The Short and Happy Career of Ron Wright
JMB · April 14, 2007 at 11:41 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Three at-bats! Six outs! Read all about it.
Hey, at least he made it that far.
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24 Responses to “The Short and Happy Career of Ron Wright”
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How many other players have hit for the outs cycle?
Soon we’ll add Vidro to the list.
I guess a cool research project would be to find the record holder for most outs responsible for in a game. Oh Elias…c’mere boy!
[ot]
Nice article. I always followed Ron Wright after that Texas game, hoping he’d get another shot. I’d remembered the action differently, though – I thought it was K, double play, triple play, not K, triple play, double play. Too bad he never got another shot.
Heh. I was just talking about Ron Wright today. What a guy.
reminds me of John Paciorek
I knew Ron. He was from Kamiakin High in Kennewick. He was a year behind me in school. I knew a teammate of his better, so I guess he was more of a friend of a friend. I always pulled for him and I will always remember what Bret Boone told him after the game, “That was baaaaaaaaaad.”
I cant help but feel bad for the guy.
I really don’t feel bad for him. He had a string of bad luck but he seem s to have an enjoyable life for himself now. I hope he does well.
I remember that game, and I wondered when an article would surface calling attention to his futility achievement. By lots of measures, his must be the worst hitting performance ever. I can’t imagine that anyone else with three or more at bats ever averaged making two outs per at bat in a game, let alone for a career. Still, I don’t feel sorry for him at all. In fact, I’m envious. He had his cup of coffee in the bigs, which very few people can claim, and the experience was remarkable. He can be proud of his experience in the same way that 20 games losers are proud. It takes something to get there.
What’s really bad about Wright’s saga is the error that occurred during his spinal disk surgery, namely the clipping damage of the sciatic nerve. Tsk on that orthopedic surgeon.
Think of what would have happened to Randy Johnson’s career if that’d had happened to him, in either one of his 2 back surgeries to date? (actually, the jury might still be out on the outcome of his most recent surgery — he’s still rehabbing)
Well, actually I should have said “Think what would have happened to Randy Johnson’s career if that’d had happened to him, in the first of his 2 back surgeries?”
Thanks for that Jason. I totally remember that game – I felt so sorry for the guy!
So I guess it’s mariner day at the New York Times.
Area fantasy baseballer, mariner fan makes good:
Even rocket scientists think the snelling-for-vidro trade blew.
I love stories like this. If I had nothing but time and money, I would travel around the country, interviewing former Mariners about their lives and writing a book.
Good for Ron Wright. I’d hate to hear he was a haunted, shattered shell of his former self.
For the next two days, Wright sat on the bench in Texas. On the third day, April 14, 2002, he checked the lineup card, and again he did not see his name.
But during batting practice, Seattle’s Mike Cameron hit a line drive that ricocheted off the pitcher’s screen and smacked Jeff Cirillo on the left side of the head. The ball opened a gash that required three stitches.
i always loved Cammy.
lol I totally remember that…
Is everybody ready for the Ram-fest today? I know I am. I’ve eaten nothing but comfort food, in advance of what should be a bumpy ride.
Go Ms…at least they’re interesting!
It’s good to hear he looks at it in a positive light. I always hoped he’d look at it as a good story, not a tragedy.
#7- I went to high school with Wright at Kamiakin, too. His brother was actually quite the player, too, but nowhere near the caliber of Ron.
I remember always checking the minor league leadears every week and hoping to see Ron in the top 10 for HRs in Baseball Weekly. He was actually in there quite a bit for awhile.
It was really sad to see his career get derailed like it did. If it weren’t for the back injury, I think he could have provided an impact bat…
Hey, my wife went to Kamiakin too. She was… two years behind him I think?
JMB,
I think Wright graduated in ’94? I graduated in ’96 from Kamiakin, as well. Sounds like your wife did, too?
Great article. I think I might’ve been at that game where Edgar ruptured his hamstring, a game in Anaheim. Or it might’ve been a different one of Edgar’s injuries that I saw.
Lou Piniella gets downright poetic, and shows his Florida roots, with his simile about the developing thunderstorm in the Gulf.
It’d be interesting to see Wright’s Win Probability Added for that game! It perhaps wouldn’t be real large in magnitude because the Ms broke out to a 5-0 lead so there wasn’t a whole lot one could do after that to affect the WP, maybe a more interesting calculation would be the generic overall average WPA that results from a K, 3P, and DP.