Tuesday, July 7, 2015

#447 Keith Shepherd

About the Front: Well, here's a rarity: a Series Two Rockies card that was shot on a baseball field!

About the Back: As you can see, Keith Shepherd had an altogether different path to Colorado than his teammate David Nied. Entering his eighth pro season, the Rockies would be Keith's six MLB organization.

Triple Play:

1. Shepherd earned his first big league save with two scoreless innings of relief against the Expos on September 14, 1992.

2. On June 8, 1993, he earned his third and final career save the hard way, tossing four innings of hitless relief in support of starter Bruce Ruffin in a 4-1 Rockies victory over the Pirates.

3. If Wikipedia is to be trusted (and why not?), Keith has pitched in the Fort Wayne, IN 18-and-over league since his pro career ended in 1997, and has also been an assistant baseball coach at Wabash High School.

11-Year-Old Kevin Says: Shepherd's final taste of the majors came in a monstrously terrible 13-game stint with the 1996 Orioles. While pitching in low-leverage situations, he gave up a whopping 31 hits (six homers), 27 runs (20 earned), and 18 walks in 20.2 innings...that's an 8.71 ERA. It's baffling to me that he got two separate looks on the roster.

Bill James Said: "Another Rockies Pitcher Horror Show, posted a 3.00 ERA on the road, but 10.45 in Denver, which abbreviated his stay."

On This Date in 1993: July 7. I'll drop in a quote from the Baseball-Reference Bullpen: "Mets P Bret Saberhagen throws a firecracker under a table near reporters at Shea Stadium, but no one is hurt."

2 comments:

  1. JPP approves of this date in history.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Max, I heard it said elsewhere that if JPP's agent were admitting to a finger amputation, he had probably actually lost the whole hand.

    ReplyDelete