Athletes - Mike Morgan

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	Athletes - Mike Morgan

Michael Thomas Morgan was an American professional baseball player who competed for twelve different Major League Baseball teams from 1978-2002. This is currently the major-league baseball record.

Born October 8, 1959, in Tulare, California, Morgan was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in 1978 as the fourth overall pick in the Major League Baseball draft.

Morgan, a right-handed pitcher, made his major league debut June 11 of that year with Oakland. Morgan spent two seasons with Oakland before spending the 1980 and 1981 seasons in the minor leagues.

In 1982, Morgan resumed his major league career with the New York Yankees. In 1983, Morgan played for the Toronto Blue Jays. He spent the entire 1984 season in Toronto's farm system before being chosen by the Seattle Mariners in the Rule V draft in December of that year. Morgan played for the Mariners from 1985-1987. He spent the 1988 season with the Baltimore Orioles.

From 1989-1991, Morgan pitched for his sixth team, the Los Angeles Dodgers. Morgan's first winning season came 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.

From 1992-1995, Morgan pitched for the Chicago Cubs. In 1992, Morgan went 16-8. In 1995, Morgan was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals. After being released from the Cardinals in 1996, he signed with the Cincinnati Reds and spent the remainder of the 1996 and all of 1997 with the Reds.

In 1998, Morgan signed with the Minnesota Twins. He was traded later that season to the Chicago Cubs. Morgan went to the postseason for the first time, but the Cubs lost to the Atlanta Braves in the National League Divisional Series. In 1999, Morgan joined his 11th team, the Texas Rangers.

In 2000, the 40-year-old journeyman signed with his 12th and final team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Morgan was a reliever who was also an emergency starter. In 2001, Morgan and the Diamondbacks won the World Series in seven games against the New York Yankees. Morgan retired in 2002 with Arizona. He was the last active player to compete during the 1978 season and one of only four (the others included Jesse Orosco, Rickey Henderson, and Tim Raines) to play during the 1970s at the time of retirement.

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 2772.3 innings.

Trivia

On September 7, 1998, at St. Louis' Busch Stadium, Morgan gave up Mark McGwire's 61st home run of the season, which tied McGwire with Roger Maris for the single-season home run record. (One of the fans in attendance was McGwire's father, who, coincidentally, was celebrating a birthday—his 61st).

He is most remembered in Boston for giving up Carl Yastrzemski's 400th home run at Fenway Park July 24th, 1979.

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