Late Nineties Mets Utility Player: Mike Kinkade (1998-2000)

-
Michael Arthur Kinkade was born on May 6, 1973 in Livonia, Michigan. The six foot left handed hitting Kinkade attended Washington State University getting signed by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 9th round of the 1995 draft. In 1997 he was the Texas League MVP at AA El Paso batting .485 with a .488 on base %. At third base he made a whopping sixty errors. The next year he was traded to the New York Mets organization for Bill Pulsipher.

In 1998 at AAA Norfolk Kinkade batted .280 playing in 30 games after arriving that July. He got a September call up debuting on September 8th in Philadelphia, going 0-2 in a 16-4 loss to the Phillies. He would only make two other appearances that season, both as a pinch runner, scoring runs both times.

In 1999 he made the club out of Spring Training, getting his first career hit at Shea Stadium as a pinch hitter against the Florida Marlins. He doubled driving in two runs in the Mets 8-1 victory. He had a four game hitting streak at the end of April, being used mostly as a pinch hitter & outfielder by the Mets. On April 29th he hit his first career HR off the San Diego Padres Dan Miceli at Shea Stadium in the Mets 8-5 win.

Two weeks later he hit another HR, this one in Arizona. Overall he hit just .196 (9-46) with two HRs two doubles & six RBIs, getting sent back down to AAA at the end of May. At Norfolk he batted .308 at with 7 HRs 20 doubles seven stolen bases & 49 RBIs.

In 2000 the Mets sent him down to AA Binghamton where he hit well, .366 in 90 games . Then at the end of July he was traded, along with Melvin Mora, to the Baltimore Orioles for Mike Bordick. Bordick was the veteran short stop the Mets wanted to fill the injured Rey Ordonez' spot for the rest of the regular & post seasons.

Meanwhile Kincaide went on to play for the US Olympic Team that won a Gold Medal at Sydney, Australia that same year. He scored the second run in the semi final 3-2 U.S. victory over South Korea. Kincade saw action in 61 games in 2001 batting .275 for the Orioles, playing mostly in left field.

At the end of the season he signed on with the Los Angeles Dodgers and spent two seasons there, batting .380 in just 50 at bats in 2002.

In 2003 he hit five HRs & was hit by 16 pitches (5th in the league) while batting just .216 in 88 games for L.A. He would spend time in the Cleveland, Florida & Chicago Cubs organizations as well as play in Japan & with the Trenton Thunder never making it back to the big leagues.

In a brief six year career he hit .256 with 110 hits 13 HRs 20 doubles & 48 RBIs in 222 games played.

Retirement: In 2011 he is a coach for the Seattle Mariners minor league team the Everett Aqua Sox.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Former Mets Broadcaster: Fran Healy ( 1984-2005)

-
Image
Francis Xavier Healy was born on September 6, 1946 in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The big six foot five catcher, attended American International University at Springfield. In 1964 he was signed by the Cleveland Indians, spending five years in their minors leagues. In 1968 he was drafted as the 56th pick in the expansion draft, chosen by the Kansas City Royals. He would make his MLB debut playing six games there in 1969 & spending the next year in the minors. In October of 1970, he was traded to the San Francisco Giants for Bob Garibaldi. Healy played in 47 games for the 1971 Western Division Champion Giants, as the backup catcher to Dick Dietz. He hit .280 with two HRs & 11 RBIs. He did not play in the NLCS & after hitting just .152 the next year in 45 games, he was traded back to Kansas City. He became the Royals main catcher in 1973 playing solid behind the plate, throwing out 44% of would be base stealers. That year he had the distinction of catching Steve Busb
Read more

Remembering Mets History: (1977) The Felix Millan / Ed Ott Brawl In Pittsburgh

-
Image
Friday August 12th, 1977: Joe Torre's last place Mets (47-66) traveled to Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh for a double header with Chuck Tanner's second place Pirates (66-49). The bad times were underway for the late seventies Mets and tonight marked the end of another key player's career from the 1973 NL Champion team. In the first game of a double header, Jerry Koosman (8-13) took a 3-1 loss to Jim Rooker (10-6) & the Pirates. Both pitchers went the distance, with Koosman giving up three runs on six hits & Rooker giving up the lone Met run on nine hits. In the night cap Mets started Bob Myrick against Pittsburgh's  Bruce Kison.  In the 2nd inning Myrick himself added an RBI base hit making it 1-0 Mets. Lee Mazzilli added a two run HR in the 4th putting the Mets up 3-2. The Mets were battling, but the Pirates tied it up at 3-3 in the sixth inning.  Met Manager; Joe Torre made a double switch bringing in Felix Millan to play second base, as Do
Read more

Remembering Bobby Ojeda's Tragic Boating Accident (1993)

-
Image
Steve Olin, Tim Crews & Bob Ojeda March 22 nd 1993: was an off day from Spring Training, for three Cleveland Indians pitchers; Former Mets 1986 World Champion pitcher; Bobby Ojeda, Tim Crews & Steve Olin. The three friends, took out an 18-foot open-air bass boat & went out fishing & gator hunting in the darkness of the evening on Lake Nellie in Clermont, Florida. Tragedy struck, when the boat rammed into a private dock that jutted out some 250 feet into the still waters. Two other Cleveland Indians personnel had arrived to meet the fishing party just as the horror took place. They heard Bob Ojeda saying they needed help. The two men jumped into the water and called out for someone to call 911. 27 year old pitcher; Steve Olin was killed instantly. 31 year old pitcher; Tim Crews was alive but was struggling to breathe suffering from massive head wounds. Bobby Ojeda was in & out of shock, he was suffering from head lacerations but was coherent. The
Read more

The 1970's Oakland A's Ball Girls- (MLB's First)

-
Image
In the days of the early seventies the Oakland A's won three straight Championships & changed the face of baseball forever.  The team's controversial owner was known to be cheap in paying his star players & known to meddle in the teams on field affairs. He drove managers crazy & even had Dick Williams resign after winning his second straight World Series. But Finley also revolutionized baseball in many other ways. He was instrumental in getting the designated hitter in the American League & have the World Series played at night, so fans could attend after work. He gave his players fancy names like Catfish, Blue Moon & True Blue.  When his star Reggie Jackson refused to shave his beard, he encouraged the whole team to grow facial hair by paying them $200 each.  The A's team even grew their hair long, a sign of the times. But before that baseball players had not had facial or long hair since the 1800's.  He introduced bright colored yello
Read more

Remembering Vixen Founder / Guitarist; Jan Kuehnemund (1961-2013)

-
Image
centerfieldmaz was shocked to learn of the sudden passing of Jan Kuehnemund, the founding member of the all female metal band Vixen. Jan was a fantastic guitarist, song writer & women pioneer in Heavy Metal. I am a huge fan of hard rock all girl bands & Vixen were one my long time favorites. Janice Lynn Kuehnemund was born November 18th, 1961 in St. Paul Minnesota. The female guitarist formed one of the first all female Metal bands in Minnesota with singer Janet Gardner while in high school in 1980. By 1985 they moved the band to Los Angles California, to be part of the Heavy Metal scene. In 1987 the classic Vixen line up of Jan Kuehnemund (lead guitar) Janet Gardner (vocals/ guitar) Share Pederson (bass) & Roxy Petrucci (drums) formed & released their debut album the following year. Vixen 1988 In a world of all male Heavy Metal bands during its heyday, Vixen were groundbreaking in being an all female metal band. The Runaways, with Joan Jett & Lita Ford
Read more