Mike Morgan

For other people named Mike Morgan, see Michael Morgan (disambiguation).

Mike Morgan
Pitcher
Born: October 8, 1959 (1959-10-08) (age 52) Tulare, California
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
June 11, 1978 for the Oakland Athletics
Last MLB appearance
September 2, 2002 for the Arizona Diamondbacks
Career statistics
Win–Loss record	141–186
Earned run average	4.23
Strikeouts	1,403
Teams
Oakland Athletics (1978–1979) New York Yankees (1982) Toronto Blue Jays (1983) Seattle Mariners (1985–1987) Baltimore Orioles (1988) Los Angeles Dodgers (1989–1991) Chicago Cubs (1992–1995) St. Louis Cardinals (1995–1996) Cincinnati Reds (1996–1997) Minnesota Twins (1998) Chicago Cubs (1998) Texas Rangers (1999) Arizona Diamondbacks (2000–2002)
Career highlights and awards
All-Star selection (1991) World Series champion (2001)

Michael Thomas Morgan (born October 8, 1959 in Tulare, California) is a former right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. He competed for twelve different teams over 25 years, and is one of only 29 players in baseball history to date to have played Major League baseball over four decades (1978–2002).^[1] Morgan currently shares the major league record for most ML teams pitched for, alongside Ron Villone and Octavio Dotel; first baseman/outfielder/designated hitter Matt Stairs took the field for his 13th team in 2011, establishing the record for position players.

Morgan was nicknamed "The Nomad" by his teammates due to his constant travel from team to team.^[2][3]

Major League debut

After attending Valley High School in Las Vegas, NV and pitching for the baseball team, Morgan was selected by the Oakland Athletics on 6 June 1978 in the 1st Round (fourth overall) of the Major League Draft and on June 11 made his major league debut, throwing a complete game in a 3-0 loss to Scott McGregor and the Baltimore Orioles.^[4] After going losing his first three starts in Oakland, Morgan was sent down to AAA Vancouver for the rest of the season, going 5-6 with a 5.58 earned run average (ERA) in 92 innings pitched. Although he had put up less than spectacular numbers, he had pitched over 100 innings between AAA and the majors as an 18-year-old and despite an alarming strikeout-to-walk ratio of 0.5:1 (31 strikeouts and 62 walks) was clearly on the fast track.

After starting the 1979 season with the AAA Ogden A's, Morgan was called up again to the big club after posting a 5-5 record with a 3.48 ERA in 101 innings. However, he again appeared overmatched, finishing the season 2-10 for the A's. Morgan then spent the next two seasons in the minor leagues. After finishing 1980 with another unspectacular season, finishing with a 6-9 record back at Ogden, Oakland decided to cut bait and traded Morgan on November 3 to the New York Yankees for 33 year old infielder, Fred Stanley.^[5] Thus was the start of Morgan's vagabond career. The Yankees then demoted Morgan and assigned him to AA Nashville where he posted an 8-7 record with a 4.42 ERA in 169 innings.^[6]

"The Nomad"

In 1982, Morgan pitched the entire season for the Yankees, seeing time in 30 games with 23 starts. On December 9, Morgan was traded again, this time to the Toronto Blue Jays along with outfielder/first baseman Dave Collins, and future all star first baseman Fred McGriff for minor league third baseman Tom Dodd and reliever Dale Murray. Morgan then split time between Toronto and AAA Syracuse in 1983 before spending the entire 1984 season at Syracuse. In December 1984, Morgan was taken off the Blue Jays' 40-man roster and was subsequently chosen by the Seattle Mariners in the Rule 5 draft. After losing much of 1985 to arm trouble, Morgan then spent most of the next three seasons pitching for Seattle and compiling similar numbers to his career average, going 24-35 with a 4.53 over 429 innings with 216 strikeouts and 144 walks. In a hint of later career success, Morgan collected his first career save in 1986. Although showing himself to be a solidly average starting pitcher, he would continue to struggle with his control, annually sporting ugly strikeouts-to-walk ratios, and fail to show the promise that made him a first round selection. On December 9, Morgan was shipped to the Baltimore Orioles for righty starter Ken Dixon and would spend the 1988 season splitting time between Baltimore and AAA Rochester. That year he was recognized for hi humanitarian work by winning the Little League's Junior Cy Young award.

After being traded to his sixth franchise in March, in a trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers for center fielder Mike Devereaux, Morgan would spend 1989–91 with the team. This time would include Morgan's first winning season as a pro in 1991, his lone All-Star season, with a 14–10 record. However, Morgan was also known for an infamous footnote. On July 28 of that year, he was at the losing end of Montreal Expos pitcher Dennis Martinez's perfect game, even though Morgan himself was perfect through the first five innings.

After leaving Baltimore as a free agent, Morgan would spend his first stint with the Chicago Cubs from 1992–95. In 1992, Morgan seemingly put it all together, finishing the season 16–8 with a 2.55 ERA over 240 innings - easily the best season of his career. However, he could not repeat his efforts and went 12-25 over the next two seasons after again experiencing arm trouble.

After seeming to bounce back in the beginning of 1995, starting the season 2-1 with a 2.19 ERA for the Cubs, he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals along with minor leaguer catcher Francisco Morales and first baseman/third baseman Paul Torres for third baseman Todd Zeile and cash, and went 5-6 in 17 starts the rest of the way. In 1996, Morgan would return to form, posting a 4-8 record with a 5.24 ERA, and would be released by the Cardinals on August 28. He would not be unemployed long as he signed with the Cincinnati Reds on September 4 and spent the remainder of the 1996 and all of 1997 with the Reds.

Post-season play

After leaving the Reds as a free Agent, Morgan signed in December 1997 with the Minnesota Twins. After putting up good numbers with the Twins through August (4-2 with a 3.49 ERA and only 24 walks in 98 innings), Morgan was traded on August 25 back to the Cubs for pitcher Scott Downs and cash. While with the Cubs, he was on the mound when Mark McGwire hit his record-tying 61st home run. He also went to the postseason for the first time, relieving in two games without giving up a run, but the Cubs lost to the Atlanta Braves in the National League Division Series. On 29 January, 1999, Morgan joined his 11th team, signing with the Texas Rangers as a free agent. Although he pitched to a 13-10 record, he had an ERA of 6.24 and was demoted to the bullpen late in the season. It appeared that his career was officially over.

Prior to spring training in 2000, the 40-year-old journeyman signed with his 12th team, the Arizona Diamondbacks, who successfully converted Morgan to a full-time reliever and emergency starter. Morgan excelled in this role and appeared in 60 games and over 100 innings compiled an ERA that was only slightly above career average. After pitching in 31 games in 2001, including his last start, Morgan was again in the post-season with the D-backs and would appear in all three rounds including throwin 4 2/3 innings of scoreless relief as Arizona defeated the New York Yankees in seven games to win the 2001 World Series. He was back for another go-round in 2002 and pitched 28 games over the first three months before being sidelined by an injury. He came back to make the final appearance of his career on September 2, pitching 1 1/3 innings and giving up an unearned run in a 19-1 loss to the Dodgers,.^[7] Morgan would finish the season 1-1 with a 5.29 ERA, and was not included on the D-Backs' post-season roster. Following the season, Morgan would retire from baseball after 21 seasons.

Morgan was the last active player to have competed during the 1978 season and one of the last four (the others being Jesse Orosco, Rickey Henderson and Tim Raines) to have debuted in the 1970s who continued to play past the 2000 season. In the 597 games Morgan pitched, 411 were starts. His career record was 141-186 with a 4.23 ERA, 1403 strikeouts and eight saves in 2772 1/3 innings.

Morgan was tied with National Hockey League player Mike Sillinger and MLB pitcher Matt Skrmetta for the most teams played for in any North American professional sport through June 2006, when Skrmetta signed with the Chicago White Sox, his 24th professional team and 13th organization.^[8]

Personal life

Morgan currently resides in Ogden, Utah and owns "World Championship Outfitters", company which takes people on private hunts with Morgan as the guide. He also instructs youth baseball players one-on-one through the company "Ultimate Sports".

In 2009, he became a volunteer coach on the Pleasant Grove High School baseball team in Pleasant Grove, UT and continued with Pleasant Grove through the 2010 season. In 2010, he created the "Robinson's Transport Wounded Warrior Hunt", a hunt for military members who have received a Purple Heart.^[9]

See also

• List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins
• List of baseball players who went directly to the major leagues

References

1. ^ "Most Franchises Played For". Baseball-Reference.com. http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/leaders_most_franchises.shtml. Retrieved 2009-03-09. 
2. ^ http://www.heraldextra.com/sports/high-school/baseball/article_95afe64d-01e5-528d-9e95-4a5d0034c297.html
3. ^ http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Mike_Morgan
4. ^ http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/OAK/1978-schedule-scores.shtml
5. ^ http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/morgami01.shtml#trans
6. ^ http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=morgan003mic
7. ^ http://www.baseball-reference.com/games/standings.cgi?date=2002-09-02
8. ^ - Skrmetta join Chicago's Triple-A affiliate
9. ^ http://www.heraldextra.com/sports/high-school/baseball/article_95afe64d-01e5-528d-9e95-4a5d0034c297.html

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube

Persondata
Name	Morgan, Mike
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 8, 1959
Place of birth	Tulare, California
Date of death
Place of death