Wednesday, August 14, 2013

#57 Norm Charlton

About the Front: Yipes. There's pitcherface, and then there's Norm Charlton looking like his head is about to pop clear off of his neck.

About the Back: A triple major? Norm must have wrecked the grading curve for the rest of the class. In an interview with the Seattle Times, he jokingly claimed that his choice of studies was all about the money: he could either talk folks out of their cash, preach it out of them, or beat it out of them.

Triple Play:

1. Charlton's father ran track and taught at Rice University.

2. Today, Norm is spending his retirement hunting and fishing in South Texas.

3. Charlton was last seen in baseball back in Seattle, where he served as the Mariners' bullpen coach during the 2008 season.

11-Year-Old Kevin Says: I remember having a vague sense that he was already washed up when I started following baseball. Looking back, he underwent Tommy John surgery in 1993, went 11-21 with a 4.86 ERA and 1.49 WHIP in a three-year span after returning...and then my Orioles signed him in 1998, when he was 35 years old. Baltimore's collapse in 1998 is depressingly logical in hindsight.

Bill James Said: "He was 18-for-21 in save situations last year and struck out 12.5 men per nine innings before the elbow finished his season in early July."

On This Date in 1993: August 14. Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday hits movie theatres. Yes, there have been three more Jason Vorhees movies released since then. Shocking, I know.

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