Rusty Kuntz

Rusty has one of the greatest names in baseball, but for mostly juvenile reasons. I don't think it even properly pronounced the way you're already thinking it is.

Rusty was drafted in the 11th round by the White Sox in 1977. He spent two years in the minors and was finally called up in September 1979. He only played in 5 games, but managed one hit. He spent parts of five different seasons with the Sox. His best average, during that tenure, was in 1981, when he hit .255.

Rusty was getting into roughly one-third of each season's games. That could be the reason that he never had a home run with the Sox and 11 RBI, during all those years.

Rusty was traded away for Mike Sodders to the Minnesota Twins on June 21, 1983. Once there, Rusty exploded for three home runs in Minnesota, the most of his career. The good times with the Twins didn't last and Rusty was traded to the Tigers at the end of the season.

But luck was on Rusty's side. The Tigers won it all in 1984 and Rusty was there to reap the benefits. He was released by the Tigers after the 1985 season. Rusty did sign with the Athletics, but never played a major league game with them.

Rusty is proof positive that ordinary people could play professional ball before the 90's. He never did anything remarkable, except stay in the majors for parts of 7 seasons. That and he did draw more than the average number of walks, so at least he found ways to get on base. He is currently the new first base coach for the Kansas City Royals.