the famous Lynchburg (pop. 361) TN.

23. Neil Says:
    September 6th, 2010 at 5:17 pm

    @20
    Bill, amusing story.

    Joe Law sat in a major league bullpen for a few games without ever appearing in "the show". How cruel are the baseball gods? Talk about "what if's....". But that's another discussion.

    There should be a minor league of hall of broken dreams for the Reed Secrists of baseball.

24. Mike Gaber Says:
    September 6th, 2010 at 5:42 pm

    I've been sorta lucky to follow closely the careers of players who made it to the Big Show, but there were many more that fell by the wayside as they got up to "AAA" but could never pull it off.

    Since 1987, I have done the baseball scoring and stats for a High School in Santa Clarita Valley area of Southern California, just north of Los Angeles named Hart High.

    My Hart Stat Web site is: http://www.hartbaseballstats.com/

    I've been fortunate to record the stats for 3 MLB Players:
    Andrew Lorraine: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/lorraan01.shtml
    James Shields: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/shielja02.shtml
    Chris Valaika: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/valaich01.shtml

    Andrew Lorraine pitched in 7 season for 7 teams. He had value as a LOOGY. He won over 100 games pitching in "AAA".
    James Shields is with the Tampa Bay Rays, currently is 13-12 with a 4.18 ERA. Jamie had the only win for the Rays against the Phillies in the 2008 World Series.
    Chris Valaika of the Cincinnati Reds finally made it to the Majors on August 24 and got a hit in his first at bat and hit a homer in his 3rd game. Now that Brandon Phillips and Orlando Cabrera are back in the lineup is getting less playing time.

    2 other MLB Players were in the Hart Baseball Program but never made it into my stats:
    Kevin Millar: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/millake01.shtml
    * Note * Kevin played Freshman & JV for Hart but decided to transfer in his junior year to University High in LA so never got in my stats.

    Jerry Owens: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/o/owensje01.shtml
    * Note * Jerry played JV baseball but got a football scholarship to UCLA and decided to drop baseball in his senior year, so never played on the Southern Section Championship team of 1999 with Jamie Shields.

    There were 3 other Hart Ball players who made it to the Major Leagues before I did the Stats for Hart.
    Gregg Garrett graduated in 1965: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/garregr01.shtml
    Bob Walk graduated in 1974: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/w/walkbo01.shtml
    Todd Zeile: graduated in 1983: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/z/zeileto01.shtml

    We have another player possibly knocking on the door:
    Mike Montgomery of the Kansas City Royals playing at "AA" was a 1st.round (36th.Overall) pick in 2008:
    http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=montgo001mic

    Also a very good chance for a 1st Round pick in June of 2011 will be Trevor Bauer who will be a Junior at UCLA in 2011 and was one of the 2 top pitchers for UCLA in their run to the NCAA Championship at Omaha in this years final.

    Currently, we have 5 other player in the Minors and 3 in the Independent Leagues at this time.

    I hope the above links will work:

25. DoubleDiamond Says:
    September 6th, 2010 at 9:58 pm

    @24 I remember Andrew Lorraine as a pitcher who didn't live up to its promise (he was Baseball America's top Angels prospect at least one and maybe more years) due to injuries. Another interesting thing is that his career was at roughly the same time as that of Al Levine's, and the two of them had a few things in common, as well as some opposite traits, in addition to the obvious A.L. initials. And one of those things is that Lorraine's family name was originally Levine. He came from a family of rabbis, one of whom changed their last name to reflect the section of France where he lived. Although Levine was a righthanded pitcher, he was a natural lefthander whose father envisioned him as a third baseman, so he was taught to throw righthanded.

    Lorraine and Levine both began their major league careers in the areas in which they grew up. Lorraine was one of the great number of players from Southern California, and he started out with the Angels. Levine grew up in the Chicago area and first played for the White Sox. Later, the tables were turned on them, geographically, when Levine played for the Angels and Lorraine eventually put in time for both the White Sox and the Cubs.

26. MCT Says:
    September 6th, 2010 at 10:59 pm

    I did a search in Google News for Joe Law. It looks like he was briefly called up twice during the 1988 season, as follows:

    --Called up on July 5, sent down the same day following the first game of a doubleheader.

    --Called up on August 8, sent down on August 10.

27. trauty Says:
    September 7th, 2010 at 3:43 am

    Here's Joe Law's page from BR's Bullpen

    http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Joe_Law

    He is one of the many "Phantom Major Leaguers" that are featured there (most added by me). If you know of any others, please add them.

    http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Category:Phantom_Major_Leaguer

28. Spartan Bill Says:
    September 7th, 2010 at 9:01 am

    Thanks MCT and Trauty

29. Mike Gaber Says:
    September 7th, 2010 at 8:29 pm

    @25: I still keep in touch with Andrew Lorraine, and know his family well.

    In 2009 he pitched in the Golden Independent League here in California. Then when the season ended he pitched in Venezuela and played for the Cardenales de Lara.

    When that season ended he got a call from Carolina just outside of San Juan Puerto Rico and they needed him in the Puerto Rican playoffs to work in their bullpen.
    They wound up going 7 games but lost the final game 3-2. He pitched 5 games in relief.

    Then in early 2010 he got a call from the Seattle Mariners to be their pitching coach for Pulaski of the Appalachian League a short season Minor League where the season starts in June.
    Like a lot of ball players he lives now in Arizona and that's where they do their Mini Camp in preparation for minor league spring training in Peoria, AZ.

    He told me he was finally going to hang em up and be a pitching coach. But then again if he got a call to pitch somewhere....

30. Spindlebrook Says:
    September 14th, 2010 at 12:15 pm

    Pitcher Mark Leonette was called up by the Chicago Cubs briefly in 1987 but did not appear in a game. He was acquired as part of the Dennis Eckersley deal.