
Franco was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the seventh round of the 1987 draft. He spent eight years in the minor leagues, taking six years just to get to the AAA level. The six foot two left hand hitting Franco, came up briefly with the Chicago Cubs in September 1995 hitting .294 (5-17).
Franco was traded to the New York Mets at the start of the 1996 season for Chris Dewitt. He hit .321 at AAA Norfolk with 8 HRs & 81 RBIs, getting him a September call up.

On Opening Day of 1998 he got two at bats in the 14th inning 1-0 Mets win getting one hit against the Phillies. On May 3rd as the Mets went ahead of the Rockies 3-1 with two 9th inning runs, Franco then came up & doubled off Dave Veres, driving in two more runs leading to a 5-2 Mets win.
After gathering two pinch hit RBI doubles in the next two months, he had a game winner on July 23rd. Franco came to bat in the 9th inning of a 5-5 tie in Milwaukee's County Stadium as a pinch hitter. He singled off Chad Fox to put the Mets ahead of the Brewers 6-5, in what was the game winning run.
A little more than a week later, on August 1st he hit a pinch hit HR in the bottom of the 9th inning off the L.A. Dodgers’ Jeff Shaw to tie the game; that the Mets would win later in the inning.
Two weeks later he tied a game in Arizona, with a 7th inning pinch hit single off Bobby Chouinard, in another game the Mets would go on to win. In September he was 3-12 as a pinch hitter. He finished the year batting .276 with 5 HRs 5 doubles 21 RBIs & .330 on base %.
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On May 25th he hit an 8th inning pinch hit HR against the Pittsburgh Pirates,in a 8-3 Mets victory. A week later on June 2nd in a home game against the Cincinnati Reds, he drove in two runs on a 7th inning pinch hit single bringing the Mets within one run. Unfortunately Armando Benitez would blow the game in the end losing 8-7.

In August he had more heroics; first in a game against the St Louis Cardinals he walked in the bottom of the 9th inning then scored the winning run on Edgardo Alfonzo’s walk off game winning base hit.
Two days later he kept the Mets on pace, a half a game out of first place, with a walk off pinch hit single at Shea Stadium in a game against the Houston Astros. Franco would finish the year with 15 pinch hits, batting well over .300 in that role.

1999 Post Season: In the 1999 NLDS against the Arizona Diamondbacks he went 0-1 as a pinch hitter.
1999 NLCS: In the NLCS against the Atlanta Braves he went 1 for 2. In Game #6 at Turner Field, Franco hit a pinch hit double leading off he 7th inning against John Smoltz. He would score on Rickey Henderson's double in the next at bat.
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Overall he saw action 101 games batting .239 with two HRs four doubles 21 walks a .340 on base % & 14 RBIs.
2000 Post Season: He went hitless in the 2000 post season going 0-4 as a pinch hitter.
After being granted free agency in December 2000 he went to play in Japan for the 2001 season.
In November 2001 he signed with Atlanta Braves for the 2002 season. There he hit .317 in 81 games. He finished up his career in Atlanta in 2003 after playing in 112 games hitting .246 with 3 HRs & 15 RBIs.

Retirement: He went back to Japan playing for Bobby Valentine, on the Chiba Lotte Marines from 2004-2006. In 2007 his name was mentioned for steroid use in the Mitchell Report.
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