Number 68 belongs to Doug Lindsey. You may ask why. Well, the simple fact is that Doug is the only player to wear number 68. There isn't even a card featuring Doug in a White Sox uniform.In fact, Doug was only in two games for the White Sox, which happened to be his last two games in the majors. On September 21, 1993, he made his debut with the Sox as a late inning replacement for Ron Karkovice in a game that the Sox would lose to the Angels, in Anaheim, 8-0.
On October 2, 1993, Doug would actually get one at-bat in a game, replacing Ozzie Guillen in the batting order, but replacing Karkovice again defensively. Karkovice was replaced by Craig Grebeck one batter earlier, so the move made sense.
The Sox had already won their division, so they were giving their starters a little break. Since Doug is the only player to appear wearing number 68, he is the best.
In the past few years, it has come to my attention that a great many baseball players don't make it. There are a lot of guys like Doug Lindsey who get into one or two games in the bigs and that is. Major league career over. Some of these guys go on to long careers in the minors (can you say Pete Rose Jr.?) but I have a sense that most don't Hopefully they've got a college degree in something useful. Maybe they become coaches. I'd like to know what happens to these guys. I've been posting Phorgotten Phillies on my site but its really difficult to find out where these guys end up.
ReplyDeleteThat happened to one of my favorite players in the early 90s, Don Wakamatsu. I had no clue what happened to him, then I saw him pop up as a coach on the Rangers.
ReplyDeletePete Rose Jr. is a perfect example of that. He was even in the White Sox minor league system for a short while.
I've always wondered what happened to Doug Lindsey myself. I played against him in high school...he was a senior when I was a sophmore. He wasnt a catcher then, though. He pitched and he could BRING IT. He also had a 12-6 curve that just fell off the table...and that made his low 90s fastball that much tougher to stand in the box against.
ReplyDeleteHe wasnt just a baseball player either. He was the district MVP in baseball, football AND basketball.
He was a man among boys and there was no doubt in our minds that he'd make it big. Cant believe he only got a handful of at bats.
There are hundreds of stories like that throughout baseball's history.
ReplyDeleteSome players will succeed on every level except the majors, for some unknown reason.
Thanks for adding the info about his high school status. I wonder if he developed some arm trouble between high school and the majors.