Keith Anthony Phillips was born on April 25th, 1959 in Atlanta Georgia. He was a 1978 first round draft pick of the Montreal Expos (the 10th pick overall). He was traded to the San Diego Padres for former Met Willie Montanez & then was traded to The Oakland A’s for Bob Lacey.
Phillips would debut in 1982 and spend nine seasons with Oakland as all around utility player. He played in over 100 games five seasons in Oakland playing second base, short stop & third base. In 1987 he hit 10 HRs a career high for him while playing with the Athletics, the prvious year his 52 RBIs were an Oakland best for him as well. He got to play in twoWorld Series for Tony Larussa’s Athletics, winning a championship in 1989. Over all he batted .217 i(10-46) in four post season Series. He hit a HR in the 1989 Bay Area earthquake series against the Giants.
Phillips would sign as a free agent with the Detroit Tigers after the 1989 season. He would play five seasons there leading the league in runs scored (114) in 1992, walks (132) in 1993 & at bats (538) in 1994. In 1993 he hit a career best .313 (8th in the league) posting a .443 on base % (2nd in the league).
Phillips always posted good on base percentages & drew a lot of walks; he was in the top five of the league in that category seven times, leading the league twice. In his career he is 37th on the all time list with 1319.
He was also in the top ten in runs scored six times & is 118th all time with 1300 runs scored. He would ht over 20 doubles ten times would have double figures in stolen bases eleven times.
In 1995 he played for the Los Angeles Angels where hit a career high 27 HRs while driving in 61 runs. Phillips moved on to the White Sox in 1996, batted .277 once again led the league in walks (125) and in the outfield led all left fielders in put outs (236). Two years later he would lead the league again with 344 put outs & 13 assists.
In 1998 he began the year in Toronto but was traded to the New York Mets for a minor leaguer. By now Phillips was 39 years old and in 52 games would bat, 223 with 3 HRs 11 doubles & 14 RBIs playing in the outfield for New York. Two of his three HRs came against the Braves.
On September 5th at Shea Stadium, his two run HR off Rudy Seanez in the bottom of the 8th inning was the game winner as the Mets won it 5-4. Two days later he hit a second inning HR off Bruce Chen in the Mets 8-7 win.
After the season he went back to Oakland to finish out his career. In 18 seasons he batted .266 with 2023 hits 360 doubles 160 HRs 819 RBIs 177 stolen bases & a .374 on base %.
Brady William Clark was born April 18th, 1973 in Portland Oregon. The six foot, two inch right handed outfielder attended San Diego State University where he was a West Coast Conference All Star in 1995. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds as an amateur free agent in 1996. Two years later he was the Southern league's MVP batting .326 with 17 HRs & 75 RBIs. He followed up batting .304 with 16 HRs & 69 RBIs in 2000.
After a brief cup of coffee in 2000 he played in 89 games for the Reds in 2001 hitting 6 HRs while batting .264. In September of 2002 he was traded to the New York Mets along with Pedro Feliciano in exchange for Sean Estes. He debuted on September 11th with the Mets scoring a run as a pinch runeer in Atlanta in a 8-5 loss to the Braves.
The next day he doubled in Montreal as a pinch hitter driving in Rey Ordonez in the Mets 5-2 win over the Expos. Clark went 2-6 as a pinch hitter before getting two starts at the end of the season. Overall he batted .417 (5-12) with three runs scored & one RBI in ten games with the 2002 Mets. At the end of the season the Mets placed him on waivers where he was picked up by the Milwaukee Brewers.
Clark would play four seasons as a regular outfielder in Milwaukee, batting a career high .306 in 2005 with 183 hits (7th in the NL) posting a .372 on base %. He walked 47 times & was hit by 18 pitches (3rd most in the NL). He also hit 13 HRs with 31 doubles while driving in 53 runs & stealing ten bases. That season Clark led all NL centerfielders in fielding (.995%) put outs (399) playing in 145 games at the position.
The prior season he had batted a respectable .280 with another good on base % (.385%) hitting seven HRs & 18 doubles with 46 RBIs. In Spring Training 2007 he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Elmer Dessens but hit just .224 in 47 games & was released. He finished out the year with the San Diego Padres batting .306 in 21 games.
In 2008 he signed with the New York Mets again as a free agent. He made the club out of spring training but only got two hits in eight at bats (.250) & after seven games was sent back down to the minors. He played just six games at AAA New Orleans before getting released again & never played in the majors again as well.
In a nine year career he hit .277 with 559 hits 97 doubles 7 triples 36 HRs a .358 on base % & 210 RBIs.
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Lastings Darnell Milledge was born on April 5th, 1985 in Bradenton, Florida. When he was 12 years old he played for the Manatee East Little League team that was runner up in the Little League World Series. He pitched the semifinal game, earning the victory allowing just one run. In 2004 he led Team USA to a Gold Medal in the IBF’s Youth Championships & was named the best 16 year old prospect in the country by Baseball America.
He was drafted by the Mets first round in 2003 draft, the number 12 pick overall. He would have been drafted sooner but teams were afraid to touch him due to problems from his past. Reports surfaced from 2002 saying that Milledge had been expelled from Northside Christian High School after his junior year for allegedly having sex with a minor. He did well in the Mets minor leagues system, hitting over .300 and being dubbed a natural five tool player. In 2006 he was getting a lot of media attention as the future of the Mets outfield and was batting leadoff & playing right field for the Norfolk Tides.
As the Mets were flying high in 2006, Milledge was brought up on May 30th to a huge ovation at Shea Stadium. He was the youngest player to suit up in the National League as he made his debut. He doubled in his first game against the Arizona Diamond Backs.
On June 4th he hit his first MLB HR getting three hits while driving in three runs against the Giants at Shea. The HR tied the game, & it came against former Mets closer Armando Benitez. But Milledge had troubles right away, when he left the dugout on his way to his outfield position, he was so excited he slapped fans with high fives along the way. The media was all over him as were his manager & the team’s veterans players.
On the next road trip to Los Angeles Milledge got four hits, with another HR & five RBIs in the three game series. He began to cool off at the plate but was still showing off on the field. In September he found a sign on his locker that read: “Know your place, Rook”, it was reported Billy Wagner had placed it there. Milledge finished the year batting .241 with 4 HRs 7 doubles & 22 RBIs in 56 games played. He did not make the post season roster.
In 2007 he began the year with the club but a foot injury got him a demotion to make room on the roster for Mike Pelfrey. He returned in July, as the Mets demoted Julio Franco to make room for him. Milledge arrived with more drama surrounding him when it was learned he appeared on a rap song using inappropriate language, along with making racial & sexual derogatory remarks.
The Mets spoke out issuing the following statement "We disapprove of the content, language and message of this recording, which does not represent the views of the New York Mets." In 59 games he hit .272 with 7 HRs 9 doubles & 29 RBIs. In the winter of 2007 he was traded away to the Washington Nationals for Ryan Church & Brian Schneider.
In Washington he played under his former coach Manny Acta, there he stole 24 bases batting .268 with 14 HRs & 61 RBIs in 138 games played.
In 2009 he gave up his number with the arrival of Adam Dunn and took the number 85, the year of his birth. He only hit .167 and was sent down to AAA. By June he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates and developed his own fan base there in the outfield known as “The Milledge People”. He finished 2009 batting .279 overall showing improvement in his work ethic.
In 2010 he got into 113 games batting .277 as the Pirates fourth outfielder. In May in a game against the Chicago Cubs he thought he hit his first HR of the year. He didn’t see the ball land on the top of the fence & when he heard the fireworks go off he rounded the bases with a HR trot. To his surprise a throw came in from the outfield & he was tagged out. The umpires officially ruled it a ground rule double. He finished the year batting .277 with 4 HRs 21 doubles & 34 RBIs stealing five bases.
The Pirates did not resign him & he went to the Chicago White Sox organization for 2011 only playing two games at the MLB level.
In his six year career he is a .269 hitter with 404 hits 73 doubles 8 triples 33 HRs 167 RBIs 40 stolen bases & a .328 on base %.
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